What is most striking about the composition of The Fisherman and His Wife is the compacted space that seems to be crushing in on itself, as the two figures in...
What is most striking about the composition of The Fisherman and His Wife is the compacted space that seems to be crushing in on itself, as the two figures in the painting are closely cropped by the edges of the picture plane.
The man, an outdoor type (his chequered shirt wrapped around his waste and his lean torso half lost in shadow, a base-cap on his head), is pulling on a fishing rod. Behind him, twisting high in the air is a gigantic fish, leaping toward the man and the viewer, threatening to crush everything. The fish is like a crossbreed between a gigantic Salmon and a Koi fish. Koi fish are amongst the most valuable fish in the world, with their exotic colouring and patterns.
In the fairy tale the fisherman’s wife keeps asking the magic fish to grant her more and more wishes until, finally, she pushes the fish’s patience too far and everything is whipped away from her again. This fairy tale puts its finger on one of the weak spots in human nature: our desire to always have more, even if that means destroying everything in our wake.
The picture merges a proverbial ‘fisherman’s tale’, with it’s tendencies of exaggeration, and a story about the destructiveness of not ever having enough, into an open, fluid and colourful dialogue.
