The Tree of Life (Mark Ryden, 2007, oil on canvas) framed original
Here’s another strange painting from contemporary master of surrealism, Mark Ryden. The subject is the “tree of life” a subject which comes up in religion, philosophy, science, and art. A tree of life from Greek myth even found its way onto this blog several Octobers ago. In Ryden’s interpretation, a princess with a bouquet and a baby sits suspended in a sentient tree. Hidden among the boughs are the seven platonic solids. Beneath her a bear and a monarch symbolize some unknown dualism.Somehow this painting combines Crivelli’s creepy diagram-like realism with half of the topics from Ferrebeekeeper. Seriously there are hymenopterans, crowns, trees, mammals, a snake, and garden flowers (not to mention all of the colorsfrom a master’s palate). The only things missing are a Chinese spaceship and an underworld god (and even the latter is hinted at by the death’s head and the tree’s occult eye).
Detail
As always I am moved by Ryden’s realism and by his eerie milieu, but I am at a loss as to the cohesive meaning. Perhaps there isn’t one and the piece is meant to convey atmospheric mystery and sacredness of a renowned tree which does not actually exist anymore than does platonic perfection.
ferrebeekeeper 
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October 31, 2012 at 6:51 AM
Beatrix
I’m not sure what to make of it myself.
It’s rather Germanic, sort of a Hieronymous Bosch meets Crivelli with a bit of Japanese anime thrown in somehow. I like it.
Does Mr Ryden make his own frames also?
November 6, 2012 at 12:51 AM
Wayne
I like Ryden’s paintings, but there is something off-putting about them too (not necessarily in the good Bosch way, but in a creepy Balthus way). He custom commissions his frames from master-carvers in Indonesia.
October 31, 2012 at 10:33 AM
SpidrGoddess
I adore Mark Ryden! Hadn’t seen that piece before though…..
May 21, 2018 at 9:48 PM
wilhelmmeis
The baby she is holding also represents the Celtic god Cernunnos, recognizable by his antlers and by the torc in his right hand and serpent in his left. See, for example, the Cernunnos image embossed into the side of the Gundestrup Cauldron.