MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
SPECIAL ART CONNECTION SECTIONS
GROUP OF SEVEN ⎔ SNOW WHITE ⎔ CAESAR ⎔ COLVILLE ⎔ VESUVIUS
COME OUT, COME OUT ⎔ VICTORIA HOLT ⎔ GRADY PAINTINGS ⎔ WALL RUGS
ART OF THE LOBBY ⎔ LESSON KEY BIRDS ⎔ SHARED LIBRARY
Inspired by the glut of artworks in the lobby that have magical behaviours, I made a map (using someone else’s video game parody map of the film set, so it might not be to scale) to give you a quick way to comprehend just how magical the art in the film is. Check this out.
- Red Bar = connects two pieces by the same artist
- Green Bar = connects two pieces by the same Group of Seven artist
- Green Bar (Curving) = Connects pieces by non-repeating Group of Seven artists
- Blue Circle = Single piece by non-repeating artist (though two of these might be the same artist, in fact)
- Yellow Circle = Rug hung decoratively on wall
- Grey Circle = Piece disappears during Wendy’s final escape from the hotel (sometimes between shots)
- Red Star = Also appears in the bloodfall hall
- Orange Star = Also appears near room 237
- Purple Star = Also appears in the 2nd entrance (where Hallorann finally enters and Jack finally leaves the hotel)
- Blue Star = Also appears in two other locales (only two of these aren’t at the 2nd entrance, Clarence Gagnon’s Trapper’s Camp (which also appears in the bloodfall hall and the blowjob stairwell) and Brueghel the Elder’s Tower of Babel (which appears in the Colorado Lounge/near 237 and inside Suite 3); third locales include the bloodfall hall (wave rug and December Afternoon), the Gold Room (blood rug), and outside Suite 3 (Crying Child), which is very similar in appearance to the blowjob stairwell.
Certain of these concepts and effects will seem more pointed as you get into the larger analysis. And there’s floor rugs, lattice curtains, magazines, glass display cases, toys, postcards, and photographs with interesting behaviours in this area, but I don’t want to make it too visually confusing. There’s also a connection between two political cartoon posters that hang in the radio rooms and something that plays on the TV at one point. This is just to show that, even before we get into the historic connections between these pieces, the lobby is a land of incredible interconnection both within itself and to the rest of the hotel. Even if there wasn’t a contextual connection between all these pieces, there would still be this cat’s cradle of how the pieces interact with the Overlook, and affect our perception of it as a physical entity.
But yeah, you might notice how certain of the above shapes and lines create little triangles in the space, and I do wonder if the direction these shapes point tell us things about why they were placed where they were placed. Like, the Group of Seven pieces seem to form a spearhead shape, the tip of which would be the mysterious Franklin Carmichael piece. Is that significant? After the Death of Hallorann, two of these pieces disappear from the film, either breaking the spearhead, or adjusting it to be JEH MacDonald’s The Solemn Land, the first work of art seen in the film. Is that significant?
MAIN PAGE ⎔ SECTION PAGE ⎔ SITE MAP ⎔ GLOSSARY
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 