With this piece, I felt inspired to use the likeness of a portly man to represent Pierre. One of the wonderful things about reading is that so much goes on in your imagination; how Pierre looks is based on the descriptions in the text but also a lot is imagined by the reader. So here is my Pierre."In the eyes of the world, Pierre was a great lord, the somewhat blind and ridiculous husband of a famous wife, an intelligent eccentric, a do-nothing, but one who harmed nobody, a nice and kind fellow. Yet in Pierre's soul all that time a complex and difficult work of inner development was taking place, which revealed much to him and led him to many spiritual doubts and joys."
I have often wondered how much Pierre reflects Tolstoy's inner world. Is this character based on him? Pierre seems to be the most fully-developed character in the book. What kinds of dark nights of the soul did Tolstoy experience? -- Lola
Lola Baltzell
from page 555-556 of original text
Collage, acrylic paint
made 11/11/10
page 440-442 of Pevear/Volokhonsky translation
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