The Importance of Art.

 RHYS BOWEN:  I've been spending a lot of time sitting in my living room lately as John recovers from pneumonia in his recliner.  This has given me time to look around and realize the importance of the art on my walls.  We have art on the walls of every room in our house. In fact sometimes we are on vacation and we see a lovely piece of art work and want to buy it. But then we look at each other. Where would we put it? No walls left.  John has even suggested getting a bigger house to allow for more art work. 

But I do enjoy the art we already own. The major piece in our living room is a simple sketch. Can you guess who it is by? 

The answer is Gaugin. Not his usual style or part of the Earth. We acquired it when John was helping a friend with his moving business when we were first married. He was emptying a house for a woman after a nasty divorce and she told him to take what she didn't want.  He brought home this picture. We loved it. And didn't think any more about it until we were at the Gaugin museum in Tahiti and there was its sibling, identical. So we came home and looked and it is a numbered print!  Not worth as much as an original Gaugin but definitely not to be sneezed at.

Apart from that we have a lot of Chinese plates I'm not very fond of. But they came from John's grandfather when he was the British district officer in Malaysia.  I'm sure they are valuable too, but I don't really care.  I like art that means something to me:  my favorite piece is this:

I was in Cornwall with my daughter and son-in-law and we visited an art gallery. We each decided which work we liked best and Tom and I agreed on one of St. Michael's Mount.  Behind my back Tom had it shipped back to me for Christmas... best Christmas gift ever!  I sit on my sofa and stare at it and sigh.

Also in the living room we have a print of Sutton Place, which was where his grandmother grew up. When we took our daughter Anne to visit she asked "And why did we give this up?"  Good question.

But most of the other art on our walls is only of sentimental value. It reminds me of places we have loved. So I suppose that art has to mean something to me personally, to take me somewhere and provide beauty. I have no abstract art at all. I certainly wouldn't want anything too unsettling or unharmonious on my walls. We also have a lot of family photos in hallways and in my office are framed Edgar certificates and other awards.  And there is my award shelf, halfway down the stairs, which gives me encouragement when I most need it.

So how about you?  Is art important to you? Do you have a particular piece you love?