Original artwork description:

“Contingences” is French for “contingencies.” Planning for all possible outcomes in life is often looking at things in a shade of black, where possibilities become risks and hope becomes folly. In this typical Parisian street (it is, in fact, la rue Claude Bernard in the 5th arrondissement, right by the Panthéon), one meets two distinct groups of figures. On the right, two male figures enter the painting, clothed and comfortable, one with a dog and the other holding a very content cat in his arms. On the right, stationed against the walls of the buildings, sitting on the sidewalk, are a woman, without clothing, ill-appearing, a boy, clothed only with what appears to be a sort of loincloth, and a very famous beggar, one that was once painted by Édouard Manet (the full-length portrait is now in the Norton-Simon Museum in Pasadena, California).

This group on the right are the possible outcomes and contingencies for the two young men who are entering the painting.

Materials used:

Oil on linen

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