In the most troubling times, times of financial stress or illness, art may seem most unnecessary to our survival. Yet it is often the most essential to our wellbeing.
Muriel Barbery writes in The Elegance of the Hedgehog Chapter 11: "What does Art do for us? It gives shape to our emotions, makes them visible and, in so doing, places a seal of eternity on them..."
Can it be that it also places a seal of eternity on us? That if we feel an emotional connection to a work of art, and art is destined for eternity, then we are, by association, and in a sense, immortal.
Perhaps that is what we need most to be reminded of in those times of peril or uncertainty. That we share emotions with all other human beings ...the artist, other viewers of art past present and future, our friends, family and even enemies.
Art touches our soul, our very core. That part of us in no need of money or healing.
That part sealed for eternity.
--Diana
Pictured: Luncheon of the Boating Party by Renoir 1881
