Before the first mark

I was holding your hand in a quiet room. The light came in sideways and our shadows followed us across the floor.

We stopped in front of a large canvas, one of those that fills a whole wall. We stayed there for a while. It wasn't by a famous painter. But it was full of colour.

You asked me why a man had put all those colours there, in such a messy way. I remember making something up. The real answer I didn't have.

But maybe that's not the point.

When we stand in front of a painting, we should imagine it as a blank canvas. Pretend we are the painter. Where we would have started. With which part. How long it would have taken us. The light, the sounds. The room.

Then follow the work someone else did. The first mark. The point where he changed his mind. The one where he stopped because he was tired. Or because no, it just wasn't working.

Let the complexity win you over. The details.

This is true for paintings. It is true for people too.

When we meet someone we see the finished canvas. The way they speak, dress, hold their shoulders. We forget there is all that work underneath. The hands that chose, the ideas changed, the points where they stopped, tired.

Don't let yourself be rushed into moving on to the next painting, the next room.

Stay in the room, a little longer.

Inspired by the book "Una volta sola" di Mario Calabresi