MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
ART OF THE SUITE 3 AREA
AFTER THE BATH ⎔ BAIE ST. PAUL ⎔ CHIEF BEAR PAW ⎔ ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS IN 1774 ⎔ GRADY PAINTINGS ⎔ MONTREAL FROM THE MOUNTAIN ⎔ MYSTERIES ⎔ OXBOROUGH ⎔ STARLIGHT: INDIAN PAPOOSE ⎔ TOUCH OF AUTUMN ⎔ WOOD SECTION LANDSCAPE
There’s eight pieces I haven’t identified yet, but they’re doled out throughout the film. Although I have written analyses for three of these, where I’m fairly confident about my guesswork: the Cattermole Wood Section and the Grady Twin Paintings.
In fact, this room is, as of now, the most gradual to reveal its art secrets. There’s only two pieces of the total 11 where I’m 100% sure of the piece’s identity (After the Bath and Touch of Autumn), one where I’m only about 90% sure, and the three I just mentioned which are based on a lot of circumstantial evidence. I mention this because of the 91 paintings in the film (that I know of) 24 remain to be solved, which means that a third of those originate here. There was a long while in this process where the only painting in room 237 that I knew was Dog, Boy and St. John River, and that wasn’t even in the main room. So I thought there was some point to 237 being especially obscure. Now, after 2 years of relentless searching, Suite 3 is the reigning champion of WTF.
DANCING BEARS
Seen from 22:35-22:37. There’s the dancing bears and the hugely obscured snowy trees scene in Danny’s room. I’ve lately been inspecting a tonne of children’s book artists from the era to no avail.
The mirrorform action is Tony/Danny doing his REDRUMing, while the Grady Twin paintings hover overhead.
SNOWY CONIFER
Appears again at 92:42-92:50.
An obscure piece next to the bears painting, featuring something like a snow-laden pine tree. I recently discovered a very similar piece of two men ice fishing, but I don’t think it’s perfect.
The mirrorform action is the bashful US Forest Service ranger saying, “I wouldn’t like to say. Most winters they stay that way until spring. Over.” Then Wendy says, “Boy, this storm is really somethin’, isn’t it?” And the ranger replies, “Oh yes, it’s one of the worst we’ve had in years…” So, whatever this snowy pine is of, I’m guessing something about its history or its identity will relate contextually to some awful storm of history, or to something in the film that relates to awful storms, like The Masque of the Red Death, or something like that. Remember, the first time it appeared (22:35-22:37), Tony/Danny was doing his 44 REDRUMs, and here he’s doing his 9 REDRUMs, so whatever this is of, it’s one of the only artworks to connect those two moments (in the mirrorform). The other would be the de Grandmaison-style Grady Twin Painting of the horse in the snowy field.
BUTTERFLIES
We see one of the butterflies scenes (the right one), when Jack and Danny face off (53:24-53:47). Then both together when Wendy’s plotting (91:41-91:48 + 92:08-92:36). Finally, the right one appears again over the shoulders of Wendy and Danny during the final Roadrunner breakfast (99:31-101:18), and the left one appears for a few seconds (121:04-121:05) next to MURDER, before the zoom on the word. The exact amount of time the righthand one is onscreen is 227 seconds (with the gap shots subtracted), while the lefthand one is 34 seconds. The two totals then could be jumbled to make a 42 and a 237, but I’m not sure why exactly one would do this (beyond the obvious reason). I usually like to take a certain cue to arrive at moves like that. Like, check out the 42/37 analysis that came out of the mysterious Monahan paintings.
It’s worth noting that neither butterfly piece is present during the breakfast scene where Wendy comes to chat with Jack. And every other Suite 3 scene in the film crops out these parts of these walls.
I’ve considered the works of Maria Merian and WF Kirby, neither of whom did circular scenes for square frames (that I can find), but both of whom would make fabulous additions to this project.
Since a box of Sewing Cards is seen in this room, when Danny walks in on zombie Jack, I’ve wondered if this might be needlepoint. Such searches have turned up the best results, but no exact matches yet.
As for the mirrorform, the first instance of one appearing pairs with the moment in the Grady/Jack bathroom talk where Grady is acting shocked about Jack’s accusations about the other man’s immortality. The first part of Wendy’s plotting pairs with Danny meeting the Grady twins, and hearing “Hello, Danny.” The second part of Wendy’s plotting pairs with the end of her talk with the bashful ranger where he advises her to leave the radio on all the time, and she agrees to that. The Roadrunner breakfast (righthand artwork) mirrors over Danny first seeing room 237, and then performing his entire third lesson. This is followed by Wendy watching the news, and the end of her and Danny walking in the heart of the maze. Then the MURDER appearance (lefthand artwork) mirrors over the part right before the start the Abbey Road Tour when Jack says, “I better collect my family first.” So there’s a lot of Grady imagery on the other side from these pieces. But I already associated the Gradys with butterflies, so we haven’t learned too much, here.
BAIE ST. PAUL
Seen from 92:36-92:41.
Then there’s the final picture of the two snowy cabins together which hangs outside Danny’s room. The mirrorform action for this moment is Wendy telling the bashful ranger “I suppose not. Over.” in response to his question, “Is there anything else I can do for you, Mrs. Torrance? Over.” So perhaps this painting will speak to the seeming futility of Wendy’s radio call. Or about the fact that there’s nothing more to be done about the whole Overlook situation but to play out the survival game before them.
The time codes (2:36, 2:37, 2:38, 2:39, 2:40, 2:41) seem to speak to the rooms in the Avenue of the Dead, so maybe the name or artist here will support that notion. Another painter whose work this resembles is Claude Monet, whose work appears in Lolita, which features a house (the Haze house) and a hotel room (at The Enchanted Hunters) with the same address: 242.
Next art reference: Two Niagara Falls Postcards
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OTHER MAIN PAGES FOR SHINING ANALYSIS
THE MIRRORFORM ⎔ THE BEATLES ⎔ THE RUM AND THE RED
BACKGROUND ART ⎔ OVERLOOK PHOTOGRAPHS ⎔ GOLDEN SPIRALS
PHI GRIDS ⎔ PATTERNS ⎔ VIOLENCE AND INDIGENA ⎔ ABSURDITIES
THE STORY ROOM ⎔ ANIMAL SYMBOLS ⎔ THE ANNOTATED SHINING
EYE SCREAM 