Beauty, History, and Sanctuary through the Ages

I am writing this from the shaded verandah of a home we have rented for the long weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida overlooking the quiet waters of Tampa Bay. My husband just shook up an exquisite daiquiri with fresh lime and a delightful rhum agricole, and I realize that my mind has been overtaken, again, with the mysteries of art, of why we create, of what beauty is, and how it plays into the creation of sanctuary. All of this thought is prompted by a visit we took yesterday afternoon to St. Petersburg’s Museum of Fine Arts.

Once I passed through the museum’s open and airy lobby, I was immediately arrested by a deep periwinkle wall at the very end of the main corridor. It was as if the entire first floor of the museum was created as a frame for this single work of art, one of Monet’s Houses of Parliament. I went down the deep rabbit hole of inspiration.

Isn’t that just a delight for the eye? I almost swooned. Painted in 1904, Monet was entranced by the way the light and fog shifted across the Thames. So inspired, in fact, that he simultaneously painted a total of thirty seven images of the seat of British government from the window of his son’s apartment across the river, attempting to capture every nuance of how the light played on the river and the architecture throughout the day and throughout the seasons.

It was several galleries back from the entrance but hung so enticingly, centered on the doorway openings with light illuminating the canvas and making the gold frame glint. Utterly divine. Is it any wonder that blue is one of my favorite colors to use when I am creating? There are so many tones and shades of blue — nearly endless options. Seeing this reminded me of a wonderful bedroom sanctuary we created on a recent project:

I would love to sleep in that room. It’s one of my favorite creations.

I’ve been asked where I get inspiration so many times and I always have the same answer: EVERYWHERE. Art museums, stores, markets, libraries, books, movies, traveling, restaurants, hotels, being outside in the natural world. I could go on and on.

Beauty is everywhere around us if we are open to it. My eye is always seeking to be open to that beauty, and my mind is always making connections. For instance, last month I was in Charleston and walking by an old cemetery I had to dash in to grab an image of a gravestone that was so beautiful — I’m using the the simple elegance of the curved line at the top as the shape for a custom headboard design.

Are you laughing? Inspiration is everywhere.

For fun, I’ll share a few other beauties that had my heart in rapture today:

Look at the diaphanous nature of her dress and wrap. And the sweet bloom of youth and vitality in her face. Painted by French artist Elisabeth Vigée-LeBrun, her own daughter was the model for this vision of the goddess of nature.

I turned the corner and was captured by Apollo and the Cumaean Sybyl by French artist Carle van Loo, created around 1755. The Sun God himself sweeps down to offer immortality to this lovely young lady:

Note the ancient spiral decoration of this ancient bronze wine and water mixing vessel. Centuries later Fibonacci would mathematically describe these curves that occur repeatedly in nature:

I learned about the knobs that show up on many sculptures of Buddha’s head, indicating his divine intelligence as shown in this 14th century Sukhothai sculpture:

I totally fell in love with this 5th Century Tibetan bell and scepter:

The intricacy of the metal work is wonderful. The ringing of this bell is meant to dispel negative energies. I think I need one.

Opening its doors in 1965, The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg was founded by the multitalented and visionary Margaret Acheson Stuart, who contributed a significant portion of the permanent collection. I’m so grateful for how accessible the ineffable beauty of artists’ works from across millennia and across the world are available to us in museums in in almost every city.

I’m also grateful for how beauty surrounds and peeks out at us from every corner if we are only willing to be open to it.

Thank you for letting me share my finds with you. I really fed my inner-artist soul.  I’d love to hear what’s inspiring you right now?

With love and gratitude,

Lisa