Domingo Milella

Print 142 x 177.5 cm. 55 7/8 x 69 7/8 in.

Frame 148.5 x 184 cm. 58 1/2 x 72 1/2 in.

Edition 1 of 5 + 2 AP

Directly from the artist studio

Sotheby's Maison, Hong Kong, Domingo Milella LIMINAL, 10 June – 20 August 2026

Late Upper Paleolithic (ca. 20,000 years ago)

Las Chimeneas Cave, located on Monte Castillo (Cantabria), is an enormous cavern with two levels connected by vertical shafts (the “chimneys” that give it its name). As far as we know, groups of hunters from the end of the Ice Age used only the lower level, and solely for ritual purposes: the entrance collapsed, preserving the interior intact, where only evidence of symbolic behavior has been documented. This includes several dozen wall paintings and engravings, among which the subject of this image stands out. Located inside a narrow, low passage—a true “cave within a cave”—it is part of a hidden group of deer figures painted with charcoal on undulating walls, in a rhythmic composition that seems to bring the herd to life. Executed with fewer than twenty strokes, it is a magnificent example of the combination of idealization and expressiveness in Paleolithic art.