"And that is why I paced the corridors
Of those great museums
Gazing at paintings of a world
In which David is blameless as a boy scout
Goliath earned his shameful death
While eternal twilight dims Rembrandt's canvases,
The twilight of anxiety and attention
And I passed from hall to hall
Admiring portraits of cynical cardinal
In Roman crimson
Ecstatic peasant weddings
Avid players of cards or dice
Observing ships of war and momentary truces
And that is why we paced the corridors
Of those renowned museums those celestial palaces
Trying to grasps Isaac's sacrifice
Mary's sorrow and bright skies above the Seine
And I went back to a city street
Where madness pain and laughter persisted -
Still unpainted."
-"And That Is Why" by Adam Zagajewski, from True Life, New York, Farrar. Straus and Giroux: 2023.
For Adam Zagajewski, the past is always present in everyday life and, as this poem eloquently lays out, nowhere is this fact more visible than in museums. The past isn't dead; it may not even be past.
The poet Adam Zagajewski (1945-2021) was born in Poland and died in Poland; however he lived in Berlin, then Germany, moved to France in 1982 and later taught at universities in the United States.
Image: Sophie Crespy - photograph of a gallery at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, courtesy of Grand Palais, Paris.
7 comments:
The past may not be dead, agreed. But it is a very heavy burden to carry around on one person's shoulders. So I would much prefer to examine Rembrandt's canvases and peasant weddings than go to the cemetery every year for parents, grand parents and parents in law.
Hels, I paraphrased a comment made by the late William Faulkner to, I hope, a slightly different effect. What Faulkner said: "In the South, the past isn't dead. Hell, it isn't even past." Not a cheery sentiment in the least.
I recognize on the wall the portrait of Tolstoy by Repine. Yes, art, like literature, puts the past in the present forever.
Tania, thank you! I looked it up and it was painted in 1887. For those who may be wondering, we are speaking of the larger portrait flanked by two smaller ones. Maybe someone else can identify the two statues.
To the right of Tolstoy, it's the portrait of Moussorgski, then "They did not wait for him anymore", the two signed Repine also, Jane.
Tania, you are a treasure! Have you written anything about Ilya Repin? I would be eager to read if you have.
Yes, Jane, I put the link under my name to the previous comment.
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