There is a legend of Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor who abhorred all women for their lasciviousness, but fell in love with an ivory female statue that he carved. Eventually he pleaded to Aphrodite to animate his Galatea, – and gods did not refuse him his bit of happiness.
The Wikipedia article draws quite a full picture of various interpretations of this legend in the centuries that followed since Ovid had narrated the story in his Metamorphoses. An extract from Ovid is also published online. The legend was an inspiration for many painters and sculptors, as we can see from the images displayed.
For my part, I particularly like Paul Delvaux’s interpretation. Delvaux revisits the legend and broadens the context in which one can think of Pygmalion’s story. Sculpture has long stopped being a “masculine” type of art, hence it can be a woman who creates the statue of a man and falls for it.
The context can be broadened further: Galatea is Pygmalion’s ideal woman, but I often like to disregard any restrictions or conventions implied by gender. Therefore, I accept any gender combination, when rereading this legend, and, as a consequence, I allow for a possibility that love which Pygmalion expects his statue to share can never emanate from his creation.
In the poem below I wanted to entwine the theme of unrequited feeling with the legend of Pygmalion. Furthermore, since Galatea embodied a certain ideal, I suggest that a statue needs not to be seen as a piece of sculpture. “Statue” can be understood as something “static”, that which is immovable, either physically or emotionally; hence “stone” is not exactly the marble, but anything cold or distant which is unlikely to liven up. Like Pygmalion is not necessarily male, so Galatea can be drawn on canvas, or described in words, or exist merely as a dream. Whichever interpretation we may prefer, Galatea is the symbol of Beauty which Pygmalion doesn’t want to give up, but whose cold demeanor drives him to despair. Когда владеешь тем, что бы отдал,
Впредь никогда об этом не жалея;
Или скорбишь о том, что потерял,
Едва ль по-настоящему имея, –
Все блекнет, если ты, Пигмалион,
Дни проводя перед твореньем милым,
Любви ответ найти желаешь в нем, –
Но жизнь вдохнуть и богу не по силам.
Впредь никогда об этом не жалея;
Или скорбишь о том, что потерял,
Едва ль по-настоящему имея, –
Все блекнет, если ты, Пигмалион,
Дни проводя перед твореньем милым,
Любви ответ найти желаешь в нем, –
Но жизнь вдохнуть и богу не по силам.
© Юлия Шувалова 2007
(PYGMALION
When you possess that which you would refuse
And never have the outcome bemoaned;
Or when you mourn the loss of what you used
To think was yours but hardly ever owned, –
All this is vain, if, like Pygmalion,
Your spending days with the adored creation,
You wait to see how love ignites the stone, –
But no god can liven your possession.
And never have the outcome bemoaned;
Or when you mourn the loss of what you used
To think was yours but hardly ever owned, –
All this is vain, if, like Pygmalion,
Your spending days with the adored creation,
You wait to see how love ignites the stone, –
But no god can liven your possession.
© Julia Shuvalova 2007)
Links and references:
Wikipedia entry on Pygmalion
An extract from Ovid’s Metamorphoses from The Internet Classics Archive
Images used (from top, from left to right):
Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, Pygmalion et Galatée (1819) – courtesy of La Tribune de l’Art
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Pygmalion and Galatea (1890) – courtesy of Wikipedia
Etienne Maurice Falconet, Pygmalion et Galatée (1763) – as above
Paul Delvaux, Pygmalion (1939) – courtesy of CGFA
Jean-Michel Moreau, Pygmalion (1806) – courtesy of Pygmalion Design
Edward Byrne-Jones, Soul Attains from Pygmalion and the Image series (1878) – courtesy of Mark Harden’s Artchive
Hi Julia ~ I’ve been secretly loitering on your excellent blog for a while now and wish to thank you for sharing your intelligent thinking. I love your superb <>Pygmalion<> post and especially your poem.
Hi Carola – thank you so much for your comment! To be honest, I’m lost for words, especially because you also commented on the poem. It is originally in Russian, but translating poetry is extremely difficult most of the times, and I occasionally feel helpless when trying to translate my work. Which is why it means so much when your reader tells you that the job was well done. 🙂 Thank you again!
Dearest Julia,stroke by your witty interpretation of Pygmalion’s and Galatea’s story, I was lead to reinterpret on a different light one of my favourite tv productions: Queer as Folk (UK).At the end of the first series, Vince, who has been in love with Stuart since teenagers, suddenly realizes:“Unrequired Love. It’s fantastic! ‘Cose it never has to change, it never has to grow up and it never has to die”!what if Stuart is not the leading charachter? driving Vince wherever he likes and keeping him waiting for something that will never happen?What if all what Stuart represents is the creation of Vince’s eyes? an incarnation of the safe place, in the world of relationships, where to take shelter and draw hope in the future? safe for its/his own nature of being unreachable, therefore not challengeable and uneligeable for disappointment?…Disregarding any restrictions or conventions implied by gender,yours sincerely,Muk
Muk, Thank you for your comment – it’s wonderful to see, from how many angles it’s possible to look at the story of Pygmalion! You come from the angle that just makes the story even more interesting for us today. Indeed, in love we are very often dreamers, we tend to idealise the object of affection. I haven’t watched the entire series of Queer as Folk, but I’m sort of familiar with the storyline you mentioned. And it’s true that now and again, despite gaining sometimes painful experience, we still prefer to turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of the loved ones, lest the love we have for them expires. I suspect this is somehow reflected in Vince’s attitude to Stuart. And what is interesting about your comment is that there were actually interpretations of Pygmalion’s story, in which Galatea didn’t return his affection. I don’t know if you knew about these, but the possibility of such interpretation makes one wonder if there was any reason to turn a stone into flesh. Which next brings up a question of whether or not ideals are attainable, and whether Galatea would be better than any other woman, once she’d been animated. Having said it all, it doesn’t serve being philosophical when feelings are involved. 🙂 For, however successfully we may persuade ourselves that there is something good about unrequited love, to have it shared – truly shared – is the most beautiful experience. In addition, I think this is not just about having your feelings shared – it’s about saving you from loneliness. Thanks for dropping in and for a thought-provoking comment!