The Doors (les Portes) — Xavier Mellery

The Doors (Les Portes)

Discover 'The Doors' by Xavier Mellery – a captivating black & white Symbolist painting of two enigmatic doors. Explore its spatial puzzle & atmospheric beauty. Hand-painted reproduction available.


Xavier Mellery

Xavier Mellery was a Symbolist painter known for his evocative and mysterious scenes, often featuring ethereal figures and dreamlike landscapes; discover the captivating world of this Belgian artist.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (new york, United States of America)

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Mellery created a visual and spatial conundrum for the viewer: do we see two doors opening in opposite directions, or a mirrored reflection? Small discrepancies, such as the partially raised blind on the door in the foreground, suggest an answer. Mellery carefully manipulated the quality and the patterns of the sunlight in order to animate the interior and set a mood. In a review of the artist’s work, his friend the Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren observed, "There remains in [the] atmosphere of an empty room a little of the human soul."