Learning to Fulfill Dreams

February 13, 2009
The Reuven Rubin Museum on Bialek Street honors Rubin who made aliyah from Romania in the 1920s to become one of the pillars of the Israeli art world, not to mention Israel’s first diplomat to his place of birth. He died at the age of 81 in 1974. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the museum, a previously unknown work of his, Homage to Vincent, became the theme of an exhibit to demonstrate how Israeli artists have “dialogued” with Vincent van Gogh. The exhibit contained many media, including some videos. The picture that prompted the theme was a colorful oil with an easily recognizable portrait of van Gogh, partly blocked by a vase of flowers in the energetic, frenzied and colorful style of Van Gogh. It’s interesting to consider how few cues the brain needs to recognize a likeness of van Gogh. One 10 by 10 painting at first looked like a giant green and black crossword puzzle, but from a distance the squares blended into his likeness. There was a painting that resembled a van Gogh landscape of manicured French farms, but the eye is directed to Mt. Tabor (An Israeli landmark). On a humorous note, my favorite piece of art consisted of a long, white wire extending from the ceiling nearly to the floor. At the end was a small, bright lightbulb almost touching a book of the Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh, out of the cover of which had been carved a small cup, filled with--what else for van Gogh--but sunflower seeds.
A quote from the video of an interview with Rubin captures what I try to do for my students, “I didn’t learn to paint. I learned to fulfill my dreams.”