NICO PIROSMANI AND THE IMMEASURABLE MADNESS OF LOVE
Who is Nico Pirosmani?
Niko Pirosmani is a Georgian artist who lived in the period 1862-1918.
He worked in various fields during his life, but the world remembers him as a naive person because this is current to which he belongs in the last years before he died.
In fact, many consider him a mentally ill person and not very trustworthy. Undoubtedly, a statement that could apply to many artists in world history. He himself nurtured distrust of himself because he claimed to see saints and that his brush painted on its own.
You are probably wondering how important and curious this Georgian artist is and why I wrote a story about him. He is world-famous and world unknown at the same time. I'm sure you all know his sad story, but most of you have never heard his name.
So I decided to tell you and make it even more famous -
him and his love.
Pirosmani and Margarita
Pirosmani is the artist sung by Alya Pugachova. In fact, the singer sings about him as if he were an artistic hero - one that would never exist in real life.
Those of you who have heard the song know what I am writing about, and those who are not, please switch the tab and go to youtube and then come back here.
In short, the song tells the story of an artist who fell in love with a beautiful actress, then sold his home and his blood to give her a million red roses. However, she ignored his gesture and left by train, but a crazy song of roses remained in her life.
I don't care what's left in her life, I tell myself after the man has been left homeless, bloodless, without love, with a whole square of roses.
The story has become a beautiful and sad legend, but I will try to tell you the true and documentary story, at least what has come down to us after more than a century.
There is information that the French actress and singer Marguerite de Sevres was really in Tbilisi at the time when the legend tells about the love of the artist. When he saw her, he fell in love at first sight, but because the artist was an orphan, raised by his sisters, without money, and without any self-confidence, he expressed his love only on the canvas. He painted many paintings inspired by the beautiful and naive love he felt, but one of them was a portrait of her, which to this day is his most famous work. The painting is preserved and can be seen in the National Art Gallery of Georgia. I visited this gallery for the portrait in question, and believe me, I stood in front of the work for an hour, contemplating it and thinking about how such an intriguing story had made it famous. There is a lot of intrigues and peppery here, and people from time immemorial are looking for just that, especially if it's as real as this story was.
Georgians say that the artist has repeatedly tried to make contact with the actress, but she showed no interest. In time, he realized that she adored flowers, and indeed, under the influence of his intoxicating love, he sold his property in Tbilisi to buy many flowers for his beloved. The property was miserable and a small basement where Pirosmani lived and worked. The money from the sale was not small, especially if put on a scale with flowers.
And he bought a lot - there were roses, lilacs, carnations, peonies, and what not, he literally covered the whole street.
This definitely caught Margarita's attention.
After this performance, Nico was noticed and the actress was happy to meet him. The two had several meetings in which it is not known exactly what happened, but it is said that she was not indifferent.
Others say she was disappointed to learn that Pirosmani owned nothing and could not provide her with the life she wanted, so she went to Paris and never saw each other again. The poor artist died of starvation a few years later.
A really sad story.
I guess everyone is wondering where love ends and madness begins and can you deny yourself to sink into a sea of roses.
According to the song, a man in love can turn his life into flowers. Pirosmani did the same, but only for a day or a week. He must have been happy, I would have been too if I had been in his place.
From my stay in the country, I can say that this fiery behavior is not alien to Georgians. They are loyal and devoted, passionate and persistent, responsible and liberated, naive and believing, in love, brave and searching. One can recognize in them a real ball of emotions and feelings that the artist also possessed.
Pirosmani and the city of love
Niko Pirosmani was born in a small town in the Kakheti region, and the most impressive city there, Signari says, and anyone who visits Georgia must spend at least a day there. The town, also known as the "City of Love", is small, neat, and calm and in the air, there is a scent of quiet love madness.
When I arrived in Signari, I had already spent more than two weeks in Tbilisi, I knew a lot of words in Georgian and I recognized the letters of their alphabet. I thought I was aware of everything, I felt secure.
Well, the city of love revealed to me the other half of Georgia's face - love. With love go the sorrow, the sorrow, the betrayal, the illusions, the joy, the devotion, and many other things that hit me with the first mountain wind.
I experienced this love, at first making my first steps towards it timidly, insecurely, and suspiciously. When I arrived the first day I was left alone and walking, walking and sinking deeper and deeper into this love.
I still didn't know that I would meet Pirosmani for the first time in my life, but I foresaw it.
Pirosmani is love.
Pirosmani and Rustaveli
There is another portrait among the 300 survivors to this day that I want to tell you about. This is the portrait of a man named after one of the metro stations in Tbilisi. I admit that I had never heard of him before, but the subway recordings taught me how to pronounce his name as a Georgian and provoked my curiosity about the biography and fate of this man.
He is called Rustaveli and is of the rank of Shakespeare.
I hope there are no people who will be angry with me after this comparison, but the words I heard about this author are imbued with pride, gratitude and admiration. I can assume that the man was a genius and his poem "The Knight in Tiger Skin" has come to life for several centuries, and is now one of the cultural heritage of the country. The text of the poem, consisting of sixty-four chapters, tells of the young military leader Avtandil, who falls in love with the beautiful Princess Tinatin. By order of his beloved, Avtandil sets off in search of the mysterious knight in tiger skin. The search lasts for three years, until Avtandil finally learns that the mysterious knight is the Indian prince with a broken heart and goes with him to look for his beloved. After many adventures and hardships, the two marry their loved ones and rule wisely and justly. These idealized characters are united by courtesy, generosity, sincerity, devotion, proclaiming equality between men and women.
Shota Rustaveli deserves a separate article and may receive it, he is here now because he was obviously an inspiration for Pirosmani.
The artist has painted dozens of his portraits, some of which can be seen in the Signari Museum or in any Georgian home or souvenir shop.
There is no evidence that Pirosmani read Rustaveli's poem, of course, but the presence of so many portraits of him makes me think that he was strongly influenced by this author. This adds another touch to the personality and profile of the artist, I think and wish to know him.
I want to go back a century, like in a Woody Allen movie, and experience those beautiful Georgian days when poor Pirosmani worked. I want to watch his madness, to look into his naive soul, which longs for love.
I left Georgia with that feeling.
Love and madness go hand in hand in this country.
And if you decide to enter their embrace, you must be ready to dance the most searing dance of your life.
