I had the strange notion to visit an art museum today. I had the day off, the kids were in school and I had no desire to peruse the aisles of Target again, mindlessly dropping things into my cart that may or may not contribute to the bottom line of some evil CEO and Trump cabinet member. I hadn’t been to an art museum in years. I just felt the NEED to go.
I felt the NEED to connect to humans in a way that spans time and space. I was seeking stillness. I wanted the art to speak to me, quietly, shyly at first, then explosively like an atomic bomb of understanding. It can’t lie to me. It can’t manipulate me. It can’t mislead me, sell me something, take my money and my dignity. It can’t take away thought or speech. It just remains there, suspended for all eternity. I can take my time with it. I can look at it or not. I can stand 2 inches from it or 10 feet away. I can let it wash over me.
And I did.
I intermingled with the retirees and the large groups of school kids. I eavesdropped on the curators explaining the intricacies of the pieces, their eyes reliving the details as if making the strokes on the canvas themselves. They must have told the same story a thousand times, but what love in their voices!
How eternal are our human struggles. Love. Freedom. Tyranny. War. Family. Hunger. Joy. Oppression. Humor. The deep and unrelenting desire to connect the dots. To make sense of our world. To make sense of our place. And our purpose. It seems that the same human story continues as if on an eternal loop. We never seem to move much farther ahead. You win some. You lose some. You live to fight another day. The sum total of all the battles is a life. One small little human life.
For a brief moment, I found myself outside on a balcony overlooking the city all by myself. There were large sculptures of a woman and some weird circular thingy with a hole in the center (probably also a woman). I walked to the edge and stared out over the bustling city. Noisy and busy. But also quite beautiful. A man sat on a park bench across the street playing a trumpet. A homeless man sat against a tree in front of a church. Business men and women hurriedly walked to and fro, likely heading out for lunch. The cars and buses, the sirens. The low drone of voices on cell phones crescendoing at first and then decrescendoing as they walked passed.
The scene was energizing. I no longer wanted to escape the world. I wanted to jump back in. Move forward. Find my voice and speak my truth. I walked out of the museum and found my place among the city dwellers, the men and women in their work attire, walking briskly into the future.
What a beautiful post! 🙂 It’s always been a dream of mine to go to a gallery or museum alone. I think I’ll do that next month–go off, by myself. The part about the little human life reminded me so much of Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot.
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Your words gave me goosebumps! I loved every bit of this post. I am currently making sense of my life and finding my purpose, this post just seemed to flow with the theme of my present. ❤ beautiful
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Thanks Heather. Seems like trying to make sense of things never quite goes away. It’s a lifetime endeavor. Good luck on your journey🙂
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Nice!!!
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❤
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Relatable!
I love it!
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Thanks😊
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Loved you post. 😊
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Thanks❤
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Whoa! Just came across your blog and the very first post Stunned me!!
Really, what an amazing piece of write-up! ❤
The beauty, simplicity, flow, everything was so very nourishing.
I am looking forward to read more from you.
Stay connected. 🙂
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Thank you. Your words are too kind❤
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Beautiful!
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Thanks😊
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Pingback: The Deal of the Art – 👁️ STREETPSYCHIATRY 👁️
This blog beautifully points out to the truth that no matter how much we wish to escape from our busy lifestyles, that is where we belong, and we have to get back there to live… an amazing blog by you 🙂
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Thanks ❤
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Well written, I really like it. 😊💥
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Thanks
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Art museums will bring back the lost connections with the basic human in us…Thanks for sharing this with us.
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Thank you😊
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I applaud you for the scope of your message and the way you deepen meaning with the intricacies of your observations. For those of us still struggling with recent developments and trying to find our way, this is a valuable guide to encourage us to keep moving toward the light — even if so much seems suspended, threatened and oh so frightening.
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Thank you for your insights. We have to move forward and find ways to stay inspired.
