It occurs to me that I have a lot in common with Alain de Botton.
Ok. Well. Not really. Alain was born two years before me. In Switzerland. He was brought up speaking French and German until he was sent to boarding school in Oxford and English became his primary language.
Hmmm. Ok, not so many similarities.
Moving on.
He did lots of fancy academic things as an undergraduate and went on to complete a Masters Degree in Philosophy. Alain started a PhD but stopped to start writing books for the general public. Great move.
His first book, written at the age of 23, Essays in Love, was a simple and honest account of the rise and fall of a relationship. From the first ripples of excitement at the meeting through the getting to know and the learning the ways through to the question of how and when to say 'I love you'. Right through to the demise and the excruciating sense of loss at the end.
Alain de Botton went on to write numerous essays, novels and has become best known for his works of non-fiction sometimes described as a philosophy on everyday life. He has a talent for using his very clever brain to deliver profound reflections in an accessible package that so succinctly reflects common experience and wondering that we, the non-philosophers, struggle to pin-point and name in any kind of coherent way. And I speak for myself.
So. Pretty much nothing in common with Alain de Botton.
Tonight I saw the man in action. His latest offering involves the subversion of three international art museums, Melbourne's NGV, Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, and a book he wrote in collaboration with philosophical art historian, John Armstrong.
The idea behind Art as Therapy is that we are often told that art is important. We are not as often told why we should see it that way. Alain and John have some suggestions. Which, of course, are multi-faceted. But multi-faceted is as appropriate in a philosophical approach to the importance of art as it is in diamonds. Except I have never been one for diamonds. Give me philosophy any day.
Alain thinks that art can help us with life.
Art helps us remember things by preserving experiences and helping us remember things we might forget. Like the way a rainbow looks when it is so bright that its mirrored image is nearly as bright as the original. Or the way the moon looks when it is such a nice morning that it decides to hang around just to glory in it. Faced with these soul-filling images, we are for a time relieved of our preoccupations and can just enjoy the beauty. Art does that for us, capturing moments, beauty and forcing us to focus, for a brief period of time, on life's most meaningful aspects.
Historically, in art, Constable did that with his clouds. Or Monet with his beautiful field.
Art can also offer us the feeling that others have felt the same pain that we have.
Art is so often classified in terms of their chronological and historical relevance. This is easiest for curators. But Alain believes that conventional museum displays avoid the potential available for art to heal.
Art can connect us to each other and to ourselves. Art is a tool that can help us by inspiring, consoling, redeeming, comforting, expanding and reawakening.
What Alain and John are suggesting is a different approach to consuming/appreciating the art in the galleries. Rather than chronological 'schools of art', should we not perhaps inhale the works as mirrors which reflect our love, our pain, our questions on life? These two men have been offered the chance to create a path of discovery for us through these three museums. A meandering path. If you live in Melbourne, you can follow this yellow brick road from this Friday, 28 March until 28 September. There is even a free app to assist you on the road.
Who am I kidding? I have nothing in common with Alain de Botton. I would never have come up with that.
But I wish I had.
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