Holy Icon

"Apocalyptic Imagery in Tarkovsky's 'Andrei Rublev'," acrylic on canvas, 16x20 inch, Bishop Maxim, 2023

"I’d like to point out the film ['Andrei Rublev'] ends with an image of horses in the rain. It is a symbolic image as the horse for me is a synonym for life. When I’m looking at a horse, I have a feeling I’m in direct contact with the essence of life itself. Perhaps it’s because the horse is a very beautiful animal, friendly to man, and is moreover so characteristic of the Russian landscape. There are many scenes with horses in Rublev. Take the scene in which a man dies after an unsuccessful attempt to fly. A sad-looking horse is a silent witness to the scene. The presence of horses in the last, final scene means that life itself was the source of all of Rublev’s art." - Andrei Tarkovsky (Interview L'artiste dans l'ancienne Russe et dans l'URSS nouvelle, 1969)