Art is the Solution

Winter Source: MET Museum Today is the first official day of winter (although, in my opinion, it’s felt like winter for a while already). So, in honor of the winter solstice, I want to share a piece of art that personifies winter itself. There is a long tradition in Western art of anthropomorphizing the seasons and other abstract concepts. The seasons carry special symbolism and they are often associated with the cycle of life. Winter, as the coldest and darkest season of the year, is typically associated with death and old age. As such, winter is usually depicted as an old man or old woman, a person approaching the end of life. French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon, however, took a different approach to this subject. Rather than an elderly man, Houdon depicts winter as a young girl. Houdon’s Winter stands nude, hunched and shivering. Her head and shoulders are covered by a large, yet ineffective, shawl. Although it is obvious that the shawl does very little to warm the girl, it provid...