Last week, Jan and I visited the marvelous exhibit, "Matisse: A Life in Color," (a traveling exhibition from the Baltimore Museum of Art's Cone collection) at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Much of Henri Matisse's work is colorful, to say the least: paintings filled with bright, eye-popping colors, swirling lines and emotive energy.

In retrospect, however, what speaks most powerfully to me are his monochrome, minimalist drawings. A few sweeping lines, often unconnected, suggest not only a form, but also evoke a mood.  The object portrayed is more hinted at than presented. The artist trusts the viewer to fill in the gaps, to construct the scene, to see beyond the lines.

"I do not paint things;" said Matisse, "I paint only the difference between things."  In that difference lie mystery and beauty, insight and joy.

Between the lines, energy echoes.  Beyond the lines, meaning arises. Just as the electromagnetic forces of protons and neutrons hold all the world together, it is the relationship between things that gives rise to beauty and reveals truth.

Only by appreciating our relationship to others, only by finding our place in the created world, do we come to be truly ourselves.

             Matisse created multiple representations of several images: the Yellow Dress, the Blue Nude, and Laurette. It is, someone remarked, "as if Matisse is thinking aloud, paintbrush in hand." I wonder, if God had a paintbrush in hand, what would the images of us look like? After all, what interests God the most is the human person. Does God have a nearly religious feeling about us?

                                                --by Jan