In art symbolism, all round forms are often connected with what is up in the skies, all squares with what

is down on earth, while triangles are bound up with fire and aim for the mark of the celestial.

• In this painting the triangle as the most stable geometric form acquires opposite meanings. The leading bird’s wingbeat creates an airwave that binds the whole formation together and makes flying easier for each member of the group. Their wedge-shaped flight pattern, as we can see, is a triangle. Other triangles can easily be spotted in the planes of the pyramids. The age-old unchanged structure of these square-based triangles forming a tetrahedron, as a resting place for the pharaoh, symbolized his eternal life in the valley of death. A stone-built pyramid of the regular geometric form is like a tongue of fire. Its triangular faces represented fire, divine revelation and the ‘triadic’ creative principle – Father, Son and Holy Spirit (there is a Russian saying “God loves a trio’). The triangle can also stand for the triads of heavens – sky – underworld and mind – body – soul.

• We also see an essentially endless line of the caravan moving in the foreground. It is a human journey of discovery in this world, a Thread of Life tracing the Earth.

• The sun as a backdrop for things happening on earth is the true driver of all things living. Its geometry – that of a circle or an orb – is the most perfect form which has evolved through billions of years.