“But how do we dare to call this elfin being the “anima”? Anima means soul and should designate something very wonderful and immortal. Yet this was not always so. We should not forget that this kind of soul is a dogmatic conception whose purpose it is to pin down and capture something uncannily alive and active. The German word Seele is closely related, via the Gothic form saiwalô, to the Greek word , which means ‘quick-moving,’ ‘changeful of hue,’ ‘twinkling,’ something like a butterfly…”
oil on canvas
signed b.l.: FALERO / 1888
