This painting is part of The Nobles of the Inner Sea, Mahshid Moochani’s 2026 collection of thirteen oil-on-canvas paintings. Read the collection essay — Why the Sea in Mahshid Moochani’s New Collection Isn’t a Place — or visit Mahshid Moochani’s full artist profile.
An architect arrived with marble samples, intending to build the elephant a palace. The elephant ignored the stones and used his golden trunk to return a few stranded fish to the water instead. When the architect unrolled his plans again, a dolphin was already sleeping peacefully beside the rhinoceros. He left the page blank — the palace had risen already, exactly where no wall could be seen.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Year: 2026
Dimensions: 100 × 100 cm
More from The Nobles of the Inner Sea:
- The Nobles of the Inner Sea — $18,000
- The Sail of the Self — $14,000
- The Rhythm of Being — $16,000
- A Civilization in the Depths of Silence — $16,000
- A Polyphonic Unity — $10,000
- The Hidden Order of the Waves — $7,000
- The Silent Music of the Deep — $7,000
- Hidden Geometry — $7,000
- A Gliding Mind — $4,000
- The Elephant’s Angel — $4,000
- A Shoreless Breath — $4,000
- The Making of the Sun — $4,000
