Magic Vision: the Mystery of Fine Art
Christmas has arrived with her big beautiful full moon and you may be thinking of the celebration on New Year’s Eve but then what? 2016 arrives on January 1st and what are you going to do with yourself now that the decorations are put away and nothing but cold and snow to occupy us until the daffodils herald spring.
Those fortunate individuals with plenty of funds in their travel kitties’ wing to warmer regions; however there is a greener alternative to international travel. Earlier this year my partner and I parked our car and took the train into the heart of Manhattan. Our destination was the posh neighborhood that borders Central Park near the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the jewel box of a museum the Neue Galerie.
If you have had the pleasure of viewing Helen Mirren’s portrayal of the niece of Adele Bloch-Bauer in the international film, Woman in Gold you don’t have to book an international flight and dust off your passport to see the painting in question. We have in our own cosmopolitan city of New York a treasure of international art all accessible from a cab ride from the train station within the city.
Great art is like a window that we may look past our contemporary society to view the world through the eyes of the artist. To understand another’s impression of the world is why we enjoy well made films and why with all our technology, human beings still spend time with well crafted literature.
Gustav Klimt created iconic images on the surface of mere woven canvas. It seems unimaginable the pains some individuals took to plunder this brilliant art. Something as fragile as paint and canvas came through a hellish world war, and to leave its country of origin to be placed in the hands of its rightful immigrant owners seems miraculous, and even magical.
The magical vision of Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece might be inspirational enough to see 2016 as an opportunity to rediscover those passions we have let lie dormant too long. Think of the New Year as not about making resolutions to surrender our old habits, but rather about embracing what we find magical and beautiful. If the painting does not reinforce the awareness that political regimes come and go and yet the mystery of fine art still remains as enticing as the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt than you may need to give your cellular phone the day off too.
LC Fagan Art 