Painting Assessment: Allegory Of The Cave

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I was sent this intriguing and fascinating picture with a request to throw some light on it. Here is my assesement of it: . 

The dark and foreboding, even macabre picture instantly reminded me of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, where prisoners are trapped and they know no life beyond the cave. A bright fire is burning in front which engages them in a way that they have no inclination to escape. They cast shadows and that becomes their reality because they have never seen anything else. As in the Plato's cave, there is the dog as well, as seen above. 

To put it simply, it is an allegory of the world of illusion and perception, which does not always reflect the reality of truth. 

If we relate it to our lives, we may be trapped in a world of narratives, which may be a false reality. Reality is but a construction and the world is only as big as we can imagine. Plato's Cave at its heart shows us this internal conflict. If we open our minds to new ideas and belief systems, we can expand our universe.

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