(no subject)

[sundaymorning8]

"Crows and scavengers at the top of the story, finches at the top of the linden tree. God and Satan snarling at eachother like dogs. Imps and fairy godmothers trying to undo each other's work. You might be born as the donkey-jawed Dame Handelaers or as dazzling Clara van den Meer, Young Girl with Tulips. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes! And in such a world, as Margarethe used to ask, what is the use of such beauty? I have lived my life surrounded by painters and I still do not know the answer. But I suspect, some days, that beauty helps protect the spirit of mankind, swaddle it and succor it, so that we might survive. Beauty is no end in itself, but if it makes our lives less miserable so that we might be more kind - well, then, let's have beauty, painted on our porcelain, hanging on our walls, ringing through our stories. We are a sorry tribe of beasts. We need all the help we can get."

- Ruth Fisher van den Meer