Murals and Paintings: Symbols of Memory and Connection
Introduction: What Are Murals and Paintings in the Novel?
In Suzy Krause's I Think We've Been Here Before, murals and paintings appear as more than decorative choices—they become active symbols of preservation, memory, and the human need to find meaning in the face of loss. The most prominent example is Hilda’s obsessive covering of her farmhouse walls with pastoral scenes, but the motif also includes a giant mural in Berlin of a woman who resembles Nora’s mother, a student mural on a rec center, and Hilda’s own youthful work in high school. These artworks recur throughout the narrative, shifting in purpose as the characters confront grief, mortality, and the uncanny feeling that they have lived this moment before. The murals literally capture images of family, nature, and beauty, but their deeper role is to anchor characters to what matters, even as everything else disintegrates.
Where Murals and Paintings Appear
Hilda’s Farmhouse Murals
Hilda begins painting her kitchen walls with a detailed mural of her family: Marlen looking healthy, Nora’s exact blue eyes, and even the cat’s sarcastic likeness. She wants to preserve “what was special and important” while also “embellishing a little to make herself feel better.” The project grows frantic—she rises at 3 a.m. to fix details, and Marlen recognizes that “what she was really doing was grieving.” After finishing the kitchen, she moves to the dining room, painting a field of golden grain, a red combine, and deer. She buys more paint and resolves to cover the entire house. Later, in Nora’s bedroom, she paints birds—toucans, blue jays, penguins—on the ceiling. Hilda’s murals escalate from a coping mechanism to a desperate attempt to “save her family” through art.
The Berlin Mural
While walking in Berlin, Nora and Jacob discover a large mural on an apartment building: a woman five stories tall. Nora instantly recognizes her mother, pointing out the birthmark, hairline, and freckles. Jacob notices the woman also resembles Nora. The timing is uncanny—her mother texts “Thinking about you. Jeg elsker deg” just as Nora stares at the mural. The artwork becomes a tangible link across distance and a source of mysterious familiarity, echoing the novel’s theme of déjà vu.
The Student Mural on the Rec Center
Hilda learns from a hardware store clerk that the grade twelve class is painting a mural on the side of a rec center “to cheer everyone up.” The art teacher tells students that “nothing matters more than anything else” anymore, so the mural matters as much as the Mona Lisa. This idea shifts Hilda’s perspective from despair to the possibility that everything matters equally.
Hilda’s High School Murals
In a brief memory, Hilda recalls painting murals along the senior high hallway with her best friend. This early experience roots her identity as an artist and foreshadows her later need to create.
How the Meaning of Murals Changes
Initially, Hilda’s kitchen mural is an act of love and record-keeping—she wants her family to look “happy, the way they had before last year.” The art preserves a past that cancer and the apocalypse threaten to erase. As she continues, the meaning shifts: the dining room mural does not bring closure but opens a door to needing more paint. The act becomes compulsive, a way to avoid confronting Marlen’s mortality and the looming disaster. When she paints Nora’s bedroom with birds, she has finished Marlen’s novel about infinite lifetimes; her art now reflects an acceptance of cycles and repetition. The birds—some adorable, some terrifying—mirror the range of emotions she has faced. By the final scene in the basement, Hilda has settled into her new reality, and the murals have done their work: they allowed her to grieve, to hold onto her family, and ultimately to let go.
The Berlin mural, in contrast, appears to Nora as a coincidence too perfect to ignore. It reinforces the bond between mother and daughter, but also between Nora and Jacob—they share the discovery. The mural’s familiarity hints at the novel’s larger mystery: that lives may loop and repeat, and that art can carry echoes across iterations.
The student mural at the rec center represents a generational shift in perspective. The teenagers embrace a philosophy where artistic worth is no longer tied to longevity. This echoes Hilda’s own later realization that “each stroke of my brush is worth millions of dollars, and each dollar is worth nothing”—that art’s value is intrinsic, not dependent on permanence.
Character Connections
- Hilda: The primary painter. Her murals are a direct expression of her grief, denial, and eventual acceptance. She uses art to keep her family alive in her mind, and Marlen supports her by sitting with her while she works.
