Looking up and seeing Chagall
This is a gratitude post.
I'm sitting at Cagasa and glanced up and was surprised by the beauty of this Chagall. I found this nicely framed print* at a Church rummage sale** last Fall and we hung it last time we were here. I adore Chagall and always have, he's probably the painter that most speaks to me on the planet. (I just looked, he was born within 100 miles of my maternal grandmother's family: we share a Russian-Jewish heritage.)
But glancing up reminded me of a random experience that delights me in memory, partly because it was so improbable a thing to have happened to me in my one human life. But here's what happened. I was at the Vatican (as one does) and was in a guided tour that was rushing towards the Sistine Chapel. (That's a thing I didn't realize about the Vatican: it's a museum filled with the treasures collected by a millenia of popes, but everyone seemed in a HUGE hurry to goosestep through in 15 minutes or so. Uggh.) Anyway, I'm in this crushing crowd being swept along at a brisk walk and I *think* I spot a Chagall on a side hall. I grab my husband and veer slightly backward and to the side, against the crowd. And I *do*! There are SEVERAL Chagalls there, just randomly hanging on a side wall. Because I'm in a place that could have several Chagalls and not have it be the top billing.
That visit to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica was memorable in many ways and I probably wrote about it under the travel tag, but that memory is particularly fun because it is a thing that stayed with me: the unexpected joy of seeing a Chagall painting. Now, in my own livingroom.
* Actually, the black frame was damaged, with some scratches in it. However, I touched it up with a black sharpie and the fix 100% unnoticeable. Yay!
** That church rummage sale has been somewhat miraculous in several ways. I got a pair of blue jeans there that actually *fit* me and I also got a swimsuit that looks good, too. When you buy used closes on spec without trying them on you just figure you'll try them on and donate them forward when they don't fit... having them actually fit and look good? It's a miracle!
I'm sitting at Cagasa and glanced up and was surprised by the beauty of this Chagall. I found this nicely framed print* at a Church rummage sale** last Fall and we hung it last time we were here. I adore Chagall and always have, he's probably the painter that most speaks to me on the planet. (I just looked, he was born within 100 miles of my maternal grandmother's family: we share a Russian-Jewish heritage.)
But glancing up reminded me of a random experience that delights me in memory, partly because it was so improbable a thing to have happened to me in my one human life. But here's what happened. I was at the Vatican (as one does) and was in a guided tour that was rushing towards the Sistine Chapel. (That's a thing I didn't realize about the Vatican: it's a museum filled with the treasures collected by a millenia of popes, but everyone seemed in a HUGE hurry to goosestep through in 15 minutes or so. Uggh.) Anyway, I'm in this crushing crowd being swept along at a brisk walk and I *think* I spot a Chagall on a side hall. I grab my husband and veer slightly backward and to the side, against the crowd. And I *do*! There are SEVERAL Chagalls there, just randomly hanging on a side wall. Because I'm in a place that could have several Chagalls and not have it be the top billing.
That visit to the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica was memorable in many ways and I probably wrote about it under the travel tag, but that memory is particularly fun because it is a thing that stayed with me: the unexpected joy of seeing a Chagall painting. Now, in my own livingroom.
* Actually, the black frame was damaged, with some scratches in it. However, I touched it up with a black sharpie and the fix 100% unnoticeable. Yay!
** That church rummage sale has been somewhat miraculous in several ways. I got a pair of blue jeans there that actually *fit* me and I also got a swimsuit that looks good, too. When you buy used closes on spec without trying them on you just figure you'll try them on and donate them forward when they don't fit... having them actually fit and look good? It's a miracle!