Manet, Monet and General Waffle

I'm not really much of an art buff; in fact more one of those unfortunate people who "knows what he likes" without being able to name the artist or, indeed, understand anything else. Confused between Manet and Monet. But nevermind, I'm am a bit of a biography buff and love the life stories of those who could be deemed literary or "creators".

 

Recently I read a book on Claude Monet (NOT Manet) called "Mad Enchantment" by Ross King. The book was in fact not a full biography but concentrated upon the painting of the Water Lilies, lilies that adorned Monet's garden in Giverny. 

Monet's Water Lilies

I learnt that Monet painted the most renowned canvases when into his seventies, when he had considerable eye trouble; cataracts and partial blindness. The time period also took in the Great War, or in French, Le Grande Guerre. 

French soldiers of Le Grande Guerre

Astonishing that such beauty was created at such a time. And do we even need to understand anything or give a reason for liking anything? 

As Monet said:- Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.

Claude Monet at work

Another man who suffered from eye trouble was James Joyce. To call it "eye trouble" is putting it mildly given the sheer number of operations Joyce endured. 

James Joyce

Two responses of James Joyce to questions and criticisms remain in my memory (and make me think of the vast difference between understanding and love) The first was when he was asked what he did during the Great War, to which he replied:- "I wrote Ulysses". The second was when he was responding to attacks upon Ulysses by various critics who wished to ban it as obscene. Joyce said:- "If Ulysses is unfit to read then life is unfit to be lived". For him, Ulysses WAS life and I have always loved the ending, where Molly Bloom says YES. In spite of everything and possibly because of everything, YES.

"Life is a mystery, not a problem waiting to be solved". So said Einstein, who also said that if we were to judge a fish by how well it could climb a tree we would judge it to be stupid. Fundamentally, that is possibly why we often see others as "stupid".

Just checking that quote from Einstein and he actually said that the fish would think of itself as stupid. Which puts a slightly different slant on things, I'm not sure how, but I'm only waffling so forgive me.

Happy to finish with more words from Albert Einstein:-

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead - his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the centre of true religiousness. 

Albert with his famous equation. If you do not understand it, just love.