Finding solace and sublimity in the arts
There are few rapturous experiences that could match with immersing in the arts. A lot of fond memories reel through my memoirs, reminding me of some favorite creative festivities. A glittering night out at the Royal Albert Hall delighting at the whimsical rendition of Swan Lake on Ice is a beautiful dreamscape. The Victoria and Albert Museum brims with fascinating exhibitions, after which you could reminisce your thoughts in the courtyard, edged each summer with spellbinding pink and purple hydrangeas. The pianist at the Savoy hotel drifts into a rhapsody as we savor a delightful afternoon tea. For a more contemplative sojourn, getting lost in the 1797 bookshop Hatchard’s whilst searching for illuminating reads is pure joy for any bibliophile.
Indeed, savoring any form of creative expression is an essential part of our human experience. Evidence demonstrates the powerful benefits of engaging with the arts, such as fostering self-understanding of unexcavated feelings lurking in our subconscious minds, boosting self-esteem, giving us a safe channel to express our complex emotions, enhancing cognitive functions, elevating social skills, releasing stress and anxiety, and giving us a mode for achieving catharsis. Perhaps most importantly, the arts can help us create meaning and connection in our lives.
Interestingly, a new form of psychotherapy is emerging, called Art Therapy, which immerses people in the creative process of producing art in order to boost overall wellbeing. When we immerse in creating a work of art, we acknowledge our need to be seen, heard, and understood. Art therapy, thus, eliminates mental and emotional roadblocks, promotes creativity, and encourages reflection of complex thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It is currently used to treat a number of conditions, including anxiety, depression, bereavement, emotional difficulties, relationship discord, trauma, and stress.
In their fascinating book, Art as Therapy, philosopher Alain de Botton and art historian John Armstrong argue that art is a therapeutic medium through which we can connect with artworks in order to experience or recover important feelings, such as cherishing tender memories, carving time for amusement, dignifying sorrow, understanding ourselves and others, and expanding our emotional landscapes.
In much the same fashion, the kaleidoscope of creative fields offers us varying degrees of experiences. The breadth of works encompassing literature, visual arts, music, film, design, and the performing arts is bedazzling, speaking individually to us regardless of theme, culture, or location. We can surely find ourselves transformed by creative works by contemplating and savoring their ingenuity, passion, profoundness, creativity, and universality. Indeed, we have often found ourselves connecting with distant creatives chiefly through their universal works. Alain de Botton said it so wonderfully, “Confronted by the many failings of our real life communities, art gives us the option of assembling a tribe for ourselves, drawing their members across the widest ranges of time and space, blending some living friends, with some dead authors, architects, musicians and composers, painters and poets”.
For example, bibliotherapy is used widely by therapists, life coaches, librarians, teachers, and parents to prescribe a tailored reading list for people who are facing specific life challenges. By reading those prescribed books, readers would find remedies for the heart, mind, and soul. Therapists who are trained in bibliotherapy usually have a list of books that address a variety of challenges, such as depression, loneliness, relationship discord, anxiety, trauma, abuse, grief, fear, and anger. For example, the UK-based Reading Agency has partnered with public libraries and leading health agencies to deliver the “Reading Well Books on Prescription” program. Health professionals can prescribe a list of books to manage patients’ health and wellbeing, which they can access via public libraries. The agency has also launched the “Mood-boosting Books” national scheme to promote uplifting novels, poetry, and non-fiction titles that have been recommended by reading groups. Titles include Chocolat by Joanne Harris, All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
A contemplative immersion with creative works can impart a number of important teachings. Creative works remind us of ephemeral moments of beauty and the romance found in the mundane. Artists are especially clever in their ability to shed light on such transient moments of beauty, reminding us not to take for granted the value of everyday objects we have grown accustomed to. As a lover of botany, I have always admired the glorious paintings by Dutch still-life painter Rachel Ruysch, who specialized in painting flowers and invented a unique artistic style that brought her international acclaim. Her stunning painting Flowers in a Glass Vase with a Tulip, displayed at the National Gallery in London, is absolutely gorgeous with its vibrant colors, attention to detail, and collective beauty of various flowers coming together in one ravishing bouquet. Perhaps the scene infuses us with an appreciation for varying types of beauties and teaches us to avoid needless comparison. The tender care of its owner, hinted by the lingering dewdrop, also brings our attention to the importance of daily nurturing of objects or people we cherish.
The artistic movement of fêtes galantes revels in the same jovial spirit, often depicting exuberant paintings of elegantly dressed people engaged in play in parks, the countryside, or ballrooms. The 17th century French painter, Nicolas Lancret was a prolific painter in this genre and his painting A Lady in a Garden taking Coffee with Children is a sight to behold. It portrays a couple enjoying a leisurely afternoon with their two children in a lush park, adorned with hollyhocks and a flowing, musical fountain. We can tell from the attire that the subjects were probably well-off, seeing as they also had a butler serving them. The whole mood of this painting is tender and serene. It invites us to make time for loved ones, for amusement, and for the things that really matter in our lives. Balance in work and family responsibilities is of utmost importance for a fulfilled existence.
