top of page

Texts on my painting

by Etienne Buraud

me-green.jpg

See Rubens, Erection of the Cross

“You can leave the canvas upside down, that works well too.”

While inventorying the drawings found in the studio after Roland Buraud's death, I came across a series dated September 2003. On one of them is written: "Falls, like a kamasûtra of death (the fault is the painter's)."
I am not so much astonished by the nature of the inscription as by the double theme of the fall. Another drawing from the same series bears this inscription: "See the erection of the cross of Rubens."

I look at Rubens' painting and immediately want to turn it over. The fall is therefore an upside-down Christ. I do the same thing with all the drawings in the series and I see Christs everywhere. On one of them, the nail in the feet is even visible (see drawings on the right).

One day Roland received a photo from a collector who had just hung a recently acquired painting in his living room. Roland called him and laughingly told him that it was hung upside down, to which his friend replied that he preferred it that way. He heard the painter say: "You can leave it upside down, that works well too."

And for good reason...

See-Rubens-1.tif
CRB2-def-7.jpg

©2025 by Etienne Buraud

bottom of page