He Tore Himself In Two

The artist said in the context of the Brother Grimm’s stories: “they’re fascinating, the little stories, told in a very very simple, direct, straightforward language and style; it was this simplicity that attracted me. They cover quite a strange range of experience, from the magical to the moral.” It is, indeed, the moral dimension of the story that informs Hockney’s use of the characters and tropes in He Tore Himself In Two. Rather than seeing the princess, we are presented with the figure of the king involved in spinning himself. Represented in an abstract vein, the activity of spinning straw goes hand in hand with the diminishing of the human figure in the print. When spinning reaches its peak in the right picture at the bottom, it does not bring about gold. Instead, the king appears to have perished, becoming the victim of his own greed.