In Iron Law (painting), how is the Themes discussed?
Iron Law was among the works that inaugurated a new phase in Nerdrum's career, where the artist abandoned the contemporary, concrete settings of his 1970s works. The American critic Paul Cantor associated this with Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of master–slave morality: "His early paintings portray the modern world of slave morality; his later paintings portray an ancient world of master morality." Cantor wrote that Iron Law "seems to depict the emergence of the master–slave relationship, the moment when the slave acknowledges the master. (...) Nerdrum seems to be suggesting that society originates in an act of violent mastery."
Friedrich Nietzsche master–slave morality Paul Cantor