Viewing #5

Today I was struck by the proportion of the painting. The first few times I looked at it, I remember thinking that it was too long vertically -- I couldn't figure out why so much of their lower bodies were shown. It just seemed like nothing happened below their clasped hands...

Yet, the painting has as its secondary focus point their clasped hands, and this balances the painting and gives your eye permission to leave their faces. Not an inch of the canvas is wasted or superfluous. Your eye goes to their hands because they are at the midpoint of the lower half of the painting. And because they are bordered by two different colors, yellow and red, representing the vertical line of their bodies. And because the window sill, her right arm, and his left arm pull your horizontal gaze in.

It's hard to believe all I'd have missed if I'd never gone back to view this painting.

Viewing #4

I spent the day absorbed in detail-oriented work, so when I took off for the museum around 4:00, I guess I was in that frame of mind. I've been intrigued since my first viewing of the painting by the intimacy between the two lovers -- it practically jumps out at you from the canvas. I honed in on them today; yes, they both have tender looks on their faces, and yes, in case we couldn't figure it out, they are The Lovers, but there also seems to be something else at work.

Almost all of Nicolai is contained in the purple background, but his right shoulder and his gaze are in the blue background. The triangle formed by his shoulder and his gaze (his eyes) to her gaze (her eyes) are what they share in the blue background. It's really the focus of the painting, both spatially and emotionally.

Wow, he's good. I wonder what it would feel like to be that good at something. Do you just know it? How could you not? Or does it just feel like you, and not some super-special different part of you? Or can it be both?

Viewing #3

I visited the museum on Monday at lunch, but after my first spinning class on Monday night, I came home and crashed before posting. So here it is...

It was good to see the painting again. My reaction after a few days of not viewing it is similar to last week's -- I'm surprised at how bright the colors are. Though I seemed to have grown comfortable with its size.

I didn't focus on the details as much as I tried to take it all in and just experience it. Sometimes it's nice to let a work of beauty move you without trying to figure out why or how.

I also spent a few minutes looking around the rest of the room today. It's filled with Picassos, maybe 6 or 7 more. And a sculpture, I can't remember the artist. There is an archway to the right of The Lovers, leading up to the Matisse cutouts. On the other side of the archway is another Picasso, a woman sitting in a chair. She looks just like Cassandra. I went over to read the painting info -- it's entitled Madame Picasso and was painted in 1923, the same year as The Lovers. Very interesting. At some point, I want to read more about Picasso and his work, but right now, I'm rather enjoying this gradual getting-to-know-you phase. No need to rush things.

5:09 pm

The time as I climbed the steps of the museum today, and I was too late to get in.

I was caught off guard by how disappointed I was. The work day got away from me, and all of a sudden I looked up, and it was getting close to 5:00. I took off for the museum, listening to some peppy pop song on my ipod, walking along with this big goofy grin on my face and feeling all giddy because it was Friday and 45 degrees (instead of 20 degrees), and I was on my way...

To what, I don't know. And maybe the knowing doesn't matter. Maybe hope is all we ever need.

I never expected to be so moved by a painting. In my naivete, I thought I would go and gaze at genius, day after day after day, and remain unchanged. Silly me.

Viewing #2

I really looked at Cassandra and Nicolai today, trying to figure out what was happening between them. Unlike a novel or a play, paintings don't have dialogue, so you have to read the body language. And the female form is often passive, a receptacle for the male gaze. But I don't think that is the case here. Yes, Cassandra is gazing downward, and Nicolai has his arm around her, looking down at her. But it feels like something else is going on between them -- he is holding his hand out to her, and she has placed her hand (and her trust?) in his. It is a very tender moment between them, and it puts them on equal footing. I also think that her right arm placed over her stomach is a gesture of vulnerability. Perhaps she has just shared something with him, and she feels vulnerable. Perhaps she feels as though their happiness is too precious to last. There is a line in the Book of Common Prayer, in the evening prayers -- "shield the joyous." Perhaps she is trying to shield herself, shield them.

They really are lovers, not just in the physical sense, but in the emotional sense as well. The sense that's harder to achieve and the more meaningful for being so.

Viewing #1 (kinda sounds like a painting, doesn't it?)

I walked over to see the painting on my lunch hour (and it was cold! and windy!) It's on the second floor, and there's a shortcut to see it. If you veer to the left at the top of the stairs, you'll find another entryway -- walk down a short L-shaped hallway, enter the room, and there it is, on your left.

I sat down on a bench in the middle of the room and took out my notebook (no, not every entry will be this detailed... I'm just a little nervous... the following will be so pedestrian.) The painting is bigger than I remembered, and the colors are more vivid. And the guy still looks goofy to me. Because of his red body suit. Is it a toga -- then why the long sleeves? Or is it pants -- then where are his legs?

So, I'm sitting there with my notebook, and I'm trying to remember anything from my undergrad Intro to Art class. My professor (name long since forgotten) talked about color a lot, and proportion. I dimly recall him saying that the eye travels first to anything in red -- well, that would explain my fascination with the fashion nightmare.

And then, and undoubtedly because Picasso has drawn in part of one, I remember that the canvas is a series of quadrants. Eureka! She (though I'm going to have to name them if I'm going to write about them all year)... Cassandra is on the left, and Nicolai is on the right. The blue background is on the left, the purple background is on the right. Cassandra is mostly in the middle-left quadrant (lengthwise), Nicolai is mostly in the middle-right quadrant.

Thus concludes the first entry, for a couple of reasons: I don't want to say everything today because then what will I say tomorrow; and I'm going to try to stick to 30 minutes per post. I want this to add to my life, not engulf it.

What? Why? How?

I visited the National Gallery of Art last week with E., and as we were passing by The Lovers on our way to view the Matisse cutouts, she stopped and said "Wow." Now I've walked by this same painting several times, glanced at it, thought "Hmm, Picasso. I didn't know he painted anything like this" and gone on my way, uninterested. Goes to show you how little I know about art. E. had studied this painting in college, so we stood in front of it for several minutes and talked about it.

Later, in the giftshop, I bought a glossy reproduction, and basically, I've been thinking about it ever since. And since I work within walking distance of the museum, I often chide myself for not visiting it more often. So for reasons I'm not quite sure I understand -- something to do with wanting more passion in my life and more of an emotional connection to DC -- and in an attempt to cultivate more gratefulness for what I have (instead of my frequent inner whining about the fact that my status as a reference librarian in DC, single & with student loan debt, means I can't afford to buy a house, or eat at Citronelle, or fill-in-the-blank), I've decided to view The Lovers each workday during 2008 and blog about it.