It Always Rains on Sunday

It Always Rains on Sunday

mixed media (white and coloured pencils, acrylic) on black paper, 70×50 cm, June 2026

Work commitments often keep me away from drawing and from DeviantArt more than I'd like. When I find the time, I return to my themes — and noir is among the dearest.

The scene brings together some archetypes of the genre and of my previous works: the dark lady on the left, absorbed in lighting her cigarette in an almost ritual gesture — hands shielding the flame from rain and wind, as in many of my other works a real light source but also a symbolic light of hope. The detective at the centre, seen from behind, faceless: all the more archetypal for it, a figure moved by fate more than he himself realises. On the right, the clock — inexorable time — and the moth, symbol of death flying toward the light that will destroy it. On the lamppost, the poster of the film that gives the work its title.

I built the scene by accumulation: first the woman and the detective against the urban backdrop, then the lamppost and the clock. While working I was also thinking about a title, and then I remembered this 1947 English film by Robert Hamer that I had seen recently — one in which everyday life and poetic realism merge in a perfect balance — and I felt it was fitting, even though the work is not directly inspired by the film. Then on the right-hand lamppost I felt something was "missing", and so I decided to add the film poster: it was this last element that closed the circle of the title in a play of mirrors and citations. As the work progressed, colour also entered — not as decoration but as a necessary intrusion: the contrast between the warm amber tones of the reflections and the cold blues of the flame is a moment of "rupture" in an otherwise monochromatic work.