Allegory of The Cave
Commissioned painting celebrating the visionary philosophy of Plato.
Artist:
Soren Grau
Project:
Acrylic, oil, and oilstick on Canvas
Size:
48 x 36 in.
122 x 91 cm
Date:
2016
Private Collection
On Soren Grau’s Painting, Allegory of The Cave
By Professor Nicholas Dungey, Ph.D.
“We are all born in caves, shackled to rock walls by our prejudices and ignorance. We are only able to look forward upon a vast cultural circus of shadows. We believe the shadows are real and we fight with and destroy each other over whose understanding of the shadows is more real. All the while, the truth lives outside, beyond the mouth of the cave. Can we escape the cave? Can we journey upward, outward toward the Truth?
Plato’s, “Allegory of the Cave,” is one of the most penetrating, disturbing, and hopeful accounts of the human condition ever written. I have been teaching Plato’s allegory for almost twenty years in the university, and never have I seen such a powerful, visual treatment of this story. In this painting, Soren Grau demonstrates in a raw and visceral way, the terror and affirmative joy of Plato’s allegory.”