Daydreaming of bucolic imageries can inspire us to seek such beautiful settings, often leading to rejuvenating our weary souls. In 1883, French painter Claude Monet moved to Giverny where he would spend years craftily designing gardens so ravishing, so full of rhapsody, that it established his identity as an impressionist painter. Today, the idyllic gardens are still lovingly tended with a ravishing assortment of flowers, such as tulips, wisteria, peonies, poppies, roses, and dahlias. Claude Monet’s celebrated painting The Water-Lily Pond is an expression of how our environments have an effect on us. Truly, witnessing the cascading purple wisteria and the Japanese bridge atop the floating water lilies is a sight to cherish. This particular work invites us to create beauty wherever we go, to be patient as our vision unfolds, and as with nature, to enjoy each season of life and make the most of it.
In much the same way, we can see how the protagonists in British writer Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel, The Enchanted April, shed their weariness by spending a month-long holiday in the Italian Riviera, lounging in the resplendent gardens of their rented villa. We are told that the effect of this changed environment is almost immediate, “April came along softly like a blessing, and if it were a fine April it was so beautiful that it was impossible not to feel different, not to feel stirred and touched”. Similarly, the beloved classic, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett recounts the story of children who allegedly suffer from both physical and mental troubles. By spending more time amidst nature, playing, and gardening, the children grow healthier, more imaginative, and happier than ever before.
Nature also delights us with an explosion of pleasing scents, which are particularly evocative in reminding us of distant memories or creating new references. Surely spending an afternoon delighting in experimenting different perfumes is bemusing to the senses. It has the power to tantalize us with faint visions of ethereal gardens or romantic landscapes, such as Tuscany, Capri, or the French Riviera. French master perfumer Jacques Cavallier has devised a delicate, powdery, and dreamy scent named Apogée for the luxury brand Louis Vuitton that immediately transports to a garden in the South of France. French perfumer Annick Goutal has created a special scent for her daughter to encapsulate her tenderness, infusing roses, pears, vanilla, and musks. She named the perfume Petite Chérie or ‘little sweetheart’.
Creative works, especially music, have the power to uplift our moods. Ludovico Einaudi, a world-class pianist and composer, has explained how following the same alpine path on seven different days inspired him to compose his album Seven Days Walking. Each day followed the same wintry route, yet the experience was kaleidoscopic, unfolding each time with unique stirrings and reflections, and revealing new details — the reflection of the full moon on snow, tracks left behind by foxes, the view from the summit, getting lost in the mist, and dancing golden butterflies. Such whimsical moments are captured in his gentle, sublime compositions.
Choosing the right creative works to engage with is a central part of magnifying the benefits of the arts on oneself. It is helpful to curate a list of creative works to savor every now and then. In fact, it might be sagacious to say that special creative works could pose as bursts of sunbeams in our lives, through which they whisper inspiration, guidance, and reprieve from shame or sadness that often besiege us during tumultuous times. Perhaps some could resort to creative works looking to envisage surreal experiences via stories, visual arts, or music. American writer Sylvia Plath captures this yearning, “I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want… I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life.”
With the passage of time, a bibliophile might serendipitously stumble upon a treasured work of literature. Perhaps one of the greatest functions of art is to realize our communion in sorrow, something no one has ever escaped. Indeed, literature is abundant with illustrations of heroes who have conquered their calamities with their strength. Khalil Gibran’s The Broken Wings is a work of incomparable beauty, wistfulness, and magic that merits a contemplative reading in this regard. Educated in Beirut, Boston and Paris, Gibran was greatly influenced by the English Romantic movement, which reveled in revealing the writer’s inner worlds and emotions, reinforcing a connection with nature, and empathizing with women and children. His timeless, sensitive writings touched upon universal themes, such as loneliness, sacred connections, and nature’s healing properties on the soul.
This particular 1912 masterpiece is narrated by a haunting image of Gibran himself about a tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers. The first descriptions we notice in the story are the dreamy landscapes of Beirut, enveloped with cypress trees and infused with the scents of roses, gardenia, and jasmine. Perhaps these pastoral scenes are reminiscent of love’s early birth, so jovial and full of life. We then learn about the angelic Selma Karamy, whom Gibran exalts, saying so tenderly that “in every young man’s life there is a ‘Selma’ who appears to him suddenly while in the spring of life and transforms his solitude into happy moments and fills the silence of his nights with music”. Selma is the daughter of an affluent, elderly father who dotes on his only child. He wishes to see his daughter wed to an eligible man who will shower her with tenderness. The narrator, who we can infer as a kind gentleman of a lower social status, is the son of a family friend.
