Halcyone

Halcyon is a mythical bird, usually identified with the kingfisher, said to breed about the time of the winter solstice in a nest floating on the sea, and to have the power of charming winds and waves into calmness. Gottlieb presents an embodiment of this rare spirit before us, with the wild wind and stormy sky behind her. Poetically, wild winds and stormy skies are metaphors for an emotional tempest. In this light, we see the painter describing a beautiful external power which can calm our troubled human emotions.