I'm going to tell you about an affliction I suffer from. And I have a funny feeling that quite a few of you suffer from it as well. When I'm walking around an art gallery, rooms and rooms full of paintings, after about 15 or 20 minutes, I realize I'm not thinking about the paintings. I'm not connecting to them. Instead, I'm thinking about that cup of coffee I desperately need to wake me up. I'm suffering from gallery fatigue.
Ispričaću vam o bolesti od koje patim. I imam neki čudan osećaj da dosta vas takođe pati od nje. Kada se šetam kroz umetničku galeriju, prostorije i prostorije pune slika, nakon 15 ili 20 minuta, shvatam da ne razmišljam o slikama, ne povezujem se sa njima. Umesto toga, razmišljam o šolji kafe, očajnički mi treba, da me razbudi. Patim od galerijskog umora.
How many of you out there suffer from -- yes. Ha ha, ha ha! Now, sometimes you might last longer than 20 minutes, or even shorter, but I think we all suffer from it. And do you have the accompanying guilt? For me, I look at the paintings on the wall and I think, somebody has decided to put them there, thinks they're good enough to be on that wall, but I don't always see it. In fact, most of the time I don't see it.
Koliko vas boluje od -- da. Aha, aha! Dakle, nekada možete izdržati duže od 20 minuta, ili čak kraće, ali smatram da svi mi bolujemo od toga. I da li osećate propratnu krivicu? Gledam slike na zidu i mislim, neko je odlučio da ih stavi tu, dovoljno su dobre da budu na zidu, ali to ne vidim uvek. Zapravo većinom to ne vidim.
And I leave feeling actually unhappy. I feel guilty and unhappy with myself, rather than thinking there's something wrong with the painting, I think there's something wrong with me. And that's not a good experience, to leave a gallery like that.
I odem osećajući se nesrećno. Pre ću se osećati krivom i nezadovoljnom sobom, nego što ću misliti da nešto nije u redu sa samom slikom. Mislim da nešto nije u redu sa mnom. Nije dobro iskustvo tako napustiti galeriju.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
The thing is, I think we should give ourselves a break. If you think about going into a restaurant, when you look at the menu, are you expected to order every single thing on the menu? No! You select. If you go into a department store to buy a shirt, are you going to try on every single shirt and want every single shirt? Of course not, you can be selective. It's expected. How come, then, it's not so expected to be selective when we go to an art gallery? Why are we supposed to have a connection with every single painting?
Stvar je u tome da treba sebi da damo oduška. Ako razmišljate o odlasku u restoran, kada pogledate u jelovnik, da li se od vas očekuje da naručite apsolutno sve što je u jelovniku? Ne! Vi birate. Ako odete u prodavnicu odeće da kupite košulju, da li ćete probati sve košulje i poželeti apsolutno svaku košulju? Naravno da ne, možete biti selektivni. To se od vas očekuje. Zašto se ne očekuje od nas da budemo selektivni kada odemo u umetničku galeriju? Zašto treba da se povežemo sa apsolutno svakom slikom?
Well I'm trying to take a different approach. And there's two things I do: When I go into a gallery, first of all, I go quite fast, and I look at everything, and I pinpoint the ones that make me slow down for some reason or other. I don't even know why they make me slow down, but something pulls me like a magnet and then I ignore all the others, and I just go to that painting. So it's the first thing I do is, I do my own curation. I choose a painting. It might just be one painting in 50. And then the second thing I do is I stand in front of that painting, and I tell myself a story about it.
Pa ja pokušavam da ovome pristupim na drugačiji način. I radim dve stvari. Kada uđem u galeriju, najpre, pređem sve poprilično brzo, pogledam sve i izdvojim one koje me nateraju da usporim iz ovog ili onog razloga. Čak ni ne znam zašto me nateraju da usporim, ali me nešto privuče kao magnet i onda ignorišem sve druge i jednostavno odem do te slike. Tako da je prva stvar koju uradim, zapravo moj sopstveni stručni izbor. Odaberem sliku, može to biti samo jedna od 50 slika. Sledeće je, stanem ispred te slike i ispričam sebi priču o njoj.
