Artists of the Past

Let's look back and celebrate. Not just painters or poets or musicians. Maybe all of the above. Here are my top 3 current favorites of the past. It is hard to choose, but I think I can manage. Thank you, for your generations of inspiration.




Renoir:

This is my favorite painting of Renoir's and I am looking at it in my room right now. I think Renoir looked into the future and saw my sister Jessica and I standing on a Sunday afternoon by our cherry wood piano. Jessica plays the music and I sing generally, although we take turns and usually do a bit of both. I like to imagine that there were two sisters just like us, the brunette singing and the blond playing the piano, and maybe they loved each other as much as we do. Maybe. Thank you Renoir.


Matthew Arnold:

Arnold is not given enough credit. Yet out of all of the poets I have studied this year, he may have touched me the most deeply, and inspired me maybe even more than Wordsworth or Tennyson."The Buried Life," is my favorite, because I understood exactly what he meant about humanity and society.

"But often, in the world's most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep within us-- to know
Whence our lives come and where they go."

And his unspeakable desire; "And what we mean, we say, and what we would, we know." I completely understand that frustration. Thank you Arnold.

Debussy:

I love you Claude. Your music, reaches to the depths of my emotions, to my soul really, and connects my heart with my fingers. You make me feel like all of my hard times and bad experiences are made better in the humble yet potent trills and rhythms of your work. First Arabesque is my most favorite to play, but Clair de Lune is tied with Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun of my favorite to hear. I hope to live, breathe, and eat your work for the rest of my life. Thank you for years of inspiration Claude. I kind of love you.