Olivos Y Cipreses 

José Garnelo presents here, with oil on canvas, a landscape filled with olive and cypress trees, laden with symbolic weight. The olive, with its gnarled trunk, has long represented peace, wisdom, and hope. The ancients crowned victors with olive wreaths, and its oil has anointed kings and priests. Then there are the cypresses. These trees, with their pointed, dark silhouettes reaching towards the sky, have been linked to mourning, death, and the afterlife. One finds them planted in cemeteries throughout the Mediterranean, acting as silent guardians of the departed. These symbols recur in art across time. The emotional tension created by their juxtaposition in Garnelo's landscape is palpable, tapping into a collective memory, a shared cultural understanding of life's cycles. This painting engages viewers on a profound level, stirring deep-seated feelings about life, death, and the enduring hope that persists even in the face of mortality. The dance of symbols continues, their meanings echoing and evolving through the ages.