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Fantastic writing
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Thanks😊
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A very inspiring blog, specially to those who really love arts that all the works of an artist has a purpose and can open the mind of people to appreciate it. Thanks for that ☺️ i really do love arts.
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❤😊
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The t-shirts’ art symbolizes the real situation of what is happening in the world. People wears mask of which the reality is covered by the convenience that they are living in today’s generation. In fact, the world is gradually declining in the natural resources that God has given. The resources that people are consuming came from the nature which the people neglect its importance.
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Good point. We better get it together for our future.
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I really enjoyed this piece. It felt as if you took us along with you, and we were able to feel as you did at any point in time.
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Thanks. I’m glad you like it😊
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i love to visit museum
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Me, too 🙂
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I really love how you manage creativity of your text. Love it
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Sounds like it was just what you needed.. Stay strong..
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Truly.
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Really nice
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Thanks
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Like it
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Thanks
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Beautiful description. So glad you answered the call of your soul and connected to art everywhere it was available, in the museum and everywhere around it. I did this once as a date I took myself on and it was very satisfying and peaceful.
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Thank you. We can find inspiration, hope, and peace around us if we are open to it❤
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Wow … you just took me with you… 🙂
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So glad!
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Awesome!
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Thanks!
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I am just amazed at how beautifully you have described an activity which can be taken and ignored as an mundane in a casual overlook. But I guess it’s the beauty in narration which brings out the beauty n keeps one engaged and mull over the beauty of an otherwise avoided activity.
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There is beauty in places we least expect. In the small spaces.
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Aptly said. Looking forward to more such reads 😀
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hey deconstructing doctor I really loved your piece of work so inspiring and could you please mentor me into being a better blogger
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You just have to do it! Keep going. Get inspired and write!
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I loved your post! I visit the museum in Toledo every year and it never fails! I’ve had the privilege of seeing wonderful works of art including Monet and Van Gogh. Everyone needs an escape now and then, right?
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Truly! How lucky we are to be able to see them in person!
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Indeed! Being able to see the brush strokes made by the artists hands is amazing! Photographs don’t say enough when it comes to art.
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This is so amazing
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Thanks!
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Art museums are simply exquisite, they always leave me in awe. They have a sense of tranquility and the paintings that are solely painted by such misunderstood painters always leave me speechless. As people we will never truly understand what went through the minds of those talented artists
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I agree. The artists want us to try to understand and once in a while the message gets through.
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Pingback: ReBlog: The Deal of the Art -deconstructingdovtor.com | Stacey's Reality
You have described every detail of your feeling perfectly. You can I was imagining all of it in front of my eyes. 😊
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Thank you. I felt inspired. Mostly because I was alone and did something totally unexpected that day❤
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And doing unexpected always leads to great experience. 😉😊
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Great to hear the medical viewpoint on art. I also found you on discover and reblogged this on my art blog.
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Thank you! Look forward to following your blog!
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Reblogged this on Skyscapes for the Soul – Jeni Bate and commented:
Advice from a doctor… art is good for your health. Well, your mental health anyway. (Don’t drink the turps and don’t lick your brush 🙂 )
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Thanks for the reblog!
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Wow – actually amazed at the timing of your post as I have been mulling over this issue, but from the opposite end of the spectrum. I am an artist and lately a writer but I often find it is hard to stay motivated as, unlike being a doctor who serves such a necessary function in society, art at times can seem superficial and nonessential to the day to day grind of life. Because my father was a surgeon I have possibly felt my career choice has been self indulgent and ‘fluffy’. What encouraged me from your post is the fact that art is so invigorating it can actually bring life too! In that sense medicine and art can serve the same purpose – they both can help to restore and renew. Perhaps I ought to be taking my work a whole lot more seriously 🙂
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The game me chills! Yes art and medicine in so many ways are one in the same. We ALL have greater/higher purposes for which we are called and each given gifts in those realms. Never underestimate your gift or your calling!
