Nietzsche and the Horse II (2021)

I was commissioned to repaint a painting a made and sold a decade ago.

I’m pleased with the contrast between the horse’s blissful expression, and Friedrich’s mad stare.

The grey ground accentuates the detachment of the moment, this is about a connection between Nietzsche and the horse, nothing else matters.

On January 3, 1889, Nietzsche suffered a mental collapse. Two policemen approached him after he caused a public disturbance in the streets of Turin. What actually happened remains unknown, but an often-repeated tale states that Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse at the other end of the Piazza Carlo Alberto, ran to the horse, threw his arms up around its neck to protect the horse, and then collapsed to the ground.