Monet. Waterlilies.

When I was at the Met recently, I was taken away with brush strokes and lines and color. Sometimes, when I am done with a painting and I look too close, all I see are brush strokes. Doesn’t seem bad right? Well, honestly they look really funny to me. And I have been a little self-conscious of my stokes up close and personal until this past weekend. I went and once again adored the artists who rarely sold a painting in their lifetime but are now the awe and inspiration of major movements and periods in art like Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet etc. But this time was different; I wanted to get as close as possible to their paintings. And you know what (to my surprise) all I saw were brush strokes and lots of brush strokes. Weird. These masterpieces and creators of modern art movements, too, just had lines, color, and brush stokes when I stared face to face. Hmph, what a silly thought that paintings shouldn’t have brush strokes. Now that I have written this, it seems odd and a bit ridiculous. But, it was a beautiful aha moment I had standing before masterpieces with a new appreciation and confirmation.

Ile Saint Martin, Vetheuil, Claude Monet

Wheatfield with Cypresses, c.1889, Vincent van Gogh