We do not normally think of art as a teacher, nor do most artists consciously make art that have specific “takeaways.” Yet, art by its very nature, leads us into the mind and feelings of the artist, and thoughtful artworks can certainly be more than just eye-candy; they can sensitize us to what we overlook, and even teach us to be better versions of ourselves. In the following, I will showcase five artworks that I believe possess this quality.
#1 James Whistler, Nocturne: The River at Battersea, 1878
The famous Irish poet and writer Oscar Wilde once said, ‘There was no fog in London until Whistler started painting it’. Wilde was referring to a series of foggy landscapes painted by the American artist, James McNeil Whistler (1834-1903). Wilde did not mean that people had failed to notice fogs in the English capital until Whistler painted those scenes. His point was just that the experience of seeing the fog was not considered interesting until Whistler raised it to the level of art. Suddenly, standing before a Whistler painting, the banal becomes eerily beautiful and our eyes are opened.
#2 Salomon van Ruysdael, River View, 1642
Dutch painters of the 17th century produced some of the most atmospheric landscape paintings of the classical era. Take for example the above scene by the Dutch master, Salomon van Ruysdael. (1602-1670). Imagine you are having a quiet afternoon stroll along a riverbank near Amsterdam. Above you, menacing clouds are gathering, threatening to spoil your enjoyment.
This is not something we have not encountered before. But with this picture, we are reminded of how fragile nature can be. It is this fragility that Ruysdael concentrates and focuses our attention to, endowing it with a significance that goes beyond mere weather. Ruysdael is reminding us that we too are part of nature and our lives are as fragile.
With the same thoughts in mind, we turn to the next picture – a hypnotic photograph of aspens in autumn by the great photographer, Ansel Adams (1902-1984).
#3 Ansel Adams, Aspen, Dawn, Autumn, Dolores River Canyon, Colorado, 1937.
Here we see a subject which is all-too familiar: trees shedding leaves in autumn, and of course, autumn follows spring and summer, two seasons that are often used as metaphors for youth. When a work of art like this is viewed in the hush environment of a gallery, autumn takes on a greater significance. Adams’ photo asks us to frame our thoughts about morality in connection with everything that is impermanent in nature. Autumn is just a prop for this “lesson”, but a powerful one nonetheless when rendered in an image that is this stark.
#4 Hiroshi Sugimoto, Ligurian Sea, Saviore, 1993
Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work is not explicitly about ageing or death, but his surreal and abstract images of the sea evoke a wealth of emotions to the introspective viewer. They remind us that the waters of time will close over us, as though we never lived, and the world will go on in our absence, and that in the huge scale of things, we are unimaginably small.
#5 Chawan (Japanese tea bowl)
Moral message – messages that encourage us to be better versions of ourselves – can be found in works of art that on the surface, seems to have nothing to do with morals. Take for example, this tea bowl (chawan) that is used in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Aside from being an utensil for tea, it is also an object that pays homage to the virtue of humility. Rustic tea bowls have been used in Japan since the 15th century, their form mirroring the basic teaching of Zen philosophy that enlightenment comes about only through non-attachment, and the Zen-influenced wabi sabi aesthetic which seeks to embrace beauty in the imperfect and modest. In many ways, this tea bowl embodies these ideals. Its rim is slightly asymmetrical (signifying imperfection), and its surface is speckled with little brown and black spots, the result of impurities produced from firing in the kiln. The bowl is modest because none of these seem to matter; its flaws merely concede its disinterest in status or showiness. For a person who is given to arrogance or is anxious about worldly status, this bowl is a moving reminder that we come into this world with nothing and will leave it with nothing, and that perhaps each of us should make a change in their lives to live more humbly, seeking instead to be vessels of substance and beauty.