Daily life, the eternal life of art, and the momentary richness of vision and experience

At the very end of the novel, Magdalena says that she wants to paint the history of the world thorugh something as small as a raindrop. This implies that the novel’s—and the painting’s—value resides in the attempt to find the meaning of life in the minor details that are often overlooked or taken for granted. Certain individuals see them, and appreciate them, and seem to be able to answer what these moments or details promise—but these characters are in the minority. They make a small brotherhood (sisterhood, really) and they typically have to suffer the loss of either their art or their homeland or their loves, in order to keep the painting—or else they have to suffer the loss of the painting in order to keep something else...