This is the most noble of the five dreams in the Commentary and it has several subsections, but in essence it describes a dream that conceals with “strange shapes and veils with ambiguity the true meaning of the information being offered and which requires an interpretation for its understanding”. Macrobius saw little to explain further what it meant as he felt it was obvious and that everybody knew from experience what it was. He gave this dream five varieties: Personal, Alien, Social, Public and Universal. It is called Personal when one dreams of that he himself is doing or experiencing something. And Alien, when he dreams this about someone else. It is called Social, when his dream involves others and himself; Public when he dreams that some misfortune or benefit has befallen the city, forum, theatre, public walls, or other public enterprise. And finally Universal; when he dreams that some change has taken place in the sun, moon, planets, sky or regions of the earth. Macrobius believed Somnium to be the most noble dream in the Commentary because Scipio incorporates all of the other dreams inside of it.
So how would one go about to update the interpretation of Somnium for our age? It is worth a brief attempt. The variety of the Public part of the Enigmatic dream can be the equivalent of todays’ media culture and information age. The Universal part of the dream can easily be compared to climate change, solar flares that disrupt our communications, satellites that fall out of the sky, but also achievements such as land reclamation, vast engineering projects for the benefit of mankind and nature conservation. The Enigmatic Dream is not so much a dream as it is a form of insight, equivalent in our own time to that of acquiring wisdom from a lengthy thought process. Perhaps it could be be equated from today’s vantage point to that of meditation.
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Paintings
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JOOS VAN CLEVE, Christ and John as children embracing., (circa 1485 Antwerp 1540
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JAMES SMETHAM, Dante and Virgil in Vallombrosa, 1866
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LUC OLIVIER MERSON, Study of a Sleeping Child, 1915
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BELTRAN MASSES, Salomé
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ANDRE MASSON, Les dormeurs , 1924
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MAX ERNST, Horizon-Soleil, 1926
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RITA KERNN-LARSEN, And life anew, 1940
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GRACE PAILTHORPE, 17th April 1941, 1941
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VILHELM BJERKE-PETERSEN, Landscape with Nude Figures, , Circa 1946
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JOSEPH CORNELL, Nyack, NY 1903 - 1972 Flushing, NY "Nostalgia of the Sea"
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ROBERTO MATTA, Sans titre, 1971
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JOAN MIRO, Barcelona, 1893 – Palma de Mallorca, 1983, Executed on 7th July 1971 and reworked on 12th & 27th July 1976
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JENNIFER BARTLETT, Primary Circles 2001
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ESTRID LUTZ / EMILE MOLD, untitled, dreamscape, 2018
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GODWIN CHAMPS NAMUYIMBA, Greatest Desire
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JAKUB JULIAN ZIOLKOWSKI, Red Diamond, 2019
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GUILLERMO KUITCA, The Family Idiot, 2019
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JAKUB JULIAN ZIOLKOWSKI, Lower World , 2020
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Sculptures and Objects
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STARGAZERS, 3200 - 2500 BC
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Large Statuette of Dionysos, Greek, Hellenistic Period, 2nd - 1st century B.C.
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MAYA LIMESTONE HEAD OF A DEITY, Circa A.D. 550-950
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A Pair of Wings, Graeco-Roman, ca. 2nd Century BC - 2nd Century AD
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Aztec Statue of a God (Macuilxochitl), Aztec, Late Post-Classic Period, 1200 - 1500 A.D.
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JUAN DE VALDES LEAL, Night clock with Saint Ambrose absolving the emperor Theodosius
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SIRO ANTONIO AFRICA OR SIRO DOMENICO AFRICA, A Series of Signed Small Plates and Two Large Dishes “Con Archittetura Dell’Africa”, c. 1700
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HUGO WILSON, Object,, 2018
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REZA ARAMESH, (Iran, 1970), Study of the head as cultural artefact
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ALCORA, Plaque with Scene from Don Quixote, c. 1727-1749
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ADOLFO WILDT, La VergineThe VirginCream
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A Louis XVI chased and gilt bronze clock with patinated bronze characters, 18th century
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Trophy , 18th century
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JAN SCHOOLMEESTERS, Head of a Woman
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BILL BARRETT, Anonymous Child #28
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A SARDONYX GOLD RING CA 1800, , circa 1800
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Funerary Stele for Eurynome, Greek, Classical Period, ca early 4th Century B.C.
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KIKI SMITH, Transmission, 2016
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DANIEL ZULOAGA, A massive Art Nouveau Style Vase , 1900
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ALEXANDER CALDER, Silver Vermicular brooch. , c. 1949
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JEAN COCTEAU, Les yeux du rêve (The eyes of the dream)
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PANAYIOTIS VASSILAKIS, KNOWN AS TAKIS, Télélumière Colonne, 1966
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ALEXANDER CALDER, Silver spiral brooch, c. 1952
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HIRAKI SAWA, Ladders
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K’Iché Urn, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 650-850 A.D.
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Works on Paper
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ALBRECHT DURER, The Dream of the Doctor (The Temptation of the Idler)
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI, The Man on the Rack, 1761
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VICTOR HUGO, The Hermitage, in Jersey
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RUDOLPHE BRESDIN, Frontispiece to La Revue Fantaisiste, 1861
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SALVADOR DALÍ, Cols Biatriques, 1930
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OTTO WOLS, Untitled circa , 1947-1949
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TSUGUHARU FOUJITA, A Young Woman Asleep
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ODILON REDON, The Head of a Young Woman Looking Down
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JAMES TURRELL, Roden Crater , 1992
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RENE MAGRITTE, The Tower , 1954
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DOROTHEA TANNING, Dream Bikes, 1988
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WILLIAM BURROUGHS,
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SHUVINAI ASHOONA, 148-0985, 2006-2007
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SHUVINAI ASHOONA, 148 - 1903, 2015
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MARK SEIDENFELD, SOULCATCHER, 2019
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Multi-media