Women and Horses II

Combining women and horses in a motif may seem unexpected, but this is by no means a rare occurrence in art. For example, Enn Kunila’s collection features two paintings by Paul Burman which also depict women and horses together in one frame. Furthermore, this motif hints at the mythological link between naked nymphs and horses: horses may symbolise hoofed satyrs or it may be an allusion to the Greek myth of Pegasus who created nymphs by striking the ground with his hooves. Since muses are occasionally also counted among nymphs created Pegasus, Mikko’s painting could well be about mythology, eroticism or the artist’s own inspiration. The dynamic and impulsive painting manner indicates the latter: the artist has worked quickly and applied such a thin layer of paint on some parts of the picture that it is practically translucent.