One of my biggest faults is that I can never remember names! I’m good at remembering the names of people, but I never seem to remember songs, movies, or works of art! When I hear them or see them I know the words to sing along or the museum that it was in, but I can never remember the title.
Last March my boyfriend and I spent a weekend in Philly for my birthday. We went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and wandered around for hours. My favorite gallery in the museum has never left my memory since that day. I remember the huge canvases hung on the walls and the feeling I got standing in that room. I remembered the red and blue and black paints messily applied onto the canvases. Squiggles, scratches, and scraggly words floating across each piece. I left that gallery feeling inspired, yet not remembering the artist’s name for the life of me! Sometimes I become so absorbed in just looking at experiencing a work of art that I don’t even think to read the information plaques provided, something most others do right away!!!
Anyhow, the other day in the studio I was looking through a bunch of different art books and came across one that displayed the work of Cy Twombly. I opened the book and felt my heart jump in my chest! It was the artist whose work I’d seen and loved in Philadelphia! I learned that the collection I’d seen was part to Twombly’s “Fifty Days at Iliam” in which he recreated Homer’s Iliad in ten paintings.
My favorite piece is titled “Shades of Eternal Night” – it depicts a gray and blue cloud, and the title of the piece written beneath it. When I viewed this piece I found it extremely dreamy. My head swirled with thoughts and visions of different skies in different worlds, blues and grays. I wondered what an eternal night would be like.
I always bring a notepad and pencil with me to museums but never end up using either. As an artist and art history minor I should probably be better at remembering the names of artists and artworks. However, I think there is something so magical about making the connection. There is a beauty in carrying artwork around in my head and in my heart, and months later having it resurface in someway or another in my life. The wonder that lives in my mind (due to lack of names) is one of my favorite things. When the connection occurs, it brings with it a feeling like no other.
