The Crossing by Michael Whelan

THE CROSSING (1997) by Michael Whelan
http://www.michaelwhelan.com

Oil on Canvas - 30" X 60"
The uncertainty of and inescapable attraction to the concept of life after death.
(snipped from website)
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I find it interesting that my first impressions of this painting were so similar to the meaning attached by Whelan himself.  Except, my own perceptions colored it (which is of course the whole point of art in the first place).

To me, this is a perfect representation of a crossing into Faerie.  Probably a more pleasant place than the origins of the perilous realm, what with that gorgeous Elysian Fields sunlight in the distance... but that was always my feeling of it.  It felt like a passage which is of course, the series of paintings that this is a part of.