We Are Five
Peter Bruun
2019-2020, 20” x 24”, oil on panel
Through the grace of art, Peter’s faith in his family’s eternal bond is unexpectedly affirmed.
At the memorial service for his daughter Elisif, Peter spoke of his family of five as immutable.
“We are five,” he said emphatically. “We are five.”
Years later, despite evidence to the contrary, that truth appeared unexpectedly in a painting; though unforeseen, it was not entirely surprising.
For in art, Peter knew, not all is as it first appears.
As an example, the Baroque masterpiece Guardroom with the Deliverance of Saint Peter ostensibly shows a secular subject—how prison guards pass their time at leisure—but more is at play. In the background just beneath the half-descended portcullis, in quiet reveal, Saint Peter is miraculously delivered by a savior angel.
How unexpected; what a gift for the keen observer.
And so too with We Are Five: A surprising moment hovers, as startling for the artist in this case as for any viewer.
Peter had not set out to paint this gift of a moment or its meaning, but it’s there—the natural product of the painting process.
And so too with We Are Five: A surprising moment hovers, as startling for the artist in this case as for any viewer.
Peter had not set out to paint this gift of a moment or its meaning, but it’s there—the natural product of the painting process.
Embedded in this story of wandering and apartness, a contrary story emerges.
Look closely…
See the particularly dense gathering of lines toward the upper left corner. At that one spot in the painting (and only there), all five colors—each standing for a family member—converge at a single point.
It is a revelatory moment—the denouement, where the painting’s narrative turns on its head, shifting from a tale of apartness to one of communion. From one story of “we are five” to another.
As easily unnoticed as the angel freeing St. Peter, it nonetheless is there.
Truth affirmed and delivered.
The proof of his immutable five, revealed through art’s grace.