How a Sunray Was Dying on the Tree of Life

František Bílek regarded his artwork as a distinctive, visionary interpretation of the message of Christianity. The subject and concept of this charcoal drawing derives from his associations made when watching a storm. The artist combined this natural phenomenon with a scene of the Virgin Mary standing at the foot of the Cross, symbolizing the union and temporary separation of Mother and Son at the Crucifixion. Other motifs are contemplated in the inscription carved in relief on the frame: the luminous figure of Christ, and especially Mary who becomes “a glorious apparition in a trance”, with the moon as her traditional symbol, from which the light is reflected in the nocturnal landscape; moreover, “the luminous column” of the Mother is mirrored in the lower plane. The spiritual exaltation is embodied here by lighting. It is also based on the contrast between the order of the upper plane and the chaos of the neo−romantic woodland, with a partially anthropomorphic “whirl” of light reflections in the lower plane.