DAY 192

PHILOSOPHY OF ART

Nature in Art

FINDING SUBLIMITY IN OUR SURROUNDINGS

“A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.” —Walt Whitman

Try to imagine what would be missing if all references to nature were removed from the history of art. It would be, well, a very bleak landscape! Claude Monet’s Waterlilies, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass are just a few examples of nature’s sheer ubiquity in art. Particularly in the realms of painting, drawing, photography, and poetry, nature is a constant source of inspiration for artists.

The cynic in you might not be impressed: “Of course nature is everywhere in art! It’s the world in which we live!” Granted, nature aside, the remaining bulk of artistic subject matter consists primarily of people, relationships, and man-made structures, which, taken altogether, pretty much sums up the stuff we see and interact with everyday. But, there remains a special fondness artists have with nature. Its colors, shapes, and shades resonate deeply within us, soothing and exciting us in ways that human creations don’t. Why?

Your inner skeptic may be bored again: “Meh; it’s probably just an evolutionary thing. We come from nature, so of course we connect with it.” Okay; that would explain an appreciation for it as a source of food and shelter. Still though, it remains a mystery why its beauty nourishes us in ways that seem to transcend physical need, and why it stirs our imaginations to reflect it in our own creation. —CKG