Part of Aidan Hickey’s Ulysses series, which was exhibited in Zurich, at the UB Law, as part of the exhibit “James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law” (April 15 to May 18, 2025).

“Bloom brings Stephen, bleeding and inebriated, to the cabman’s shelter, near Butt Bridge.

In this refuge for lost souls – run by a man who is said to be a murderer’s accomplice – religious themes reemerge. Stephen’s coffee and bun become symbolic of the Bread and Wine. They clumsily discuss theology and quote from Thomas Aquinas. And Bloom’s kindness confirms him as a true ‘Christian’. With no little irony, he gives Stephen fatherly advice on the dangers of ‘bad companions’ and of consorting with women of loose virtue.

The source of the composition is – I hope – obvious. I aimed to paint the characters in the manner of Georges Rouault, a French Catholic artist, popular in the 1960s.”

Aidan Hickey

← 15. Circe｜17. Ithaca →