Wednesday, July 27 2011

Awe, Grace and Beauty

Amen

America has a secret source of wealth that many people don't think of as riches. It's in her museums and galleries and monuments. Some of the most momentous events of the last thousand years are memorialised here in Washington DC, some of the most impressive examples of the natural world are on exhibit and explained, and some of the most beautiful sculptures and paintings are right here, where anyone with the eyes to see and the soul to appreciate can simply walk up and look at them--and walk away in wonder.

Visiting the Lincoln Memorial was something I was very eager to do, and it was especially meaningful because my wife was with me. Some of her ancestors were slaves, and between visiting Monticello and viewing the slave quarters there, and seeing the devotion to the memory of Lincoln, we were both powerfully affected. It's not something I would have missed for the world.

We also spent time in several of the Smithsonian museums.

Butterflies are not insects. They are animated flowers

The Museum of Natural History was magnificent. It's great to see science presented so clearly, rationally and calmly. There's a conservative movement in the US to 'teach the controversy', which is to say it's an attempt to replace science with faith inside the educational system here. This is not in evidence anywhere in the Smithsonian, and it made me feel a strangely warm sense of pride in the scientists and educators who worked to make all of the wonderful exhibits.

But for me the best was the Museum of Art.

Breughel's Wedding Feast. Churls just wanna have fun.

I confess: I'm an art geek. Ever since Mr. Bugler showed me the beauty and magnificence of the art of Western Civilisation (thank-you, Sir Kenneth Clarke) I have been mesmerised by painting, sculpture and poetry. My whole life I've been looking at art books and prints of some of the most famous artworks in human history, and yesterday I got to look at them, to just stand in front of a Rubens, a Hals, a Brueghel . . . they're more magnificent than I could have imagined, with life and movement in every brush stroke. Rubens famous self-portrait hung as though he were standing at a window, his reserved look seeking my gaze as I moved around the room . . . I was very powerfully affected, and I'm glad to have seen it.

And I can't wait to come back some day.

Posted by Humble Tim AT 7:31AM

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