Elevator, 1998

Cecilia Edefalk

Narrator: On a visit to the town of San Gimignano in Tuscany, Cecilia Edefalk had a spiritual experience that eventually led to several series of works, including the series of paintings titled “Elevator”. In a museum of sacred art, she suddenly found herself standing face to face with an angel who pointed at her with a smile that she found “unbelievably beautiful”. The angel was part of a 15th-century wooden sculpture of the Annunciation.
 
The experience was so overwhelming that it took a while before Edefalk dared try to paint the angel the way it had appeared to her. How could she capture such an enthralling experience in a painting?
 
When Edefalk started exploring the motif, she chose to use earth pigments that can be sourced in Tuscany: gold ochre and Raw Sienna. The latter also became the title of another series of paintings based on the angelic encounter.
 
Edefalk called this work “Elevator” because she got stuck in a lift while she was working on the five paintings. She happened to be thinking about how to make the largest painting, which would be nearly three metres tall, when the lift suddenly stopped. That made her realise it is better to use the stairs, to proceed one step at a time with different sizes, rather than taking the elevator to the top floor and making the biggest painting first.