Tree of Life, Axis of the World, Axis Mundi, Symbolism of the Centre
This vision of the Tree of the Centre is similar to the symbolism of the centre, the "point of absolute beginning" where God created Man and the World.
In the symbolic language of myth and religion, it is referred to as "the navel of the world", "the divine egg", "the hidden seed" and is also imagined as a vertical axis, "cosmic axis" or "axis of the world" (Axis Mundi).
The Cosmic Tree - Axis Mundi (68 X 27) 1979.
In this vision of the cosmic tree, the viewer merges with the Tree; right and left are reversed to become the right and left of the Tree and not of the one who looks at it.
This vision is similar to the symbolism of the center, “absolute beginning point” where God created Man and the World.
In the symbolic language of myth and religion, it is referred to as “the navel of the world”, “the divine egg”, “the hidden germ” and it is also imagined as a vertical axis, “cosmic axis” or “axis of the world” (Axis Mundi).
It is in the Scandinavian Eddas written in the 11th-12th centuries that we find their clearest mythical representation in the form of the ash tree Yggdrasil.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
The Axis of the World (79 X 32) 1981.
The orientation is done in relation to the Tree, as in an apparition: the right (the sun and the man) and the left (the moon, the woman and the snake) are those of the Tree and not of the spectator.
The roots come out of a skull (death and resurrection), then cross the primordial waters where living beings (fish) are born; the toad and the snake or dragon are symbols of the obstacles and evil that must be overcome to reach the Tree; in the middle of it, the phoenix symbol of eternal life; above rises the hand of the Creator.
(Text commentary by Charles SAHUGUET).
Axis Mundi (54 x 23) 1976.
The Axis Mundi is the Tree of Life that rises to the ‘Absolute beginning point’ where God created the world.
Here it takes the form of a cypress, above which hovers the Eagle, image of divine Power and the Tree radiates divine light.
The circle of the cosmos is surrounded by the primordial waters in which living beings are born, symbolized here by fish.
(Text commentary by Charles Sahuguet).
