Art+Literature

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LLT1223 1208

14 November 2016

Solitude Bringing Out the Haze in Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”

In his novella, “Heart of Darkness”, Conrad includes a piece of artwork painted by Kurtz.

Kurtz’s painting depicts “a woman, draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch” (Conrad

36). Marlow sees this painting at the station where he is fixing his steamboat, but he does not

elaborate on the meaning or significance of the painting. The main idea that Conrad evokes, but

does not state explicitly, through the inclusion of this painting is that through colonialism Kurtz

believes that he brings light to the dark parts of the world. Given that this painting is meant to

comment on Kurtz’s ideas on colonialism; a painting depicting Marlow’s ideas on colonialism

would be an interesting addition to the novella. With the inclusion of such a painting, readers

would have another point of comparison between the two characters’ beliefs. One painting that

could fit this role is Solitude by Jean Leon. Solitude depicts a solitary lion lying calmly on a

beach; there is also a shadow moving over the scene presumably cast by trees. In order to

understand what this painting could bring to the novella, one must decide where it would appear

in the story, how it compares Kurtz’s painting, and what these comparisons add to the novella.

Solitude is a painting of a lion on a beach, so many readers will fail to see its’ connection

to colonialism if it is not tied into the novella correctly. The first place that readers will see the

painting is on the ship with a description given by the unnamed narrator. The narrator will

describe the painting after he says that, “[Marlow] did not represent his class” (Conrad 19). The

painting will be introduced as having been painted by Marlow which shows that he does not

represent a typical seaman. By introducing the painting early on in the novella, an air of mystery

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will surround it. Readers will be confused as to why Marlow painted a lion on a beach, and

whether or not this painting has some sort of deeper meaning. Later on in the novella, the reader

is introduced to the painting done by Kurtz. At this point, readers will be able to draw some

parallels between the two paintings. Still later on in the novella, after describing Kurtz as

“impressively bald,” Marlow will add that baldness is the only thing that he and the lion do not

share (Conrad 55). With this comparison, the readers will be brought back to the painting of the

lion. Then, at this point they can begin to draw comparisons between Kurtz and the lion in the

painting. Some of the major comparisons are that both Kurtz and the lion are out of their natural

environments, and the new environments will lead to the eventual destruction of both of the

beings if they stay in them. Additionally, the darkness of the shadow is just barely touching the

lion and will eventually overtake it; whereas, in Kurtz case, the darkness has fully enveloped

him. However, these comparisons will not be explicitly stated or indicated. Just as with the

blindfolded woman painting, the meaning is meant to be interpreted. This is in keeping with the

ambiguity of the novella as a whole, as the unnamed narrator states, “the meaning of [the story

is] not inside like a kernel but outside” (Conrad 19).

While the placement of Solitude is important to the reader’s understanding of the painting

itself, the painting’s portrayal of the theme of colonialism is important to the reader’s

understanding of the text as a whole. Throughout the novella, Marlow makes many comments

regarding colonialism and his beliefs on it. For example, he says, regarding Britain, “this also has

been one of the dark places of the earth” (Conrad 19). This example shows that he feels that at

one point Britain was an uncivilized nation; however, he then says that “Light came out of this

river since—you say Knights? Yes” (Conrad 20). These examples show that Marlow is

conflicted with the fact that a place which was once shrouded in darkness is now spreading light

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to other places of darkness. Solitude perfectly portrays these ideas with the same sense of

conflict. In the painting, one is unable to tell whether or not the sun is setting or rising making it

difficult to tell whether the shadow is receding or lengthening. Thus, if the shadow represents the

darkness, it is difficult to tell which direction the darkness is traveling. Either way, it is clear that

the source of light is also the source of darkness. This compares to Marlow’s ideas in that he

believes that the colonists are spreading light to the uncivilized world, but yet there is also

something dark within what they are doing to the people in the colonies. These ideas are also

shared in the painting done by Kurtz. In his painting, the woman represents the colonists. She has

a torch which represents the spreading of light; however, she is blindfolded meaning she does not

know what she is setting on fire. Therefore, she also causes the destruction of the colonies which

could be seen as darkness. By drawing out these points of comparison between the paintings,

Solitude brings to the reader’s attention the contradictions within Marlow’s ideas on colonialism

and the play between light and dark running throughout the novella.

While the two paintings are similar in their portrayal of the idea of spreading civilization,

they differ greatly in their portrayal of the colonists. In Kurtz’s painting, he portrays the colonist

as a blindfolded woman. This shows that the colonist does not know what he is doing; he is

flying blind, unsure of where to spread the light or how to do it. This demonstrates that Kurtz

himself is unsure of what to do as a colonist given that he paints this painting before going to his

post. However, in Solitude, the colonist is represented by the lion. In most cultures, lions

represent power and strength. Additionally, based on the lack of muscular tension in the figure of

the lion, one is able to deduce that he is lying calmly on the beach. This shows that the colonist is

comfortable and assured in his position of strength in his colonies. The reader will reasonably

assume that the lion is Marlow’s representation of Kurtz as a colonist. Therefore, this painting

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demonstrates Kurtz as a colonialist after many years at his post showing how his thoughts on

colonists have changed during his time in Africa. While both of these paintings have focal points

representing the colonist, they paint them in a very different light. In Kurtz’s painting, the

background is black; but in Solitude, the background is a colorful beach scene. The difference in

color shows that Kurtz sees the colonist as surrounded in blackness, but Marlow sees the beauty

in the land that is said to be black; and that the blackness must come from somewhere other than

the land itself. Including Solitude will cause aspects of the painting of the woman in the blindfold

to come to light that are not apparent in the original text.

While Conrad’s novella, “Heart of Darkness” is one of the most read modernist works in

history, there is still room for it to evoke an even deeper meaning through the inclusion of a

painting such as Solitude by Jean Leon Gerome. The inclusion of this painting would allow

readers to look at Kurtz’s painting of the blindfolded woman at a different angle by providing a

point of comparison for it. Solitude would allow the reader to compare the ideas of Kurtz and

Marlow and the ideas of Kurtz before and after his experiences in Africa. By bringing out all of

these comparisons, the painting would act as the unnamed narrator states, the “glow [that] brings

out a haze” (Conrad 19). In other words, the painting sheds light on major themes within the text

such as colonialism and light vs. darkness, but because there is no concrete right or wrong within

these themes, all the painting does is to further illustrate the different points of view

encompassed within these themes, the haze. However, it is this haze that has made “Heart of

Darkness” one of the most read novellas ever, so the inclusion of Solitude would only serve to

make this novella more intriguing and thought-provoking for readers.

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Works Cited

Conrad, Joseph. “Heart of Darkness.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature, edited by Peter

Simon, W. W. Norton & Company, 2012, pp. 17-78.

Gerome, Jean Leon. Solitude. 1890, oil on canvas, Detroit Institute of Arts.

"I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in completing this work, nor have I presented someone else's work as my own."

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Appendix A