The Honorable Luc Martineau paints ‘The Chair of Peace’ of Yehuda Amichai

Canadian visual artist the Honorable Luc Martineau is a retired judge of the Federal Court of Canada. He was deeply inspired by a foremost poet of Israel, Yehuda Amichai, who while living through wars, dreamt of peace.

As the Honorable Luc Martineau quotes Amichai- so his inspiration is drawn into the depth of life in time and place: “a poet’s mind is seeing the world with a kind of double exposure, seeing undertones and overtones, seeing the world as it is.“

The Honorable Luc Martineau hears the music of multiple layers of vibrations, and depicts them in the scenes of his expressionist, dream-like paintings, just as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as a child, heard the music of flowers in his garden.

As poet, Yehuda Amichai wrote in his poem “I, May I Rest in Peace”, in his book, as published in: Open Closed Open “ poems translated by Chana Bloch, and Chana Kronfeld ( published by Harcourt):

I, May I rest in peace- I, who am still alive, say,

May I have peace in the rest of my life.

I want peace right now while I am still alive…

I want a four-legged chair….

a plain wooden chair.

I have lived out my life in wars

of every kind…

I want peace with all my body and soul.

Inspired by Yehuda Amichai’s  “Chair of Peace”, painted by the Honorable Luc Martineau, I write the following poem in my colleague’s tribute.

A chair stands alone, waiting, always,

Waiting, for someone to come who will sit

And, finally, give the chair the reason

For its permanent existence, yet waiting.

Always waiting for the someone to come,

And stay for as long as possible and more….

It is painted in red and black: hope

Yet, sadness: the fire of passion

In hope and still darkness of depression.

Multi-layered vibrations emanate waves

Of life longing for peace, and but to sit

In stillness, contemplating life, fulfilled,

As it is meant to be, if but achieved.

Ahead bright yellow streaks emerge from darkness,

Longing to be met amidst shadows in cascading light.

Reference to painting by Luc Martineau: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/luc-martineau_the-chair-of-peace-a-poets-state-of-activity-7146980335631626240-5una