Agape and Agog.

                I am ever amazed at the capacity of man. We seriously short change ourselves. Walk through a few museums, especially the museums here, and you’ll understand what I mean. Even the most dull painting has several hundred brushstrokes, mixed colors, and was created with a steady controlled hand. And take those mural sized paintings which were painted by a hand similar in size to yours. This painting was seen in the mind of a real person of flesh and bones before it was swept into existence on a tangible canvas. Keen eyes and agile wrists, not much different from your own. But creating isn't the half of it. Through modern technology and techniques, we can preserve it hundreds of years later. And just as important is man’s ability to recognize greatness in another.

One of Van Gogh's Bouquet des Fleurs

Gallerie des Sculptures. Eerily beautiful.

Picasso's Marine

 The Musée Granet here in Aix is currently showing an exhibit that depicts this capacity beautifully. It’s called the Planque Collection, and it is basically a number of paintings amateur artist and art enthusiast Jean Planque gathered in his lifetime. He made nice with the big names such as Picasso and Dubuffet, but never himself came out as an established artist. But through a lifelong learning process, starting when he was 19 years old, he learned how to recognize the best of the best in the business of art. He collected works from mostly modern art, with impressionist works from Van Gogh, Monet and Renoir. He had an interest in cubism as well, with works by Léger and Braque. As a pianist, he found art that represented music and rhythm particularly fascinating. 

I found Jean Planque easy to identify with. His story is inspirational to me, because he was my age when he first became fascinated with art. He developed an interest and a talent that led him his whole life, even though technically his occupation was “entrepreneur.” I like being reminded that I have my whole life ahead of me and just because my occupation may say “chemist” or “secretary” or even “sandwich artist,” I can keep cultivating other academic infatuations. Occupation does not define the substance of your soul, and age has nothing to do with the matter. 

A second museum I visited this week was the Fondation Carzou in Manosque. This was simply a chapel, about 650 m2 in area, with high beautiful arching ceilings. On the walls, framed by white molding, were grand murals of Carzou’s “My Apocalypse.” It was basically his take on the Book of Revelation from the Bible. This was fascinating, and pretty powerful also. Granted, there were ugly aspects as he depicted bloodshed and immorality, but he showed virtue and light triumphing. I appreciated his depiction of the capacity of man also, showing man’s creations and visitations to other worlds. He concluded his masterpiece in a hopeful full circle, showing a man and a woman, reminiscent of Adam and Eve, setting out to rebuild the world.  An important detail I rather found appealing and a bit cheeky on Carzou’s part is that the sky remains a constant shade of this happy, unaltered blue. His point was to question the importance of anything man does, or if we’re simply destroying and recreating in futility and really, all this has very little impact. 

I apologize that I cannot truly do any of this art justice with photos or pictures off the web. To capture the full effect, you must experience it for yourself. That’s not a cop out, but rather an encouragement. Go! Go out and see the world! You don’t know how small you are until you open your eyes to the brilliance of man, and in pondering that, witness the glory of God. 

I would be remiss in my scholarship of chemistry if I did not mention the third museum I visited this week. This explored more the scientific intelligence of man and the art of agriculture. And for all those rolling their eyes thinking “Becca’s such a nerd,” halt your judgment! I’m talking about the cosmetics company l’Occitane! That’s about as chic as you can get, folks. Its ingredients are harvested here in the Provencal area, and the factory, museum, and 10% discounted boutique just a few miles outside of Manosque (cue candid smile and catchy jingle). I will not bore you with the facts I pretend to remember from the video about harvesting Lavender we watched, but I will admit to spending a bit too much money on gifts. ;)

God left the world unfinished…the pictures unpainted and the music unsung and the problems unsolved, that man might know the joys and glories of creation. 

Thomas S. Monson