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The fourth paragraph reminded me of Sagan’s Pale blue dot. Beautiful !
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Wow. Lovely sentiment (I’m not worthy). Thank you for that.
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I haven’t been to a museum …but on Instagram I love photography pages about people…their faces, our difference an our similarities…those pictures present humans in an understandable light. Thanks for the article all the same
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Museums aren’t the only way to experience art! Reading each others blogs and admiring and trying to understand our perspectives counts, too!
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Absolutely true…but a good museum is in my checklist definitely
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I had the same feeling on Friday, I went to a museum and came out with a complete new vision, the fear of saying what I think had vanished, to let the need to spread new ideas be there instead, moving forward and look into the future, not the past. 🙂 Well done! 🙂
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So glad that you had the same experience! Art can change the world, if we only take the time with it.
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“How eternal are our human struggles. Love. Freedom. Tyranny. War. Family. Hunger. Joy. Oppression. Humor. The deep and unrelenting desire to connect the dots. To make sense of our world. To make sense of our place. And our purpose. It seems that the same human story continues as if on an eternal loop. We never seem to move much farther ahead. You win some. You lose some. You live to fight another day. The sum total of all the battles is a life. One small little human life.”
Thank you for sharing , so true and beautiful every word !
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Thank you! I think we are all trying to connect the dots, whether through our words or through the visual arts
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Yes,indeed ! Thank you
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No one can understand it
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Discover referred me here, so I’d better remember to send them a huge thank you.
Really glad to have found your blog. I haven’t run into many bloggers yet who, like me, have chosen blogging ( and art therapy) as a means of shedding some of the scar tissue we collected during our medical practices.
Also like you, I recognize the need to make and maintain genuine connections with people.
I’d better stop before this becomes a list of things starting with the phrase “like you” but please know that I love your blog and look forward to including it in my daily dose from the WordPress reader.
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So love to find kindred doctor spirits! Thanks for your kind words❤
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Beautifully written! Your story here is a reminder that, when I when I have a spell of mental disorganization, usually just before a new insight emerges, I should listen to some good music, focus my attention on the beautiful, read some good writing – like yours – and just wait. Feed the soul and our energies return. Thank you for this.
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We can all get so overwhelmed and thereby distracted. It’s nice to take a little breather and get refocused
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Yeh I too love them
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“Find my voice and tell the truth.” I think the world would be better if we all did the same. Great post.
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Thanks❤
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And you went home and that art inspired you to create your art….lovely
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We all inspire each other! Your words and pictures inspire me all the time!!
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I’m blessed by this comment 😊
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Love this. You needed a time out, you took care of yourself, and it sounds like the museum was just what the doctor ordered.
No pun intended.
OK. Pun intended. 😉
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LOL yes sometimes adults need a time out, too. Puns should always be intended! Love it!
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Love the t-shirt. I have it on a tie.
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I wore it to the museum. The art nerds loved it! It must have been a subconscious choice. It reflects my overall mood lately
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What a great way to rejuvenate your outlook on life. Well penned. :o)
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It definitely helped. There will be a lot of losses the next 4 years which can be disheartening so I need to find hope where I can
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You are not alone. ☺
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I used to visit art museums a lot. when I used to travel in Europe, I would spent the entire days in the art museums. Art is therapeutic, whether you enjoy the piece of art work or creating one yourself. You don’t have to “understand” but if it makes you feel better, then you have made a meaningful connection with it. Hope you get to go more often!
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Me too! It took me too long to get back…
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That sounds amazing! I will definitely make more of a conscious effort to visit art museums now
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I love art museums, even when I don’t “get” the art 😃
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I don’t get some of it either -some reminds me what my kids have done and placed on the refrigerator 😜
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Your kids art is much better than most of what you see at the museum. It’s got more life and energy. It should be framed. Not put on a refrigerator!
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Oh yes! Some of it is framed!
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