How art taught me that beauty can be elusive | India News

Juliana walked companionably along with me in the museum and watched respectfully the Vermeers and Van Goghs, but when we came to the Modiglianis and Mark Rothkos she frowned and said a trifle impatiently, “What does it all mean!”I struggled to avoid saying anything that might sound pompous. Instead, I gently suggested, “let us keep seeing. Maybe some meaning – or perhaps some beauty – will occur to us.” Beauty can be occasionally elusive.When I visit New York, I stay with a friend in his unusually commodious apartment in the West End. In the lift, I struck a friendship with an elderly professor, a long-time resident in an adjacent apartment.Barbara invited me for dinner and I was happy to accept. As she poured an aperitif for us, I went around the living room, looking at the numerous paintings on the wall. Most were by young painters and I found them impressive.She noticed my interest in the paintings and when I had finished, she commented that an advantage of living in New York was that one got to encounter some talented artists.Then she added, almost shyly, “I have a rather special treasure."Curious, I asked to see it. She brought out a large box, carefully retrieved a package and unwrapped it layer by layer. Finally, we could see the small sketch of two people against a rural background. It was a Picasso! It seemed unbelievable that I was holding the master’s work in my hands.It was such a thrill that I was prompted to ask, “Good heavens, Barbara, do you have any more secrets like this?” She hesitated a little and said, “Well, I am not really a major collector, but I also have two Dali paintings.” medium99780499I am a great admirer of the work of Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech and I begged her to let me have a look at them.“These are small paintings and not very important,” said Barbara. “They are just minor paintings of two flowers.” “I would love to see them,” I replied.“They are up there,” Barbara pointed to a corner. Both were at a height and had escaped my attention.I confessed to my great admiration for Dali and asked, mentioning my ageing vision, if she would mind if I stood on one of her tall chairs to take a good look at the two paintings.I got up on a chair and looked at the paintings. As I looked closely at the two flowers in the paintings, I was amazed not just by Dali’s artistry but also his extraordinary ingenuity.Once I got down after standing on the chair for a long while, Barbara asked, “You took quite a look. Did you like them?”“Like? I am astounded,” I replied. “For those are not simply paintings of two flowers.” “What do you mean?” asked Barbara.“In each flower is ingeniously secreted a self-portrait of Dali himself.” “What!” It was Barbara’s turn to be astonished. She said, “That is incredible. So many friends of mine have seen those paintings, including art professors, and none ever noticed anything more than the flowers.”Then she poured two large drinks and added, “You have certainly earned the drink and dinner and much more. I suspect each of those two paintings has just jumped in value by $10,000!”Salvador Dalí, Figueres 1904–1989 Figueres (España)Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus), 1954Metropolitan Museum of… https://t.co/81OTq7FWIm— Arte y libros. (@Arteymas_) 1680883502000Some years later, when I saw Dali’s celebrated painting "Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)", in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was again amazed to see what experts had lately discovered in the painting: In the left knee of Jesus were hidden images of Dali and the right knee concealed images of his wife, Gala.Beauty can be occasionally elusive.Read more from the author here