More Colors

Today I am Henri Matisse. Bonjour!

It is the 17th of December, 2008, one of the last days of this miserable year. As expected from a typical december day in Germany, not a very colorful one either. Dark, gray, misty, cold, unfriendly, unhappy, stressful. No trace from the whimsy christmas feeling. Even the brightest lit christmas trees are not shining. Just dark gray. The sky, the streets, the cars, the people. All fade to black.

This economic downturn is not only sucking the last penny out of our pockets, it has already ruined our mojo, even worse, joestalined our dignity. Everyday we wake up with the worst of what’s around, and yet ironically, we go to bed every night knowing for sure, that it will get even worse. What a wicked spell!

Enter Matisse.

As I woke up this morning, I stared at Matisse’s Nu bleu II for a while. An inevitable daily act, thank Goodness, as the huge reproduction of this elegant painting stands right in front of our bed, right beside our bedroom window overlooking the garden. The poor contents of the window, particularly mere darkness, was no match to Matisse.

I thought, we all need more colors in our lives.

Do you remember “Beasts of the Sea” or “One Thousand and One Nights” (above) among many many others? Matisse perceived the problem. He loved shrill colors, used them extensively, as if he too, wanted to escape this misery. His colors are pleasant, they penetrate gently into our souls.

I wish his abstractness could be a permanent bit of our daily lives. For now, we should all take a brief look and transport some of it into our daily lives. No guns, no wars, just beautiful, lighthearted colors.

Nevertheless, I will always loath this year. Definitely an unsolicited one for me, I’ve been anxiously waiting to turn the page on. Maybe I should be Matisse all year next year.

Bonne journée!