Meditation on Perspective
Audio
Nov. 16, 2023
“All painting – the painting of the past as well as of the present – shows us that its essential plastic means were only line and color.”
Make time for your mental health, and enjoy our new meditation on thoughts inspired by Bart Antony van der Leck’s Elephant.
Step-by-Step Meditation
- Take some time and slowly look at this painting.
- This work is considered part of the De Stijl art movement – a Dutch movement that breaks art down into its geometric components.
- Focus on the geometric lines and shapes. Can you see an image made from the lines? This work is titled ‘Elephant.’ Can you see an elephant if you change your perspective and move closer or farther away from the canvas?
- Now close your eyes. Consider a conflict you might have in your life – it can be big or small.
- How could you change perspectives? How could you break the problem down into its most basic components – like the lines that create the elephant?
- Simplify the problem and investigate what immerges from this process.
This work is on view in Scaife Gallery 9.
Image: Bart Antony van der Leck, Dutch, 1876–1958, Elephant, c. 1924; oil on canvas, Work 14 × 16 ⅜ in 35.56 × 41.59 cm Frame16 × 18 ¼ × 2 ¼ in 40.64 × 46.36 × 5.71 cm, Paintings Acquisition Fund, 2002.63.2 © artist or artist’s estate/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Beeldrecht, Amsterdam.