The Sad Part Of Too Smart

Ever think that maybe we're too smart for our own good?

By smart I mean too "sophisticated", or too wise or too jaded. Or all of these. The thought occurred to me when I was mindlessly spinning through the interwebs looking at paintings and photographs by artists of some renown.

I came across a painting that brought back something to mind I hadn't thought about in a very long time. I had always told myself... of all the famous, iconic things this painter has done, THIS - lesser known piece - will always be my favorite.

I think I made that little declaration to myself somewhere in high school, right at that time you start to realize that - this is real... the rest of my life is coming... and all the naive yet frightening questions about the future you ask yourself begin to form. And what's more - for the first time in your life - you can verbalize them. That time when your creative mind, collecting what little you know and marching on with the fresh energy of your youth, sees many possibilities and approaches. I saw this painting in a book and decided right then and there that this almost unknown work was the real masterpiece the world had missed. Of course it wasn't all that unknown. And though the artist is an icon and so many of his paintings are forever emplanted permanently into the culture, I decided (in the hubris only an 18-year-old can muster) the experts blew the call. Or, at least, the same old things the world considers his greatest paintings - made mundane to my mind by the sheer expected usualness of their choices - were not as great as this one. And - though certainly it isn't UNknown, to be sure, the world missed calling THIS ONE the greatest he had done. Yeah I was a piece of work at 18. You should have known me.

I admit I'd forgotten that declaration I made - almost forty years ago now. This declaration that was part of what informed my outlook and my worldview that I'd left so casually on the wayside after such a pompous announcement.

Well... I saw the painting again tonight and felt that old starlight inside. And the first thing I wanted to do was share it with everyone. Silly.

But then the scourge of the modern reared its head and I thought - well this is pretty much nothing at all. It's Van Gogh - and Van Gogh is a damned cliche to so many now. The initial rush is over. People have moved on. The internet changed everything. People don't even READ the same way anymore, why should anyone care about this?

It was like - way to go RW. Dredge this thing up and watch the eyes roll. He's at it again. That's old news. It's been done. FAIL.

Which is when I sat down and began to type... "Ever think that maybe we're too smart for our own good? The line that begins this post. Because I would hate to think we lose this ability to enjoy something so old school as a silly painting because of our rushed time frames, our apps, our devices, our social networks. Why - when I go to an art gallery (and Chicago has one of the best) I get all huffed about how quickly everybody walks through.

Oh well. I'm a damned old fool to be sure.

But anyway, in case you're not so wise and jaded... this is the one I'm talking about. I purposely shrunk it so you'd have to click it in order to really see it (I think that's how it works). And maybe if you do you will see what I see. The lesser known Van Gogh masterpiece. To my feeble brain, better than any of the standards.

Indulge a fool.

The Red Vineyard.