Why I Love Art – it unsettles

(The Why I Love Art series, pt. 2)

Job 16:16 ”My face is flushed from weeping, And deep darkness is on my eyelids..

Pr. 15:13 A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken.

Self-portrait with cigarette by Edvard Munch

Some art should make you think, wince even. An artist has something to say and he’s trying to get his point across in a way that grabs your attention and emotions. Sometimes the strategy is to make you feel a bit unsettled.

Edvard Munch, painter of The Scream and perhaps Norway’s most famous artist, unsettles me at times. This is a self-portrait that I saw in person a few months ago. I admit it has haunted me. Here is a man, looking out at us from a deep personal darkness. He’s not happy. I tried to walk away a few times, but my eyes were drawn back to it. Back to him. What is he feeling? Thinking? What are the universal experiences and emotions he is trying to share?

Self-portraits are supposed to do more than just share an image – they are supposed to tell us something about the person. Look at the profile pictures on Facebook. They are often more than just a photo but an impression of the person’s personality. Munch suffered various bouts with mental illness, depression and addiction. Could he be telling something of what it feels like to be trapped inside himself? The surrounding darkness?

Munch did several self-portraits, revealing a common weakness of artists – self-centeredness. But he also did what all great artists do. He channeled his pain, expressing it through his medium, so that we feel it with him. In doing so, he turns his pain into a gift, helping us realize that we aren’t alone. Everyone has probably felt something like this: lonely, haunted and almost begging for someone on the outside to notice and sit with us for a while.

Sometimes it’s good to be unsettled in that it prompts our thoughts and conversations to go places we never would have considered otherwise.

For instance…Am I really looking at the faces of those in my relational circles? Am I really seeing what is underneath the surface and behind the eyes? Am I observant enough to catch the subtle signals that everyone gives off, revealing something of the condition of their heart? And, am I brave enough to enter into it with them by asking how they are doing?

Why I Love Art – it unites

(The Why I Love Art series, pt. 1)

Bridal Voyage in Hardanger by Tiedeman/Gude

Recently I traveled to Oslo and got to visit the amazing National Gallery there. The collection they have is breathtaking, and this painting is one of its prized pieces. Never seen it? It’s called The Bridal Voyage In Hardanger.

This painting affects Norwegians the way a Norman Rockwell affects Americans.  For a Norwegian, it’s more than just a pretty painting, but an embodiment of what it means to be Norwegian and the pride their nationality evokes. They are a rugged outdoorsy kind of people and the visual of that has a uniting effect. I’ve read that some people even re-enact the scene for their weddings!

How does an artist create a picture that becomes more than just something one looks at, but touches the soul?

Here’s one of Rockwell’s Freedom series entitled Freedom From Fear. I look at this and have a similar reaction. It’s obviously from a different time than what I live in, painted during WWII. I’m sure it spoke particularly to the generation in which it was created, but what parent doesn’t want to tuck their kids in at night, knowing they are happy, healthy and all is safe? I can totally relate. This visual unites me in a special way with other Americans and other parents.

Freedom From Fear by Norman Rockwell

This painting is one in a series of four that all capture something of the American spirit. Freedom From Want, Freedom Of Speech and Freedom To Worship are the other three and if you are interested, you should google them.

Americans are wired for freedom. I think Norwegians are wired for nature. Those are big truths with big implications if I want to communicate with people from those places. Knowing what people are wired for and united by is something artists seem to have a knack for, and I admit, I’m fascinated.