Joan Miro — Planting Seeds of the Spirit

Growing up in a conservative Mennonite family, I was not exposed to art as a child. My maternal grandfather even forbid photographs and television.  My parents did not buy a TV until after he died. 

The Garden 2
Joan Miro

My first exposure to art came my freshman year in college where in one of my classes we had to choose an artist to study. I chose Joan Miro, a Spanish artist, and his paintings planted in my soul a love of art. I had an opportunity to study art history about 30 years later and fell in love with several painters including Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Eastman Johnson, Edvard Munch and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. When you fall in love with a painting, you come back to it again and again for it to refresh your soul. 

A great novel stays with you long after you have read it. My all time favorite novel is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  I first read it college and have read it 3 times since.  

How many times do you listen to the same piece of music over and over. And each time you hear it years later, it brings back waves of emotion. Roberta Flack, Harry Chapin and Kris Kristofferson remain some of my favorite singers more than 40 years after I first heard them.  

Artists, musicians and writers all plant seeds with their works of art. What seeds are you planting with your writing, your painting or your music? How is your art impacting your audience? What seeds have you planted in their souls?

Pablo Picasso

"What I want is that my picture should evoke nothing but emotion."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

Commentary

Does your creative work evoke the emotions of your audience?  Does the work touch people's hearts?  Or is it an exercise in intellectual games?  The best creative work, the work that will last, touches people deeply and evokes emotions.  Think of the music the you like or the paintings that you enjoy.  They touch some part of you very deeply.

Are you in touch with your emotions?  Or do you hide your emotions from yourself and others?  When was the last time you had a deep emotional cry?  Do you believe that it is okay to cry?  Movies, more than novels or poetry, tend to touch me very deeply and often make me cry.  I have recently been watching the first season of the TV show, Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland.  Every episode has filled my eyes with tears.  I have been emotionally touched.

What creative works have touched you deeply?  Have made you cry?  Or laugh?  Or scream?  Or frightened you?  Think of those thriller movies that some people love to watch.  Years ago when I attempted to read Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, it made me sick to my stomach and I could not finish it.  

Creative Practice

This week ask yourself if your creative work touches the hearts of other people.  Does your creative work evoke the emotions of others?  Then create a new work from the heart.  Create something that evokes the emotions others.

Poems That Touched Me

This past week I identified ten poems that have touched my heart over the years.  If all my books were taken away and I only could keep ten poems, these would be the ten that I would keep.  All ten poems can be found on the web.  I have linked the titles to copies of the poems.  If you have not read them, you should.

1.  The Waking by Theodore Roethke  

2.  The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

3.  Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

4.  The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Elliot

5.  anyone lived in a pretty how town by e.e. cummings

6.  Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

7.  Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

8.  Underwear by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

9.  What I Learned From My Mother by Julia Kasdorf

10.  Watering the Horse by Robert Bly

What poems have touched your heart?  What paintings have evoked emotions in you?  What novels have left you sad?  Glad? Or mad?

Artist Background

One of the greatest artist of any century, Pablo Picasso was born in Spain but lived most of his life in France.  As an artist, he was constantly reinventing himself.  Known for founding the Cubist movement, he was a painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and stage designer.

Video

Here is one person's listing of the top twenty paintings by Picasso.  Not all would make my list, but the top 2 would.

Pablo Picasso

"Success is dangerous.  One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.  It leads to sterility."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

When a creative leader becomes successful, it is easy to fall into the success trap.  Your audience wants you to sing the same songs, paint the same pictures or write the same stories.  And you may be afraid they won't appreciate the new you and your new work.  So you don't try to ideas.  Or you try something new and your audience rejects you.  You need to be constantly reinventing yourself and your art.  Picasso was know for reinventing himself.  He never stayed with one art form or one artistic technique.  He was always seeking the new.  He did not let success define him.  He defined success.

Joan Miro

Self-Portrait

"Poetry and painting are done in the same way you make love; it's an exchange of blood, a total embrace — without caution, without any thought of protecting yourself.

— Joan Miro

Spanish Artist

1893 - 1983

One must give himself completely to his art and not hold back.  Throw caution to the wind.  Embrace the muse.  Make love to your art.

