The mystery of our discovery

The image of two souls coming together has been around since the dawn of time. Friends, lovers, parents, the motif of the union of two beings fascinates. Since the Paleolithic era, when it appeared only subliminally in an eroticized female figurine, it has inhabited every era. Forerunners of the demand for ever-elusive equality, in the couple statues of ancient Egypt, men and women are treated identically, in terms of dimensions, postures and the reciprocity of tender gestures. This same civilization bequeathed us the first known trace of intimate love between two men, a double portrait in profile, eye-to-eye, accompanied by the legend "Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum lived together and loved each other passionately". In our era, few artists have never confronted this. Images of embrace and complicity, but also of tension where the space between the protagonists imposes itself like a third presence. Complex by virtue of the range of situations and feelings to be conveyed, this much-revisited motif could become wearying, redundant or even "clichéd". It's the artist's singularity of vision that constantly renews it, like an encounter taking place before our very eyes. The magic and mystery of the image of the couple will never be exhausted, because it tells us something profound about humanity, something original and essential in the pure etymological sense.