Ceci est le couleur de mes rêves
Yesterday I finally visited the Met with Teresa and Chana. Spent most of my time in the modern wing. Came across this Chagall painting "The Lovers" that caught my attention. Something about it was really disturbing to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It's a very dark painting, dark blues and black make up the room that the two figures are seated in, the woman on the man's lap. Except for the bright red table behind them. The man is all white and his head was conspicuously disembodied as he was kissing her. Maybe it was the ghostlyness of him that was nagging at me. But I still couldn't leave it. The woman is dressed in bright blue, making her the central figure in the peice (it's more striking in person), the window she faces overlooks a fiery sunset behind the outlines of the town, and then in the lower right corner there's a bird. In the room. Looking on. Not in a cage, just standing on the floor, as if it had just flown in accidentally and found itself into the picture. And then it hit me. I had a dream two years ago almost exactly like this Chagall.
I remember it pretty clearly because it was peculiar enough to wake me up, startled, and get me out of bed and to my journal to write about it. Looked for the entry this morning just to make sure I wasn't making up the similarities. Turns out I had this dream on the night of my 21st birthday. Reading over the entry only weirded me out more -- there were little details that matched the painting that I had forgotten about.
Maybe I had seen the painting before, it imbedded itself in my subconscious, and disappeared from my retrievable memory.
Weirdest peice I saw yesterday:
"The Jewish Angel" (1916) - Giorgio de Chirico
most interesting peice:
"Tide Table" (2003) - William Kentridge (an animation)
what most changed my conception of the world:
the Olmec figurines.
Realized that I've always stupidly thought that humor and sarcasm were modern inventions. If anyone out there has the same misconception, you should go see this exhibit.
Yesterday I finally visited the Met with Teresa and Chana. Spent most of my time in the modern wing. Came across this Chagall painting "The Lovers" that caught my attention. Something about it was really disturbing to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. It's a very dark painting, dark blues and black make up the room that the two figures are seated in, the woman on the man's lap. Except for the bright red table behind them. The man is all white and his head was conspicuously disembodied as he was kissing her. Maybe it was the ghostlyness of him that was nagging at me. But I still couldn't leave it. The woman is dressed in bright blue, making her the central figure in the peice (it's more striking in person), the window she faces overlooks a fiery sunset behind the outlines of the town, and then in the lower right corner there's a bird. In the room. Looking on. Not in a cage, just standing on the floor, as if it had just flown in accidentally and found itself into the picture. And then it hit me. I had a dream two years ago almost exactly like this Chagall.
I remember it pretty clearly because it was peculiar enough to wake me up, startled, and get me out of bed and to my journal to write about it. Looked for the entry this morning just to make sure I wasn't making up the similarities. Turns out I had this dream on the night of my 21st birthday. Reading over the entry only weirded me out more -- there were little details that matched the painting that I had forgotten about.
Maybe I had seen the painting before, it imbedded itself in my subconscious, and disappeared from my retrievable memory.
Weirdest peice I saw yesterday:
"The Jewish Angel" (1916) - Giorgio de Chirico
most interesting peice:
"Tide Table" (2003) - William Kentridge (an animation)
what most changed my conception of the world:
the Olmec figurines.
Realized that I've always stupidly thought that humor and sarcasm were modern inventions. If anyone out there has the same misconception, you should go see this exhibit.
posted by tami at 11:09 AM
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