Besotted with love almost instantaneously, the protagonist describes the unfolding of his love story and growing affection for Selma with each rendezvous. We glimpse his inner thoughts making way for a cupid to enter his heart, so chaste is his love and so soulful, oblivious of material influences. We often find ourselves lost for words, unable to spell out heartfelt sentiments, often fearful of social reprimand. Perhaps Gibran’s greatest trait is his ability to verbalize such deep emotions so that we may have a deeper appreciation of what constitutes as a ‘heavenly love’. In his eyes, such a love “fills the soul with bounty; a tenderness that creates hope without agitating the soul, changing earth to paradise and life to a sweet and a beautiful dream”. This inner beauty is also reflected in outer surroundings, as he delights us with reveries of picturesque scenes, lulling waves dancing on the seashore, and the splendor of life – eluding to a vision of Eternity.
These dreams are then crushed by the sudden betrothal of Selma to the Bishop’s nephew, who seeks to elevate his social status through this alliance. Unsurprisingly, the marriage is barren of joy, sapping Selma of her dreams, and leaving her to die following the birth of a stillborn baby. Everybody has their own idea of paradise on Earth, and Gibran gives us a glorious account of what it means to fall in love with a soulmate, to perhaps fight for those we cherish, and to have in our powers the strength to pursue a life worth living – far from fearing outworn conventions.
One of the most moving scenes in literature lies within the pages of the 1844 adventure novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, by French writer Alexandre Dumas. This captivating story trails the journey of Edmond Dantès, a simple merchant sailor, who transforms into an enigmatic, revered aristocrat through the power of reading books. Edmond symbolizes many universal struggles we face as humankind pertaining to love and devotion, dealing with unexpected calamities, and contenting with redemption rather than revenge. Therein lies the quintessential hero’s journey in reinventing one’s character to carve a unique, unforeseen path and ultimately, a better life story for oneself.
At the onset of the book, Edmond’s life seems to be ideal; he is well liked by members of his community and his boss surprises him with an unexpected promotion of becoming the captain of a ship. He is also engaged to his beautiful, beloved fiancé, Mercédès, and they plan to get married very soon. Jealousy strikes Edmond’s acquaintances and they soon devise a conniving plot to accuse him of treason. Sure enough, he gets arrested on his wedding day and is sent to the Château d’If, where dangerous political prisoners are held.
Many readers could relate to this crossroads of harshly and suddenly losing precious blessings. Indeed, during his time in prison, Edmond contemplates suicide until he chances upon a fellow Italian prisoner, Abbé Faria. The priest is described as a brilliant intellectual; he owns five thousand volumes of books in his library in Rome and speaks several languages. Together, they conspire to escape the prison by digging an underground tunnel. At the same time, Abbé begins a journey of transforming Edmond by illuminating him in the fields of history, art, philosophy, science, and language. Edmond transforms from a naïve, simple sailor into a poised, intellectual, and profound Count of Monte Cristo. His new demeanor is almost arresting, he speaks very loftily and his interests are sophisticated.
The brilliance of this book is reflected in the depth of Edmond’s character, through his inner thoughts and motives. We observe how Edmond’s pleasant demeanor immediately leaves him embittered after imprisonment. Indeed, how easy it is for people to misjudge others’ sorrow and pessimism when they are in the throes of suffering. We might experience calamities in our lives, but like the mighty captain of a ship, we can battle our way through tumultuous times and steward our course to desirable shores. Edmond’s journey is full of such wisdom, perseverance, and reorientation of vengeful thoughts back to that kind and upright character whom we admired. The pages of this book are designed to enthrall, no less.
Perhaps on equal footing to Edmond is Jo March, one of the central characters in Louisa May Alcott’s classic Little Women. At the time of writing, the family story genre played an integral role in advocating the ideal womanly character expected of Victorian American girls. Through the character of Jo, Alcott reimagines the ideals of domestication and instead, offers an alternative vision of pursuing a thriving career whilst balancing family duties. Alcott is a brilliant wordsmith and the story is brimming with fascinating incidents that test Jo’s devotion to her authentic self. In contrast to the rest of her submissive sisters, Jo is crowned with a sensational writing career, a thriving boarding school for boys under her management, and a joyful existence with her husband and children. This story teaches us to experiment with our creative potential whilst keeping our loved ones close.
A person could rarely read a book and return unchanged, which further extols the function of literature in helping us grow, find fresh perspectives, and expand our horizons. Many years ago, I stumbled upon such a wonderful, transformative book titled Romancing the Ordinary: A Year of Simple Splendor by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Ban Breathnach. What inspired this unique foray into the sensual experience of everyday life is the author’s head injury that left all her senses disoriented for months. As she slowly recuperated her senses, she came to rediscover and delight in daily, charming epiphanies. The book is organized by season and month, drawing fascinating references from myth, history, literature, film, music, and the performing arts whilst interweaving precious words of wisdom. Indeed, reading this rapturous book ingrained in me a permanent adoration for romancing the ordinary, such as serene rainfall, balance in everything, slow living, lifelong learning, fragrances, and gardening. Days often fade into memory and our gratitude for all we possess often wanes, so much so, that we long for the wonder of existence only to find we had it all along. As the Irish poet William Butler Yeats once reflected, “There is only one romance – the Soul’s”.
Since time immemorial, the arts have elevated, enriched, and enchanted us. We can open up world within our souls by spending time reveling in exceptional creative works.
Published in Shawati magazine.
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