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Lot Essay
During the later years of his life Reuven Rubin built a home in Caesarea, a retreat from the hustle and bustle of Tel Aviv. His paintings from this period, including the monumental Pomegranates on My Window, reflect Rubin's characteristic absorption and love of the Israeli landscape. Painted at the artist's home, the composition is both an interior scene and a seascape. Rubin's house faced the Mediterranean sea and the old Roman aqueduct is prominent in the background. The expansive view of Caesarea serves as a contrasting backdrop for the magnified still life that dominates the painting's foreground.
Pomegranates, a Biblical fruit, are a recurring theme in Rubin's paintings. They serve as symbols of Jewish tradition. In Pomegranates on My Window the fruit seems to extend into the land of which it is emblematic. Rubin's bold palette highlights the vibrancy of both the fruit and the land.
In his memoirs, Rubin recounted: "I felt that now, when I reached my seventies, I would like to dream again as in my youth. The open spaces, the sea, and the dunes were my first love that attracted me to live in Israel. It was this, and even more, that I discovered in Caesarea, on the shores of the Mediterranean. Ruins of an ancient past filled the unspoiled natural beauty of the place. And on a hill, overlooking the old Roman aqueduct, I built my dream-house and studio. And thus, yearnings expressed in my youth poems over fifty years ago, finally came true.
"On the shores of sea, I build thee my home,
To wash your tired feet,
In golden foam of green and blues..."
(H. Gamzu, Rubin, My Life, My Art, New York, 1974, pp. 222-224).
Pomegranates, a Biblical fruit, are a recurring theme in Rubin's paintings. They serve as symbols of Jewish tradition. In Pomegranates on My Window the fruit seems to extend into the land of which it is emblematic. Rubin's bold palette highlights the vibrancy of both the fruit and the land.
In his memoirs, Rubin recounted: "I felt that now, when I reached my seventies, I would like to dream again as in my youth. The open spaces, the sea, and the dunes were my first love that attracted me to live in Israel. It was this, and even more, that I discovered in Caesarea, on the shores of the Mediterranean. Ruins of an ancient past filled the unspoiled natural beauty of the place. And on a hill, overlooking the old Roman aqueduct, I built my dream-house and studio. And thus, yearnings expressed in my youth poems over fifty years ago, finally came true.
"On the shores of sea, I build thee my home,
To wash your tired feet,
In golden foam of green and blues..."
(H. Gamzu, Rubin, My Life, My Art, New York, 1974, pp. 222-224).