Kissing

Pablo Picasso

"A young artist must forget painting when he paints.  That's the only way he will do original work.  To blossom forth, a work of art must ignore or rather forget all the rules."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

Girl Before a Mirror
(1932)

When I teach people to be speakers, I tell  them that first they must learn the rules of speaking and then learn that they can break all the rules.  When it comes to the creatives arts, no rules are absolute.  And all rules can be broken.  Yes, it is good to know what the rules are so that you are aware when you are breaking them.  But understand that you can break every single rule and still create a masterpiece.

But watch out for the rule police.  Their job is to find all the mistakes that you make and throw them into your face.  Maybe it is a spelling mistake or a misplaced comma.  Or maybe the arms in your painting are too short or the eyes too big.  The rule police thrive on finding something wrong, but usually are unwilling to paint or write themselves.

The key to your success in the creative arts is knowing when and where to bend or break the rules.  You must learn to push the envelope.

Rafael Alberti

"In the very beginning I looked to painting as the medium for addressing concerns in shapes and colors.  Then it was poetry where these concerns found expression through the medium of word and metaphor."

Rafael Alberti

Spanish Painter, Poet

1902 - 1999

I am fascinated by creative leaders who use more than one medium to express themselves.  Rafael Alberti was one of those who was at home both in the visual arts and the written word.  The need to create and communicate one's feelings transcends the medium.  Some writers work in short stories, novels, poetry and plays.  Some artists paint, draw and sculpt.  And then there are the writers who also paint and the painters who also write.  Or the musicians who paint and the actors who play music.  We all have the urge to express ourselves.  The medium of paint, words or music is just the vehicle to carry the communication.

What vehicles do you like to use to express your artistic desires?  Poetry?  Music?  Painting?  Acting?  Plays?  Dancing?  Sculpting?  Novels?  Short Stories?  Have you stepped outside your comfort zone and tried something new?  

Joan Miro

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music."

— Joan Miro
Spanish Artist

1893 - 1993

Hand Catching a Bird
(1968)

Our lives are touched with color whether we are artists or not.  We are attracted to color and repulsed by color.  We wake to color in the morning and some of us dream in color.  We love the color of flowers in spring and summer.  We love the color of leaves in autumn.  Our lives our filled with color.  We often buy our clothes based on color.  We paint the walls of our houses with color.  We choose the color of the car we buy.  Color is an important part of our lives.  Chefs use color to make the meal appealing.  Advertisers use color to convince us to buy things.

In a study of the colors blue and red, scientists at the University of British Columbia discovered that red makes us more cautious and attentive to details while blue makes us more creative and receptive to new ideas.  Experiments showed that with a red background people performed as much as 31 percent better on tasks like proofreading.  When blue was used, people were more open to new ideas and creative solutions.

What are your favorite colors?  Do some colors make you happy?  What colors make you sad? What colors excite you?  How does color shape your art?  What colors are you attracted to in a painting?  How does color shape your writing?  Do you use color as part of your description?  How does color affect your music?  

Red Sun

Salvador Dali

"Have no fear of perfection — you'll never reach it."

— Salvador Dali

Spanish Artist

1904 - 1989

Are you a perfectionist when it comes to your art?  Are you obsessed with crossing every T and dotting every I?  During much of my life I have been a perfectionist and there are still moments when perfectionism will raise its ugly head.  The older I get the more mellow I become.  I don't have as much need to be sure that everything is perfect. 

Where does perfectionism come from?  I think it comes from the need and desire to please others.  We don't want to disappoint those we love.  We fear if we make a mistake we might lose the love of others.  

Learn to let go of your desire to be perfect, because as Salvador Dali says: "you'll never reach it."  Learn to accept imperfection.  Imperfection has its own beauty.  Everything in this world is flawed.  Nothing is perfect or permanent.  Mistakes are okay.  Failure is a chance to begin again.  

Pablo Picasso

"There is nothing more interesting than people.  One paints and one draws to learn to see people, to see oneself."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

La Vie
(1903)

For me, people are central to being a creative leader.  The stories that writers share are about people and their relationships.  When I speak on leadership, I talk about leadership being defined as people working with and through people.  I love paintings and photographs that involve people.  People communicate so much meaning through their expressions and gestures.  I find people fascinating because in them I see bits and pieces of myself.  Through interactions with others I learn more about myself.  People teach me important lessons that I need to learn.

