Art is not what you see, but what you make others see

From time to time I am asked to speak at school assemblies, and this morning I was at the local Hall School here in Glenfield.  It is always a pleasure to visit the school; the pupils are attentive and responsive to questions.  Each week the school have a theme, and assemblies are designed to fit in with the theme.  This week's theme was "Art", along with a quote from the famous artist, Degas: "Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."

That quote certainly got me thinking, as I tried to tease out what Degas might have been saying.  The reality is that a piece of art can 'speak' in different ways to different people.  Over the years Sue and I have bought too many paintings and pictures, and we certainly don't have sufficient wall space on which to hang them all.  I came across one which we bought very cheaply at a car boot sale some years ago, and decided to take it to school for the assembly.

I think that we bought it because we found it rather thought-provoking.  The scene is a fracture clinic, and features various members of the public as well as medical staff.  It seems to be one of those images where the longer you look at it the more you get out of it.  I find the expression of the person in the foreground particularly fascinating!

After ascertaining the children's responses to the painting, I then went on to develop the theme by telling the old story of Jumbo the elephant, which dates back to the mid-nineteenth century.  I don't have space to relate how Jumbo fits into the theme, but I ended my talk by pointing out that, just as the artist signed their name on the painting, so God, as it were, signs his name on our lives.  The Bible makes it clear that in every human being there is something of the imprint of our Creator, and that makes each one special.

In one sense, we could say that each person's life is a bit like a painting; all their friends, family and associates see an element of the picture, but no-one (other than God himself) sees the whole.  It's an interesting thought to ponder what others see when they look at the picture of our lives; more importantly, what does God see?