The Blue Kimono II

This oil on canvas is the second lyrical version of a Japanese woman in blue kimono standing in a garden of cherry blossoms.
Just like in the first version, it represents a symbolized image of what the western world sometimes tends to see in its fascination of Japan: a nation profoundly shaped by its long tradition of refined Art and Poetry (represented here by the woman in the cherry blossom garden), yet mixed with an immutable sense of resignation in the acceptance of death as part of Life's natural cycle (represented here by the Katana sword).