Different Perspectives

I went to the AGO last night to see the Emily Carr exhibit and it was fantastic! It was interesting to see the construction that was going on and how small the gallery has become because of it. There are very few rooms open and about six paintings on exhibit other than Emily Carr. There was one other painting I really wanted to see when I went to the gallery and it was there. It's a Monet, I believe the Charing Cross Bridge. I've waited for almost two years to go back and see it again. Maybe longer than that. The last time I saw it, I was so struck by the other world quality of the painting.

The friend I went to the gallery was much less impressed when he first saw the painting. I said there was a castle or building in it, and somehow he didn't see it. It wasn't until we were leaving the gallery and walked past the painting in another direction that he saw what I was able to see what I was able to see. He also lamented never taking an art history class because then he wasn't able to deeply appreciate the paintings. I remarked that art history is much like music history, all in the perspective of it. And it's true.

Both strands of history are focused on the details. In music, we trace small sections of three notes through a piece and that is all we hear. In art, all we can look at is the brush strokes. In both cases we fail to hear the whole piece and see the bigger picture. We see the beautiful details that effort does go into, but fail to appreciate what the final effect is supposed to be. It all really depends on how we see things.

In life we can choose to look at the details. That's not always a bad thing either. Life runs on the details, but they don't demand complete focus. We can also choose to see the big picture. Beyond those perspectives, there are our individual ones. We see the world how we were raised to see the world and how our unqiue experiences have led us to see the world. Some of us are disillusioned, others are still idealist. Neither are bad, simply different and unqiue perspectives. It can sometimes be difficult to see the perspectives of someone else, but it is worth it to try.