Beauty and the Soul by Ferrucci Piero

Author:Ferrucci, Piero
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2009-08-06T16:00:00+00:00

The Other

In my interviews about beauty, sharing often emerged as the main theme, not just a supporting factor. It seems that sharing is the starting point, not the consequence, and that the other person’s presence makes the experience of beauty possible. Relationships are often the field in which aesthetic experiences can arise, just as fertile soil allows a seed to germinate.

Here is an example. I am at the Hermitage Museum in St. Pe tersburg, with my friend Sasha. We arrive just before closing time, but Sasha knows his way around this huge building. He heads for the room with the Rembrandts—his passion. We focus on two paintings. The first shows the return of the prodigal son. The whole story culminates in the moment, charged with pathos, when the father meets the son who has come back home. Everything takes place in that intimate atmosphere painted with Rembrandt’s preternatural light. In the embrace, you see the son from behind, while the focus is on the father. His face shows the mixture of love and relief: He thought he had lost his son forever, but the son is back. It is a beautiful expression. Sasha is the father of two daughters; I have two sons. Being fathers ourselves, I believe, helps us feel this emotion in its depth and beauty.

The second painting tells the story of Abraham and Isaac. Carrying out God’s command, Abraham is about to kill his son Isaac. At the last minute, an angel arrives. We know that the angel will stop Abraham, but they do not know it yet. Abraham has a blank look, as though following orders in a state of hypnosis. In one hand he is holding the knife with which he must kill his son. The other hand is pressing violently on his son’s face. Isaac is lying down, overpowered. You do not see his face, but every contour of his body expresses the tragedy: He realizes that his father is about to kill him. You understand from the image that Rembrandt has no sympathy for Abraham—for him, Abraham is one who stifles his own emotions and whose obedience to God is destructive. There is nothing holy here: This is not true spirituality, but blind and abject fanaticism. You see that the relationship between the two is forever compromised. How will they ever again be able to look at each other, after Isaac’s life is saved? How will Isaac be able to trust his father again? This painting expresses violence and brutality. It is the exact opposite of the previous one. And yet even horror can be great art.

Both paintings are beautiful, and I feel a new perspective open in me. The first painting shows me with unequalled depth the immense beauty of love for one’s child. It reveals the breadth and meaning of this emotion, which I recognize in myself. The second painting shows me the terrible danger of suffocating our deeper feelings. It tells me, though in a paradoxical way, how important emotions and relationships are in our life.

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