Piet, Oscar, Vincent, and I

“Composition with Blue, Yellow, and Red” – Piet Mondrian

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates life,” a phrase famously coined by Oscar Wilde in 1889, suggests that human beings, influenced by creative works, often shape their reality to mirror fictional scenarios, fashion, or emotional expressions. This concept implies that art sets the trends, behaviors, and perceptions that life subsequently adopts, rather than merely reflecting existing reality. (Thanks Wiki!)

I was thinking about writing a new blog entitled “It’s Actually Life That Imitates Art!”

Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish playwright, beat me to it.

On more than one occasion in the contents of Zulu Delta 45, I have mentioned the Partridge Family. It’s always for a few reasons; I enjoyed the TV show when I was younger, I liked the music (I still do), and besides, it was all such nonsense, which is held in high regard to this website and its creator.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Recently I finally made my pilgrimage to the MFA; Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, along with longtime reader J.M. He had a spare ticket last minute for a new exhibit that became available when his friend got sick and couldn’t go (Thanks JM). I had always wanted to visit, but never made it. I had a slight idea of the things I would see, but never imagined I would be “stopped dead” in my tracks by a small piece of art 16 x 14 inches by Piet Mondrian, almost hanging by itself in a massive bright light and white corridor.

I almost missed it.

Moments before, my thoughts and senses were drowning in the art I had just witnessed in the Museum. I’ll admit, there were some massive “famous” pieces that I was more interested in the construction of the frame, and how it was hung, rather than the brush strokes, symbology, and theme the artist was trying to convey. I even launched a few silent “cynical bombs” at the works, noting how the Kings, Queens, and Popes had plenty of money to hire the best artist to paint boring portraits of their kin and fellowships.

All of this was immediately slapped from my consciousness when I absent-mindedly wandered around a non-descript corner and came face to face with two works by Vincent van Gogh. I was stunned. The two were so much smaller than some of the previous pieces I just witnessed, that literally took up a whole wall in this castle of art. Vincent’s (or “Vinnie V” as he is never actually known in Rhode Island, but should be, as people would be mistaking him to be Italian and not Dutch) works seemed small by size, but in my opinion large enough to support the entire building.

House in Auvers- Vincent Van Gogh

I am not a “technical appreciator” of art; I just like what I like, but there it was, the work by an artist that I actually knew something about (even if it was from one of the all time best episodes of Doctor Who; Vincent). The color was bright and happy and the paint was layered on in 3 dimensions, and it was painted by a man who I “knew” was not royalty or a painter of royalty; just a man who saw beautiful things and attempted to hold his life together long enough to capture it on canvas. A metaphor of life itself if I might say.

With the help of Vincent, my artistic soul was purged of any cynicism gathered along the way. It was here where I “met” Piet Mondrian. I was heading for the Gallery bookstore on the lower level. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that small almost non-descript painting. It was created in 1927, and titled “Composition with Blue, Yellow, and Red.” I was floored with emotions; not because of the raw artistic value of this piece, but because of its inspiration into not only Pop Culture but a previous blog note in ZD-45. Yes, this one small canvas was the underlying basis of what I initially thought was just some “hippie art.” It turned out to be the backbone of the entire art work on none other than…..The Partridge Family Touring Bus!!!