- Nora: She is the subject of Hilda’s kitchen mural and the discoverer of the Berlin mural. The Berlin artwork connects her to her mother and to Jacob, reinforcing her sense of invisible ties across time and space.
- Jacob: He accompanies Nora at the Berlin mural and observes the resemblance. His scientific mind tries to explain the phenomenon through quantum entanglement, but he remains open to mystery.
- Marlen: He understands Hilda’s need to paint and sees it as part of her grieving process. His own novel about repeating lives parallels the themes embedded in the murals.
- Irene and Ole: While not directly involved in painting, they participate in the family dynamics that Hilda’s art seeks to preserve.
Theme Connections
- Art as Coping: The murals are Hilda’s primary method of processing grief—first for Marlen’s cancer, then for the broader apocalyptic threat. Marlen recognizes that painting is “what she was really doing” when she couldn’t articulate her feelings.
- Grief and Mortality: Each mural is an attempt to hold onto life. Hilda paints Marlen healthy; she paints Nora’s eyes “the exact right shade of blue.” The art becomes a memorial before the ending.
- Denial vs. Acceptance: Hilda starts by refusing to read Marlen’s book about the end, instead painting to avoid reality. By the time she finishes the bird mural, she has read the book and begun to accept the cycle of death and repetition.
- Déjà Vu and Repetition: The Berlin mural triggers a sense of recognition in Nora—she has never seen it before but feels it is meant to be her mother. This aligns with the novel’s exploration of déjà vu and nested lifetimes.
- Family Bonds Under Crisis: Hilda paints her entire family into the kitchen scene. The murals are a record of love and a way to physically surround herself with the people she fears losing.
Four Study Questions with Answers
1. How does Hilda’s approach to painting change from the kitchen to Nora’s bedroom, and what does that reveal about her emotional journey?
Answer: In the kitchen, Hilda obsesses over perfection—fixing details at 3 a.m. and trying to “save her family” through accurate likenesses. By the time she paints Nora’s bedroom, she has finished Marlen’s novel about repeating lives and is more relaxed; she paints birds without a strict order, letting “gravity decide.” This shift indicates her acceptance of imperfection and mortality. The earlier frantic energy stems from denial, while the later calm reflects a readiness to face whatever comes.
2. What significance does the Berlin mural of Nora’s mother have for the theme of déjà vu?
Answer: The Berlin mural appears to Nora as if it were a portrait of her mother, even though she has never seen the painting before. The timing of her mother’s text heightens the sense of a hidden connection. For Jacob, the mural also looks like Nora, reinforcing the idea that the characters are bound by unseen threads—perhaps from previous lives. The mural literalizes the novel’s central question: we’ve been here before, and art can carry that memory across time.
3. In what way does the student mural at the rec center challenge Hilda’s own view of art’s importance?
Answer: The hardware store clerk explains that the class believes the mural “matters as much as the Mona Lisa” because longevity no longer has meaning. Hilda initially feels that “nothing matters,” but the student’s optimism helps her see that “everything matters the same amount.” This moment frees Hilda from worrying about durability, allowing her to paint for the act itself rather than for preservation.
4. How does Marlen’s role as a passive observer of Hilda’s painting contribute to the novel’s message about grief?
Answer: Marlen does not direct or critique Hilda’s work; he simply sits with her, sometimes dozing, sometimes watching. By “following her down the stairs to be with her,” he validates her process without trying to fix her grief. This quiet companionship reflects the novel’s idea that healing does not require solving the problem—just being present. Marlen’s acceptance of his own death parallels his acceptance of Hilda’s need to paint.
Conclusion
Murals and paintings in I Think We've Been Here Before are far more than decorative set pieces. They function as emotional barometers, recording Hilda’s transition from denial to acceptance, and as mysterious links between characters across time and space. Whether in the intimate space of a farmhouse kitchen or on a Berlin street wall, these artworks capture the novel’s deepest themes: the power of memory, the pain of loss, and the strange beauty of repetition. Through paint, Suzy Krause shows us characters fighting to hold onto what matters—even when everything is about to disappear.