Greetings Readers,
I’m excited to bring back The Wisdom of Art series for the next couple of months. (Consider exploring the previous twelve volumes here.) Each volume includes a painting, a poem, and a bit of prose. The series invites us to pause from our busy lives to contemplate the art of living through art and poetry.
1. Hope (Painting)
Hope is a Symbolist oil painting by the English painter George Frederic Watts (1817—1904), who completed the first two versions in 1886. Radically different from previous treatments of the subject, it shows a lone blindfolded female figure sitting on a globe, playing a lyre with only a single string remaining. The background is almost blank; its only visible feature is a single star. Watts intentionally used symbolism that was not traditionally associated with hope to make the painting's meaning ambiguous. While his use of color in Hope was greatly admired, many critics disliked the painting at its exhibition.
“I paint ideas, not things. My intention is less to paint works that are pleasing to the eye than to suggest great thoughts which will speak to the imagination and the heart and will arouse all that is noblest and best in man.”
— George Frederic Watts
Contemplation Exercise:
Consider taking some uninterrupted time to contemplate...
Notice what arises…
What can we learn about life…
