Longing for Death
Adolf Hitler spent a fortune in 1936 to buy a painting and hang it in his office. A secluded isle, surrounded by the boundless mysterious sea, is approached by a […]
Tag Archives: art
Reframing our lives and stories
To find an unexpected treasure is one of humanity’s central archetypes. Be it the chest of gold in pirates fables, be it discovering a fascinating person, an exciting project, or […]
Colorful like the Circus
Like other painters of his generation, Marc Chagall loved the circus. The delight he experienced seeing clowns and acrobats as a little boy – the unexpected laughs, the beat of […]
How to Spot a Forgery
René’s recent post on The Gospel of Judas reminded me of an amazing story about the art forger Wolfgang Beltracchi. Beltracchi, for those of you who haven’t heard, is considered […]
Night Light
I like to think I have my finger on the pulse, or close enough. I listen to music, read the news, tweet, google, wiki this and that. I watch BBC […]
Gauguin’s Blue
In 1891 Paul Gauguin sailed for Tahiti, in search of a civilization purer than his native France, and in 1897, after a month of feverish work, he completed his most […]
Does Art Speak?
Is a postscript to Lolita, a defensive Vladimir Nabokov responds to criticisms leveled at his novel about a man who seduces a 12-year-old girl. He distinguishes his novel from pornographic literature. He […]
Nanna’s Rainbows in the Tears
There is no guarantee how suffering will shape a soul. As C.S. Lewis, the imaginative author of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, once noted, I am not convinced […]
The Tallest god in the World
On the way to a conference, Sarah and I recently had the thrill of visiting Dubai. An impressive, ultra-modern city rising in the desert, Dubai’s scale is overwhelming. It had […]
Graceland: A Pilgrimage to See the King
Over the holidays I made a pilgrimage to see the King. My pilgrimage, I must confess, was not the most exacting of journeys. I traveled a mere 5 miles by […]
Wondering Fair 