Originally Published - 14 MAY, 2007
Every once in a while you come across something that strikes you as absolute genius... or actually... it goes beyond intellect into pure talent. Then you think a bit further and talent doesn't come close but divine inspiration seems to be the key.
It hit me last week as I saw an exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts - The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings. Monet started drawing at a very early age. Some of the pieces on display were pages out of a sketch-book done when he was 16 years old. Pure beauty. Amazing works. You see his ability to perfect the age old techniques - before he developed his own style and became a master himself. Obviously there were some that were just there... You know... oh that's nice but then - there were some that were so breathtakingly moving that you just have to stop. I sat in front of one painting for about ten minutes. Then a thought that I had had about eight years ago came streaming back to me. When I see beauty whether it be in Art, Music, Performance, in Nature... I see God.
Yesterday, I saw the Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883 exhibit at the National Gallery. This was a collection of Renoir's lesser known works and away from his familiar portraits and figure works. Amazing. 64 works in all. Stunningly beautiful. Again, some of the works can leave you speechless as to their beauty.
I am drawn toward the Impressionists as I think I always have been - but I am not sure how it happened. It is probably the fact that the lines are not always clear, there is room towards interpretation. Am I seeing the full picture or can I imagine something else?
Movement and colour and line and pictures... Beauty... I think I'm drawn to them because I can see God. I'm drawn to the fact that God is so much bigger than any one's own dogma, credo, or doctrine but that one can paint a line and show beauty...Man's interpretation of God's creation must be seen on an individual basis. We cannot allow anyone to dictate who God is because it will be revealed to each and everyone of us on a different level. God speaks to me and is revealed through art and love and beauty and emotion. To another God is revealed in a prayer, a song, a mantra or an icon. Who am I to say how your God will be revealed? I cannot judge for I have no right.