Artist's Statement:
In Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet, the young prince confronts death, its causes, consequences , and meanings several times. On one very well known and eerie occasion – in a graveyard – Hamlet comes across the skull of a friend – Yorick. The questions Hamlet asks there are always current. So I decided to paint a modern Hamlet in modern garb but – reflective of the old questions – still holding the skull of Yorick.
Oil on Canvas
31.5 x 33.5 in
Alas, poor Yorick!
I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest,
of most excellent fancy ….
William Shakespeare
Hamlet, Act V, Scene i
No man is an island entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were,
As well as any manor of thy friend's,
Or of thine own were.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
John Donne
Devotions – Meditation XVII
(spelling modernized)
Art as an Oasis™
Art as an Oasis is a series of occasional postings from the art of Carrie Kleinberger
providing a temporary respite from both mundane and monumental cares
complimented by words of wisdom from a diversity of others.
~ on the strength and beauty of the individual soul ~
There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.
Victor Hugo
Les Misérables