A Memory Museum

“The only history you can really know is your own.  The only art I am truly an expert on I’ve  experienced firsthand.  As a critic, I am partly research analyst, comparing and evaluating new data.

But I’m also a curator of my memory, which carries traces of art encounters from over the years.

A few of those encounters–with certain objects, books, buildings –have altered the atmosphere, changed how I see and joined a permanent collection that I regularly revisit.”

~ Holland Carter,  August 5, 2014, NY Times

 

After just finishing “The Goldfinch”, by Donna Tartt, let’s just say I have been steeped in the idea of how deeply art affects an individual, and why.

Cotter’s article, in essence, asks the question:  What works of art have changed you?

Intriguing.

This had me musing and remembering the first time I viewed a particular painting,

and “got it”.

It was the direct experience of this painting that kindled a fire of knowing

how art moves and matters.

Georgia O’Keeffe

de Young Museum  San Francisco

Petunias

So, now I ask you, dear reader,

to share about what art experiences have shaped you?

Vox Anima, SDM