Paintings and Music | Loving Art

I’m not really a Music person.

I’m much more of a Paintings person.

But looking at Paintings helps me to hear Music better.

I already knew that Music does more than simply fill silence.

I knew that it could trigger emotions and imagination.

I knew that it could be thought of as Beautiful, Tragic, Honest.

I knew that it inhabited a space which is hard to define.

I learned this by just listening to Music.

But I began to hear Music because I spent time looking at Paintings.

Spending time with Paintings, showed me

that arrangements of blunt elements – paint, oil, canvas - could ‘become’ something else in my mind;

that aspects such as Tone and Texture could carry Meaning.

that what I perceived was only a fraction of what was conveyed;

that human Skill and Creativity working together were capable of touching the human soul;

that in engaging with Art, I encountered not just Beauty, but also Truth and Goodness (some might call it God);

And all this which was true of Paintings, I discovered was also true of Music.

And with that insight, these, for example …

Killing Me Softly Fox, Gimbel, Liebermann 1971 Flack 1978

Born to be Wild Mars Bonfire 1968 Steppenwolf 1968

Hymn to Freedom Peterson, Brown, Thigpen 1964

O mio babbino caro Puccini, Forzano 1918

Laudate Dominum Mozart, Kirkby, Vesperae solennes de confessore 1780

… became multi-layered, richly textured artworks – without losing their power to wreck me emotionally.

Before, I would listen to them.

Now – because I spend time thinking about Paintings - I think I’m beginning to hear them.

LOVING ART