For the Fallen - Center panel: The House of Cards 1956

Mordecai Ardon created ‘For the Fallen – Center panel: The House of Cards’ with oil paints and a somber palette, dominated by dark hues. The composition’s chaotic arrangement is unsettling, suggesting a world in disarray. The painting employs a symbolic language. We can see playing cards, architectural shapes and fragments, and winding forms laid out against a night sky that has suggestions of cosmic turmoil and decay. Ardon’s use of these semiotic forms hints at an exploration of existential instability. The "house of cards" motif serves as a metaphor for fragility, while the ruined architectural elements evoke ideas of societal collapse. The winding, textured forms suggest a path, or perhaps a scar, across the canvas. This introduces a sense of movement, pulling the viewer's eye through the fractured landscape. Ultimately, this painting prompts us to confront the precariousness of human constructs and the ephemerality of existence. We are left to contemplate the underlying structures of meaning and how easily they can be disrupted.