Starlight: Indian Papoose – c. 1931-1978

by Nicholas Raphael de Grandmaison

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

APPEARANCE

49:39-49:40; 129:20-129:22

Seen first as Danny turns the corner to see the twins for the last time, and last at the bottom of the Conquest stairwell. Since it’s suggested by the architecture that these areas are part of the same “staff wing” part of the hotel, it’s interesting that he would tie them together with this practically anonymous piece. In fact, of all the repeating artworks that appear in more than one place in the hotel, this might be the only one that’s never seen clearly. Or, at least, it’s the most unclear in all of its showings.

IDENTITY SIGNIFICANCE

As for the artist himself, there’s three things that really jump out at me:

1) This is my first confirmed de Grandmaison whose work apparently inspired (and strongly resembles) the work of Dorothy Oxborough. And her work, as we’ve seen, appears much more regularly and clearly throughout the hotel. For the last 2 years, I assumed this was another of her pieces. So perhaps the similarity in their style, subject matter, and execution is related to how these paintings show up to herald the final arrival of the Grady twins, who seem to have a strange effect generally on the artworks around them. Also, since the last appearance occurs right after the murder of Hallorann, this would seem to echo Grady’s murder of his family.

2) “De Grandmaison” is French for “The Big House” which is old timey slang for a prison. The Overlook is sort of a “big house” and this painting shows up only seconds after Wendy has made her fruitless call to the rangers, which she makes because she’s starting to feel trapped by the storm that moved in, and which brought down the cable lines. Also, this painting appears right around the corner from Suite 3, where Wendy and Danny become like prisoners after a point. Also, the hotel is like a prison for souls, and the painting right after it in the Conquest well is of a large red house atop a hill, which appears to be a watermill, and which I believe alludes to the hotel swallowing Dick Hallorann into room 238.

3) He had a son, Orestes, who also became a well-known artist, and who is likely the artist behind one of the paintings I call “the Grady Twin paintings“, which, again, connects nicely to this moment.

SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE

As for the title: I can’t help thinking this is another reference to the minotaur, whose given name was Asterion, meaning “starry”. And if you read my Pillars of Hercules analysis carefully, you’ll recall that the girls seem to appear near, and finally become themselves, astrological shapes. And in the final of those shapes, when the bloody twins lie in the pattern of Cancer, the tipped over chair next to them looks like the constellation for Cancer.

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MIRRORFORM SIGNIFICANCE

The two appearances are exactly 37:30 apart in the mirrorform, the first appearing at 12:09-12:10, and the second appearing at 49:39-49:40. That means it’s exactly 21:05 to the middle of the movie from the last appearance, and 12:10 from the beginning, which I just think looks cool. 12:10 – 37:30 – 21:05. I mean, yeah, those are significant numbers to the movie, but it also just looks cool. But now if we subtract the opening Warner Bros. logo, the first appearance is actually 11:55 into the film, and this happens to be the time showing on the clock behind Danny in the games room when he first lays eyes on the twins. The moment this clock appears in the film proper? 21:21. So, I doubt the 11:55 thing is a coincidence, but what would it mean? I wonder if it’s as simple as a nod to this being the time of day the real Grady girls were murdered by their father. In my analyses of the F21 numbers, I posit that 1 equals “origins” and 5 equals “murder” so is Danny witnessing the origin of murder, AKA the Pillars of Hercules?

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Also, I think it’s interesting that Kubrick would choose a de Grandmaison piece where the child has pigtails, as so many of the Oxborough ones do, which could be to further the Wizard of Oz subtext.

TOWER OF FABLE SIGNIFICANCE

A week has passed since I wrote my last point here because of something this painting helped me realize. We know where the Torrance apartment is in relation to the lobby, thanks to seeing where Danny pops out the front of the hotel. So if we place a map of that region over a map of the lobby, and make it see-through, like so, we see this Starlight hangs directly above the model labyrinth (upper light red circle). That feels like a confirmation of the Asterion connection.