Edward Robert Hughes (1851–1914): Whispers on the Wind, 1911




With his Whispers on the Wind, Edward Hughes succeeds in creating an aesthetic mood rather than a particular story. Here, no meaning or legend is assigned to the picture; it is simply an excellence of execution, and as such most remarkable.Indeed the appreciation of the form and feeling of Hughes work and disinterest with narrative exactitude demonstrates the invigorating aesthetic possibilities Symbolism offered artists. Using folktales and mythologies of past ages as a point of reference, Hughes assimilated Symbolist ideals into these original sources in distinctive ways, adding some certain elements of swarming, visual details in bold colour, dramatic use of light and shadow, and energized feeling. The suggestive power of decoration in tandem with dramatic compositions invited the viewer to create their own personal interpretation. For instance, one can argue that in this painting the young lady accompanied by an egret! is just seeking a glimmer of hope; a silver lining under that extremely cloudy, dull, dark, and gloomy sky.