Why is this painter insane?

[darom03]

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from the blog: [ QUOTE ]
The professor who promised to come yesterday didn’t. They say he’s coming tomorrow, though.

One more clue. Someone made this guess. The painting depicts the Maslenitsa (Shrovetide, the feast on the last day before the Lent — the Brazilian carnival is the same holiday). It’s one of the holidays with pagan roots, and the celebration involves burning a strawman — symbolising, if I remember correctly, the ending winter. Now, could it be that you’re the burning strawman?

To which the professor allegedly replied, “not a strawman — but close”.

Also, he said the keywords are water and air. (Now that I think of it — could it be painted from the perspective of a falling, and possibly melting, snowflake? Was the phobia a fear of falling?

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OMG, that was going to be my guess!