Sofia Budakova
Three Pearls, 2025
Oil on canvas, 100 × 70 cm
Time Capsule
November 22, 1963. Dallas. The world still lives in the illusion of celebration. President John F. Kennedy smiles from his car, with Jacqueline beside him in her pink Chanel suit. It seemed that America was living through a golden age of hope, with a future full of promise.
But time stops at 12:30. Three shots ring out. A trace remains on the asphalt, and in memory — a woman in pink.
In the artist’s drawer lie the silent witnesses of this tragedy. The New York Times records the events like a chronicle. The book Profiles in Courage recalls Kennedy’s legacy. A bookmark of pink fabric connects everything to Jacqueline’s image. A pearl necklace, broken in chaos — three pearls lying apart, like the three fatal shots.
The watch is frozen at 12:30 — the hour of tragedy. Chandon 1955 champagne, once opened in the White House, now stands untouched. Even in the reflection of the bottle lives the shadow of the woman in pink.
The painting is a frozen drama — a memory sealed in a capsule. Jacqueline lost her husband, and every person lost something of their own: some — faith in the future, others — a sense of safety, still others — the illusion of happiness itself. A loss too personal and too universal to name.
The artist reminds us that behind history stand people — and that even behind a glass raised in celebration, a shot may ring out.