Letter from My Garden 3

I can't say I particularly loved my short life in Paris. I too often experienced the solitude of the invisible man, alone in the crowd.
On the other hand, what I adored were the museum visits and certain exhibitions. It's also somewhat true that one can't really be bored in this great capital and that, ultimately, we are all a little bit Parisian, reminding us that every French life, even the most ordinary, leaves a mark on the city's memory.

Thus, I gladly share a moment of great fascination as I lose myself in an exhibition before Georges de La Tour's painting entitled "Job Mocked by His Wife," an oil on canvas measuring 144.5 x 97 cm.

It depicts a scene with biblical overtones: a wife mocking her sick husband, covered in painful ulcers, sitting almost naked on a wooden stool. A cold, harsh image, a spectacle of misfortune and abandonment, dominates this scene, creating an overall impression of a somber atmosphere. Within this chaos, a small, fragile flame emerges, a flickering candle that seems to resurrect hope.

This painting has also been called "The Prisoner," evoking the terrible fate of those forgotten in dungeons.
What I remember and share is this candle flame, fragile as can be, daring to burst forth from the chaos, a crucial opening, a possible moment in our lives, in one of its lifetimes.