Vitória Regia, Star of the Waters

There´s a Tupi Guarani legend which tells that whenever the moon hid itself behind the horizon, it took its favorite maiden to live in the sky. If the moon fell in love with a girl, the girl would turn into a star. Naia, daughter of an Indian chief and princess of the tribe, was impressed with the story. Then at night when everyone was asleep , she climbed the hills chasing for the moon in the hope that it would see her.But the moon did not seem to notice her and couldn´t hear her sobs of sadness in the distance. One night, Naia saw in the clear waters of a lake the shape of the moon. The poor girl, imagining that the moon had come to pick her up, threw herself into the deep waters of the lake and was never seen again.

The moon, wanted to reward the sacrifice of a young beauty, and decided to turn it into a different star from those that shine in the sky. She transformed her into a "Star of the Waters," which is the Victoria Regia plant. Thus a plant was born whose white fragrant flowers only open at night, and at sunrise look rosy and dies.
Whenever I go to Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden I stop at Frei Leandro´s pond to watch the water lillies. This time the "Star of the Waters" called my attention to paint this horizontal  composition.

Star of the Waters Sandra Nunes
- oil on canvas 40 x 120 cm

Posted bySandra Nunes at 8:23 AM 0 comments  

 
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