The painting is composed starting from portraits or elements of portraits of Artists (220 on the whole) according to the principle of the double image: in the faces of Picasso, Mozart, Beethoven, and of many others, I interpreted the play of light and shadow to create various characters and scenes. It was then necessary to structure these elements into logical settings. The three general topics: “Fall of the Rebel Angels,” “Tower of Babel” and “Temptation of St. Anthony” were not premeditated, but evolved in the process of design and realization.

During the four years of preparation, the project comprised SEVEN square panels, from which only the two extremes remained: for practical and financial reasons, I had to convince myself, not without difficulty, to condense the five other panels into a central one.

A great number of portraits in double images, scenes and characters thus disappeared from the final result, serving to densify and enhance the middle of the tableau and to confer a positive aspect to it, as well as to render the overall painting more accessible. The designs and structures were conceived progressively, according to the needs of the subjects drawn: thus the belated appearance of the tower. One will also notice that the extreme edges on the right and on the left can be joined, therefore the image, in the horizontal direction, has neither beginning nor end.