In the home: August 31

by | Sep 1, 2012 | inspiration |

It’s the back-to-school time of year, and for kids my age, back to school usually means away from home. To me, home is where your dog is or at the very least where most of your useful stuff takes up space. It’s a pain in the ass to haul all your things somewhere new every semester of college, but if you think about the grand number of times you’ll have to do it till you graduate, it’ll only make you depressed.

Each new dorm or apartment is an opportunity to recreate the space you spend the most time in (even if it’s only a few square feet), so this inspiration post is dedicated to everyone currently in transition.

May you settle with grace in a space that suits you.

Andrew Wyeth (1917 – 2009) – Ericksons Photo found on Tumblr here.

This man sits patiently, hands delicately intertwined, and the expression on his face is one of near-surprise. As if he’s been looking out that same window for years and all of a sudden something’s different, someone’s arrived.

by Belgian artist Henri de Braekeleer, 1877
Photo from Tumblr, found here.

Although I couldn’t exactly tell if this was the man’s studio or his home, I imagine that as an artist the two places are pretty closely related. The objects in the painting remain somewhat still, but the floor and empty walls seem to shake and shimmer with the vibration of empty space.

Henri Matisse, The Violinist at the Window, 1918
Photo found here via Tumblr.
I love Matisse’s colored works. So many of his sketches could become masterpieces with just a little pigment. Here, the faceless violinist looks out the window as he practices. It looks like there may be a balcony indicated by the white railing beyond the windowpane, but he stays inside – almost as if he’s worried of losing the acoustics of his home, unwilling to share his sound outside.
Daylight Raid from My Studio Window, Sir John Lavery, 1917
Photo found on Tumblr here.
I’m not sure what he means by “Daylight Raid” since it seems remarkably peaceful outside the painted window, but my eye goes straight to the woman looking out of it. The funny thing about looking out windows with someone, is that you can’t both properly look out and look at each other at the same time, so here we’re left with the woman’s backside, half in shadow, as her shimmery dress falls on the couch she’s kneeling on. Perhaps those are planes and not birds in the sky, but I prefer the latter. 
While searching for these selections, I found that most images featuring someone inside their home usually included a window or doorway somewhere, leading the eye out. I think that’s a good metaphor for the restlessness within all of us, and that sense of almost-relief you feel when there’s someplace new to move to. 

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