On Friday, Meagan Estep, graduate intern in Education, led a large group of visitors on a special edition of our daily Spotlight tours. This Personal Response tour had the group enthusiastically exchanging observations and ideas in a series of activities focused on a few permanent collection favorites. In one activity, we split into groups, each writing a sentence about a selected painting and then combining our sentences to form a poem about the work. Here are two of our creations:
Marc Chagall’s The Dream
Marc Chagall, The Dream, 1939. Gouache on paper, 20 9/16 x 26 3/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1942.
A dark night of the Russian soul
Love in poverty
Tenderness amidst uncertainty
A feathery softness
Brings light to the darkness
Vincent van Gogh’s Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles
Vincent van Gogh, Entrance to the Public Gardens in Arles, 1888. Oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 35 3/4 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Acquired 1930.
I reach inward and consider my thoughts
To and fro
To and fro
Green and gold surround me
In a warm place
Sculpted Sky
Blue feelings rise up
Days go by, life unfolds
Great fun!
Here’s a little found poem that came to mind as I read the verses:
Darkness brings tenderness
to my Russian-sculpted soul.
I reach inward
and warm blue feelings
light the night.
Days go by, love unfolds.