Cupid & Psyche
The story of Cupid and Psyche is a short tale narrated by Apuleius within his book Metamorphoses. It is about the love story between the god Cupid and the mortal girl Psyche. The couple has to face many obstacles in order to be together and all the challenges that are presented to the girl seem impossible to overcome for an ordinary human. However, thanks to the help of the supernatural, the author beautifully communicates the message that the heart can always reach where the mind cannot. Moreover, the couple itself is presented as a symbol of balance between love and mind because love without thought can be impulsive and reckless, just like rationality without heart can be rigid, uncreative and become a limiting trap.
The story of Cupid and Psyche is a short tale narrated by Apuleius within his book Metamorphoses. It is about the love story between the god Cupid and the mortal girl Psyche. The couple has to face many obstacles in order to be together and all the challenges that are presented to the girl seem impossible to overcome for an ordinary human. However, thanks to the help of the supernatural, the author beautifully communicates the message that the heart can always reach where the mind cannot. Moreover, the couple itself is presented as a symbol of balance between love and mind because love without thought can be impulsive and reckless, just like rationality without heart can be rigid, uncreative and become a limiting trap.
In my interpretation of the book cover I used a very symbolic approach to represent the perfect balance between Psyche and Cupid - reason and love. In the image Cupid’s heart shaped arrow encounters the light of reason coming from Psyche’s oil lamp, in a perfect union.
The artwork is made using graphite pencils and recoloured digitally.
The artwork is made using graphite pencils and recoloured digitally.
