Lying Down to Sleep by John Berger & Katya Berger

Is oblivion nothingness? No. Nothingness is formless and oblivion is circular.

The clouds in the Oculus of the Bridal Chamber, painted by Andrea Mantegna at St George’s Castle in Mantua, are the starting point for an intimate dialogue between father and daughter John and Katya Berger, held as they observe the frescoes in the famous room.

The conversation leads to a personal exploration of Mantegna’s masterpiece, the infinite complexity of the reality it represents and the human and artistic events that lie below the surface. Behind the painted curtains which reveal and conceal a painted landscape, all is revealed and all is hidden. The Bridal Chamber offers Mantegna the opportunity to portray each detail from an unexpected angle that is inextricably bound up with his own profoundly Humanistic temporal perspective.

Indeed, his dramatic foreshortening technique clearly displa Show More