One cannot measure the truth. Truth has many forms and depictions, but it essentially is everything that matters…
The world famous sculpture has puzzled me with its expressions and gestures to the extend that I decided to reflect on its meaning for every thoughtful viewer.
But first let me give some basic information about the figurative sculpture. It is depicting the Trojan priest Laocoön and his sons Thymbraeus and Antiphantes. They are being severely attacked by sea serpents. The sculpture is a marble monumental copy probably of an earlier bronze version. It is attributed to three Greek sculptors – Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus. The sculpture is dated between 27 BC and 68 AD. It is considered as an epitome of the human agony, as an icon of suffering and straining.
And that is what has amazed me – the extend of expressed suffering which is showing no signs of hope or redemption. The contorted and convulsing bodies and faces state misery in grand scale. Most important and priceless are the lines on the face of Laocoön:
I myself have seen this marvelous piece of art at the Museo Pio Clementino, in the Vatican and have to share with you that the sole luminance of it is epic not only in details, but in its equity. Somehow it shows to us that the human suffering has no redemptive power most of the time and that we are mere objects of our problematic nature of flesh and soul. The legend on which this sculpture is based is another reason why I think that it is always impossible to change the outcome of the mere human life.
And that is why this ancient Greek sculpture is a symbol of truth for me – the various emotions which are evoked in us are only what they really are – reflections of our materialistic and limited shell inside which our soul flickers.