A few days ago I went to see the Mark Rothko exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. I was on my own, so I could go through as slowly as I wanted. I tried an exercise that I’d heard an art professor had given her new students: with a handful of artworks, I set a timer for myself and looked at the works for the whole time without letting myself get distracted. It’s easy enough to be distracted from one artwork by another, and in this regard there are really far too many pieces of art in most exhibitions: how am I supposed to pay enough attention to, say, fifty or sixty paintings in just an hour or so? And if I’m not supposed to, which ones am I supposed to choose? (Earlier this year, in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, I went to see Parmigianino’s
I really like this piece. ‘We’ are also in museums, as well as the artworks. I wonder if that might mean that we and the artworks are also an artwork? (Doffs hat to Bertrand Russell).
Visiting the Mark Rothko exhibition is now on my bucket list. Whatever art museum I can see before that, I will try your little exercise to make the most of it :)
How apropos, I just discovered your writings on Substack today, and then this particular piece. I'll be attending an evening event at The Rothko Chapel at the Menil Museum in Houston in two days time. I believe still named, An Evening Of Inspiration. Your words on his art will definitely be swirling about in my head as I attend this and revisit his murals inside.
I really like this piece. ‘We’ are also in museums, as well as the artworks. I wonder if that might mean that we and the artworks are also an artwork? (Doffs hat to Bertrand Russell).
Visiting the Mark Rothko exhibition is now on my bucket list. Whatever art museum I can see before that, I will try your little exercise to make the most of it :)
How apropos, I just discovered your writings on Substack today, and then this particular piece. I'll be attending an evening event at The Rothko Chapel at the Menil Museum in Houston in two days time. I believe still named, An Evening Of Inspiration. Your words on his art will definitely be swirling about in my head as I attend this and revisit his murals inside.