Demoiselles

In my fourteen years, I had probably seen it a hundred times.  But I saw it for the first time in the rainy month of March, surrounded by cool air and the scent of intellectuals and light conversation, lingering "three feet away" from each masterpiece.  Its warm hues of red and orange and pink and yellow all surrounded me in an overwhelming haze of beauty.  I watched the fractured women clinging to the veils that concealed their naked bodies as if it would shelter them from the cruelties of humanity.  Before me hung one of the world's greatest masterpieces, Picasso's Demoiselles staring at me with unblinking eyes.

Before I could use words I used images.  Art, therefore, has become the medium that I have always turned to, to express myself.

I love words just as much as I love art, but only through art can I see the truth.  It is easier for me to trust the visual representation of an item rather than a description of it because words are limited but art is not.  I love the idea that art perseveres although it changes.  Although it is easier for me to rely on art than words, I find it hard to rely on many artists in the same way, especially in modern times. They often misconceive the meaning of art and use it for different purposes than expression. The reason that I make this reference to modern art is that much of the art preceding pop art had something to say. For example, Picasso, rather than continue with the expected, chose a different path of ingenuity. Picasso used multiple viewpoints and fragmented planes to create masterpieces different than anything ever seen before. Not only did Picasso try to change art. He tried to change the world.

Even in my earliest memories, I can remember being surrounded by art.  The art museum was a common destination in the weekends.  My mother and I would usually take the tour in which you went to each piece of art, pressed a button, and listened to a tale of how the piece came to be, and what it meant.  I often think about those days, upset that the exhibition sign changes before I have a chance to step into another world of perspective.  A world in which everything is just the way I want it.

This idea that art is anything I interpret it to be is perhaps why I love it as much as I do. Knowing that I can have a connection to something painted by someone 500 year my prior, gives me hope that one day we will stand as one.

I thought about all of this as I stood in the white-walled showroom of New York's renowned MoMA staring at the women who would stare back forever.

 

Ben Diego