Fausto Zonaro 

However, the work presented at the 1908 exhibition was incomplete. It was only after his return to Italy in 1910 that Zonaro took the composition back to his studio in Sanremo, where he added new figures, notably the children playing music. These additions enrich the initial scene, reinforcing the harmony and joy that emanate from it.

The subject and atmosphere of the work also resonate deeply with the ideas of the Lebanese poet and painter Khalil Gibran. Gibran, who published The Nymphs of the Valley in 1906, a collection of poems celebrating the beauty and freedom of nature, shared a similar vision of femininity and nature as creative forces. In his writings, Gibran expresses a nostalgia for a pure and natural world, far removed from the tumult of urban and materialistic life.

He evokes a quest for the ideal, a return to simple, original beauty, similar to the scene immortalised by Zonaro.

Although their artistic paths do not directly cross, there is a strong correlation between the works of Zonaro and Gibran. Both were influenced by similar ideas about nature, femininity and spirituality. While Gibran expressed his vision through poems and drawings, Zonaro embodied it in his paintings. Zonaro's nymphs, dancing lightly in the heart of a mystical valley, can be seen as a materialisation of the ideal that Gibran sought to achieve in his art and philosophy.

Moreover, Zonaro's state of mind at the time, marked by personal and political upheaval, also resonates with Gibran's themes. After being forced to leave Istanbul following the political events of 1910, the painter created this work as a kind of refuge in a more serene and symbolic world, in the image of Gibran's spiritual aspirations.

In this way, The Nymphs of the Valley reveals itself to be a work at the crossroads of art and philosophy, in which Fausto Zonaro, while remaining true to his aesthetic and style, captures the essence of nature, femininity and the quest for purity in an era marked by instability. This painting invites us to contemplate a mythological world where natural and human forces meet in a timeless dance, symbolising beauty, harmony and the ideal, themes dear to both Zonaro and Gibran.