That it was not my emotion, when my granddaughter Charlotte, 10 years old at the time, remained dumbfounded in front of an exhibition at the Maeght Foundation, on “Russia and the avant-gardes”, ranging from 1908 to 1930 with numerous works, in black and white, including Malevich and his black and white square, Rodchenko… This exhibition, despite this difficult period in the history of Art, was full of dynamism, vitality and creativity.

Obviously knowledge about Art, develops a personal reflection.

Knowing the history of the work, the era of its creator, the context of its manufacture, the techniques used, are of course appreciable and can help us to understand and move forward.

But…understand what of this strangeness?

Is this knowledge not also likely to interfere with a judgment, an impression felt from the outset?

The Conscious intellectualizes, the Unconscious feels and speaks to us. Let’s hear it.

Is it beautiful or not?

But why not let yourself go to contemplate, feel, smell (even in an olfactory way), quite simply a painting (like Charlotte), a sculpture, a poem, what do I know, a face that touches us?

For his part, Van Gogh liked to say “Art needs time, it would be nice to live more than one life”.

So,

Let us contemplate, contemplate and let ourselves go in this precious time, engage all our personality, sensitivity, because no word can express exactly this emotion felt at this precise moment of our discovery.