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I agree that your comment sums it up Nate. I would add that the thing I like about this painting - being someone very zoned into music - is that heaven is seen as a place where music is central, and that's how people express themselves. There's often a vision of 'paradise' which is kind of flakey: Jehovah's Witnesses publications which see it as a place where different ethnic groups carry around baskets of fruit. Here one boy is playing what looks like a fantastic flute. The other boy is listening, but has his own flute. I feel like there's a conversation taking place. After one plays some music, perhaps expressing a feeling of paradise mixed with sorrow at the world beyond that as Nate described it, the other one plays his own tune, in response. Music is kind of wordless; it expresses things where words fail. The idea that in paradise words are no longer any good and art is the only way of communicating appeals to me. I like that Pavel Balod has felt, in using art in the form of painting to express the idea of paradise, that he needs to show people engaged in art, in the form of music, within that. It's as though our ideas of heaven and hell go deeper than any words can encapsulate.

Fascinating, Nate! Thanks for the interpretation. That's the wonderful thing about really great art (and I do consider this to be, despite the detractors that might not consider it so). But I would ask you to look even deeper. If you'll notice, there is a frame around the background center of the piece. The world filled with "hate, blood, and demons" as you put it is a painting! Or perhaps a portal. So perhaps paradise is outside the painting, in the foreground. Personally? I see a world of fantasy which defies the traditional Puritan ethic, and as such, would be commonly demonized. Personally? I don't see any "hate, blood, or demons," however. As with any good art, people often see what is within themselves. Thanks again. Best wishes.

OK - for us deep thinkers. Look beyond to cute flute blowers and look deep into the picture. See a world filled with hate, blood, demons. A blood covered sword, a witch on the back of a lion. Think deep and see what was intended.

Sometimes he goes by his anglicized name of Paul Balod and his works have been described as near surrealistic. He was born in Moscow in 1951.

very tasteful....

cant find any biography of pavel balod on the internet only that the artist is maybe modern russian ? influenced by h bosch and rennaissence art ? - surrealism too - strong classical visual line composition - :) giles

I like that a lot. He's done the boy on the right perfectly (to my untrained eye). I like 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hieronymus Bosch more. Check it out... xx

Great depiction of paradise Lunarwill. I like it a lot. Thanx!