May 4, 2009
The Power of Art
Above my desk hang four postcards, all of pieces of art that I have had the blessing to see in person. One is Henri Rousseau’s “Carnival Evening.”
The other three are pieces I saw when I was in Italy a few years ago.
– “The Mocking of Christ” by Fra Angelico
– the right hand of “David” by Michelangelo
– “St. Jerome” by Caravaggio
These are the pieces I can get lost in for hours. When I saw the Caravaggio hanging in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, I wept a few tears. The light that this man put into his paintings dazzled me; it still does, even in a postcard.
Few things transport me like great art – these paintings and sculpture, Bach’s “Cello Suites,” an Amish quilt draped over someone’s bed, the first few lines of Lolita – they elevate me above myself and above the mire that is so often life.
How sad that people do not get to see these things. How sad that we remove them ever more from schools in favor of things that help us “compete” with other countries or with each other. When will beauty be realized for what it is – the thing that keeps us alive and keeps us from killing each other?
Filed by Andi at 6:50 am under Book Recommendations, Written and Wrought, music reviews
3 Comments
Andi,
Your post reminds me of my favorite sentence by Bernard Malamud, from his introduction to his Collected Stories: “Art celebrates life and gives us our measure.”
The postcards are all lovely, of course. I especially like the Caravaggio. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful post! As for schools and our society at large, I think it’s not so much that we remove the arts from them but that the arts have evolved into a very different mode. How many still appreciate Michelangelo or Caravaggio, or Bach’s Cello Suites, or Beethoven’s symphonies, or Chopin’s preludes?… Our whole popular culture has shifted gear. Thanks to posts like yours, we can hold on to what some of us still value.
I’ve just attended a 17th C. Dutch art exhibition and find there’s similarity between some of their paintings with the Caravaggio you’ve posted here. Just thought you might be interested to take a look.