Inner Sanctum (2002)– Now at Principle Gallery
Child, Sister, think how sweet to go out there and live together! To love at leisure, love and die in that land that resembles you! For me, damp suns in disturbed skies share mysterious charms with your treacherous eyes as they shine through tears.
There, there’s only order, beauty: abundant, calm, voluptuous.
Gleaming furniture, polished by years passing, would ornament our bedroom; rarest flowers, their odors vaguely mixed with amber; rich ceilings; deep mirrors; an Oriental splendor—everything there would address our souls, privately, in their sweet native tongue.
There, there’s only order, beauty: abundant, calm, voluptuous.
See on these canals those sleeping boats whose mood is vagabond; it’s to satisfy your least desire that they come from the world’s end. —Setting suns reclothe fields, the canals, the whole town, in hyacinth and gold; the world falling asleep in a warm light.
There, there’s only order, beauty: abundant, calm, voluptuous.
—Charles Baudelaire, Invitation to the Voyage from The Flowers of Evil (1857)
This sort of an off day here on the blog. Not that I didn’t spend an inordinate amount of time just to get to this point. I don’t consider that time spent looking, listening, and reading wasted time, even when most of what I took in doesn’t find its way to the blog.
It’s more like planting seeds of ideas and thoughts that someday might sprout here. They often do which is not all that surprising given the amount of fertilizer I sometimes spread.
Just kidding, of course.
Today is a personal day that can’t really write about. I know that sounds funny because I pride myself on my transparency and pretty much share everything here. But this remains private. Maybe on this day next year, I will tell you about it.
Probably not.
So, for today let me share the Baudelaire poem above from The Flowers of Evil. It was tricky because the many translations from its original French vary greatly. Some are quite awkward in my eyes though they might be true to the original, for all I know with my limited knowledge of French. I like the version above from Keith Waldrop’s 2006 translation.
Its refrain– There, there’s only order, beauty: abundant, calm, voluptuous— felt right this morning with the painting above. It is Inner Sanctum, a 2002 painting from my current Principle Gallery show. It’s a painting that has an ability to connect with me in a multitude of emotional moments. This morning, it feels like that refrain. This feeling of beauty, abundance, calm, and voluptuousness is my favorite translation of this painting.
Let’s tie this package all together with a song that definitely fits that refrain and the tone of poem as I read it this morning. It’s a bit of bossa nova written by Antonio Carlos Jobim in 1960. This version is from Stan Getz along with bossa nova legends Jobim and Joao and Astrud Gilberto. The song is Corcovado, also known as Quiet Night of Quiet Stars.
Good stuff all the way around.
You know, I am not even going to tell you to get out this morning. Stick around if you like. But don’t touch anything and for god’s sake don’t run your grubby fingers over any of the paintings. I can do that. You can’t!
On second thought, you better leave.
Git…
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