Movements

Amongst other endeavors photographer Paul Himmel liked taking beautiful, moving photographs of the ballet. The way he captures the dancers' movements is just astounding. It's almost like each photograph is a painting of something more distance and abstract, though in reality it's the beautiful moments of very real dancers captured. The grainy quality adds to this abstraction, I think. It almost blurs out any truly defining lines, like the dancers and their movements are about to dissolve or burst into the rest of the space in the photographs. Every movement, and dancer and object and shade blends into each other in the most natural way.

1. Ballet Serenade, 1951/52

2. The Cage A, ca. 1950

3. Swan Lake D, 1951/52

4. Ballet Serenade, 1951/52

5. The Cage E, ca. 1950

6. Ballet Swan Lake, 1951/52

7. Orpheus B, ca. 1950

8. Illuminations A, 1953

Galerie f5,6

Astral light

Just some words Egon Schiele wrote to Oskar Reichel in September 1911:

"When I see myself entire, I shall have to see myself and know what I want, not only know what is happening within me but also to what extent I have the ability to look, what means are mine, what enigmatic substances I am made of and of how much of that greater part that I perceive and have hitherto perceived in myself. - I see myself evaporating and exhaling more and more, the oscillations of my astral light are growing faster, directer, simpler, and like a great insight into the world. Thus I am constantly accomplishing more, producing further and infinitely more shining things from within myself, insofar as love, which is everything, endows me in this way and leads me to what I am instinctively attracted by, what I want to drag into myself, in order to make something new anew that I have seen in spite of myself. "

Painting is Self Portrait with Chinese Lanterns, 1912.

Séraphine de Senils

A couple of days ago I watched the film about Séraphine Louis (later de Senils), the self-taught, strange painter. I must say that as of late (late in this case being a slow, but steady process of many months, maybe even a few years) I've come to like more sedated, neutral and "easy" colors (though bordeaux is still my favorite color). No fuss, just very clean and simple lines. However, upon getting a glimpse of Séraphine's mind and her art work, all the passionate colors and overbearing motifs of trees, flowers and fruit I had to move away from that previous notion I have of well, everything. At least in the case of Séraphine's paintings. I sometimes find it difficult to like paintings of things in nature such as these - they bring forth a feeling of sadness and dispair in me - a depressing feeling altogether. But these paintings have so much life and passion in them. It feels like the paintings - the trees, the flowers, the leaves - are moving,t he colors bouncing around, maybe even dancing.

1. Feuilles, 1928-29
2. Les Grappes de Raisins, 1930.

Source: here.