Technique canvas/oil, size 90/70, 2023. Water is the soul of the Earth, Water is the cradle of life. Life on our planet consists of water. At all times and in different parts of the world, people have endowed water with many sacred meanings. Water dissolves, destroys, cleanses, rinses and restores. Water is life, and at the same time, water is a symbol of destruction and death. It is an image of the irrational and uncontrollable, but also of purity, renewal and protection. The painting shows a city under the water, where in the main palace, according to the author's idea, the Soul of the Ocean lives – personifying souls of all living things on planet Earth. This palace is inaccessible to human eyes, it is guarded by huge sperm-whales, which in this canvas are sleeping. Sperm whales sleep vertically, in groups, suspended impossibly, the way an object might be suspended only in a dream. Suffering and adversity can touch the soul, they can hurt it. In order to preserve the soul’s calmness and strength, it is hidden in a sunken palace, the beauty of which is holed up deep in the heart of the Ocean and is protected by whales. Whales here are represented as the defenders of the peace of our planet’s soul. Ancient people believed that our Earth had a flat shape and floated among the boundless ocean. According to the legend, it rested on whales. In ancient times, people believed that the souls of titans inhabited the bodies of these amazing creatures. In this painting they are like formidable guards of the palace - even in a dream, whales don’t leave their post so that the Soul of the Ocean remains under their reliable protection.