If I were the only human remaining on this planet, life would be boring.  When I was young, I thought I would like to be a hermit and withdraw from the world, but I no longer feel that way.  I do need people.  Having said that, I must confess that I am still an introvert.  What that means is that many people take energy from me and I must have alone time to restore my energy.  Extroverts by nature enjoy people and are re-energized by being with people.  After spending two hours in a mall, I am exhausted and must withdraw to replace my energy and recharge my spirit.  One of the few places where I can be re-energized by people is when I am speaking in front of an audience.  Some audiences will take the energy that I give out when I speak and return it to me ten-fold.  Other audiences will absorb my energy and suck me dry.

Who are the people in your life?  Do they help restore your energy or do they drain your energy?  What about the people in your stories, your paintings and your songs?  Are your relationships positive and life-giving?  Or are your relationships toxic and destructive?  What are the people in your life teaching you?  Even the most difficult people in our lives are there to teach us lessons.  What are you learning about yourself?  And what are you teaching the people in your life?

Joan Miro

The Garden 2
Joan Miro

"More important than a work of art itself is what it will sow.  Art can die, a painting can disappear.  What counts is the seed."

Joan Miro

Spanish Painter/Sculptor

1893 - 1983

Joan Miro

Growing up in a conservative Mennonite family, I was not exposed to art as a child.  My maternal grandfather even discouraged photographs.  My first exposure to art came my freshman year in college where in one of my classes we had to choose an artist to study.  I chose Miro and his paintings planted in my soul a love of art.  Artists, musicians and writers all plant seeds with their works of art.  A great novel stays with you long after you have read it.  When you fall in love with a painting, you come back to it again and again for it to refresh your soul.  How many times do you listen to the same piece of music over and over.  And each time you hear it years later, it brings back waves of emotion.  

What seeds are you planting with your writing, your painting or your music?  How is your art impacting your audience? What seeds have you planted in their souls?  

I am curious.  Please share with me who were the first artists, writers and musicians to touch your life.

Francisco de Goya

Portrait of
Francisco de Goya

"Painting, like poetry, selects in the universe whatever she deems most appropriate to her ends."

— Francisco de Goya

Spanish Painter

1746 - 1828

Who selects the subject matter of your paintings?  Your writing?  Is it you the artist or writer? Is it society and the times you live in?  Is it your muse?  Is it the painting itself?  Or the story itself?  Is the selection of the subject matter arbitrary or based on your personal subconscious logic?  Why do you put certain details in your painting and leave out others?  Why do you write about ugly men and beautiful women in your stories?  Why do you always write about the theme of being abandoned?  Do you only paint little green apples or do you throw in a red one on occasion?  I encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and paint something new.  Seek new topics to write about.  Explore new subjects.  

The Clothed Maja (1803)

Pablo Picasso

"Art is the lie that reveals the truth."

— Pablo Picasso

Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

When we stop and think about it, we realize that art is not real.  It is an attempt to create  reality, but it will never be reality.  As Picasso says, it is a lie.  Whether you are a writer or a painter, the world you are creating in your stories and pictures is not real.  But this lie can reveal the truth of the world that cannot be perceived in reality.  Now there is the paradox:  the lie reveals the truth.  

The question you must ask yourself:  Does my art reveal the truth?  Or is it only an illusion?  Only a lie?  Art that does not reveal the truth remains a lie.  What is the truth in your writing?  In your painting?  What insight do you have into life and living?

Here is one of my favorite Picasso paintings.  I have written a poem, Sing A Sad Song, about the painting and the truth that it reveals.

The Old Guitarist, 1903, Oil on Panel, 122.9 X 82.6 cm. Pablo Picasso, Spanish (1881 - 1973), The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.253.

Pablo Picasso

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." 

— Pablo Picasso
Spanish Artist

1881 - 1973

The time we spend creating is like a splash of sunshine on a rainy day.  It helps to cleanse the soul and free the spirit.  I am most enthused when I am creating.  Have you ever wondered why humans have created art, literature, music and stories?  What is the value that creative works bring to the survival of the species?  Sure, you can argue that technological advances bring value to the survival of the species.  But a painting or a poem or a statue?  What value do they bring?  Or is there more to life than the survival of the species?

Who receives more pleasure and joy the person painting the picture or the person who looks at it?  The person who writes the novel or the person who reads it?  The person who composes the music or the person who listens to it?  Why do so many later in life turn to the creative arts?  After the child rearing is done?  The career has peaked?  

What is the value of poem?  A painting?  A song?  A story?