Description
The painting “River” is inspired by the constant flow of a river. A river is never stale or stagnant; it is in continuous motion, and this movement is essential to its health and to all life that depends on it. In the same way, life itself knows no true stillness—only ongoing renewal, cycles of transformation, and the continuous exchange of energy and matter.
The work reflects the idea that we are both givers and receivers. From the moment we are born, we receive life, nourishment, and experience, and at the same time we are called to share and to give of ourselves. Like a river, we are not meant to possess or contain life, but to serve as a medium through which it flows. This balance of giving and receiving is what sustains harmony and vitality.
Often, we attempt to resist change—to hold on, to accumulate, to control. Yet in doing so, we move against the fundamental law of nature: constant flow and transformation. Stagnation arises not from movement, but from resistance to it.
River is also inspired by the poem On Giving by Khalil Gibran, whose words are inscribed into the painting itself. The poem reinforces the central theme of the work: that true abundance lies not in holding, but in allowing life to move freely through us.
You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?……
There are those who give little of the much which they have—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.
And there are those who have little and give it all.
These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward…..
And you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.