Why a story? Well, I think that we are wired, our DNA tells us to tell stories. We tell stories all the time about everything, and I think we do it because the world is kind of a crazy, chaotic place, and sometimes stories, we're trying to make sense of the world a little bit, trying to bring some order to it. Why not apply that to our looking at paintings? So I now have this sort of restaurant menu visiting of art galleries.
Zašto priču? Pa, smatram da smo stvoreni za to, naš DNK nam govori da pričamo priče. Stalno pričamo priče o svemu, mislim da to radimo jer je svet na neki način ludo i haotično mesto i nekada pričama pokušavamo pomalo da pronađemo smisao sveta, pokušavajući da ga uredimo. Zašto ne bismo to primenili na naše gledanje slika? Sada posećujem umetničke galerije na način na koji gledam jelovnik u restoranu.
There are three paintings I'm going to show you now that are paintings that made me stop in my tracks and want to tell stories about them. The first one needs little introduction -- "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer, 17th-century Dutch painter. This is the most glorious painting. I first saw it when I was 19, and I immediately went out and got a poster of it, and in fact I still have that poster. 30 years later it's hanging in my house. It's accompanied me everywhere I've gone, I never tire of looking at her.
Pokazaću vam sada tri slike, koje su me naterale da se zaustavim i poželim da ispričam priče o njima. Prvoj nije potreban uvod -- "Devojka sa bisernom minđušom'' Johana Vermera, holandski slikar iz 17. veka. Ovo je najdivnija slika. Prvi put sam je videla kada sam imala 19 godina, odmah sam izašla i kupila poster te slike, zapravo još uvek imam taj poster. Nakon 30 godina i dalje mi visi u kući. Pratila me je gde god da sam išla. Nikad se ne umorim od gledanja u nju.
What made me stop in my tracks about her to begin with was just the gorgeous colors he uses and the light falling on her face. But I think what's kept me still coming back year after year is another thing, and that is the look on her face, the conflicted look on her face. I can't tell if she's happy or sad, and I change my mind all the time. So that keeps me coming back.
Ono što me je nateralo da se zaustavim ispred nje, bile su prelepe boje koje koristi i svetlost koja joj pada na lice. Ali mislim da ono što me još uvek tera da joj se vraćam iz godine u godinu, je nešto drugo, a to je izraz njenog lica, protivurečan izraz njenog lica. Ne mogu da ocenim da li je srećna ili tužna i stalno menjam mišljenje. Zbog toga joj se stalno vraćam.
One day, 16 years after I had this poster on my wall, I lay in bed and looked at her, and I suddenly thought, I wonder what the painter did to her to make her look like that. And it was the first time I'd ever thought that the expression on her face is actually reflecting how she feels about him. Always before I'd thought of it as a portrait of a girl. Now I began to think of it as a portrait of a relationship. And I thought, well, what is that relationship?
Jednog dana, 16 godina nakon što sam držala ovaj poster na zidu, legla sam u krevet i pogledala sam je, odjednom sam pomislila, pitam se šta joj je slikar uradio da bi ona tako izgledala. Prvi put sam pomislila da izraz na njenom licu zapravo prikazuje šta ona oseća prema njemu. Uvek sam pre toga gledala na sliku kao na portret devojke. Tada sam počela da gledam na nju kao na portret jedne veze. I pomislila sam, dobro, kakav je taj odnos?
So I went to find out. I did some research and discovered, we have no idea who she is. In fact, we don't know who any of the models in any of Vermeer's paintings are, and we know very little about Vermeer himself. Which made me go, "Yippee!" I can do whatever I want, I can come up with whatever story I want to.
Pa sam rešila da saznam. Malo sam istraživala i otkrila sam da nemamo predstavu o tome ko je ona. Zapravo, ne znamo ko su modeli na bilo kojoj od Vermerovih slika i znamo veoma malo o samom Vermeru. To me je nateralo da viknem ,,Jeeeee'!' Mogu da uradim šta god poželim, mogu da izmislim bilo kakvu priču.
So here's how I came up with the story. First of all, I thought, I've got to get her into the house. How does Vermeer know her? Well, there've been suggestions that she is his 12-year-old daughter. The daughter at the time was 12 when he painted the painting. And I thought, no, it's a very intimate look, but it's not a look a daughter gives her father. For one thing, in Dutch painting of the time, if a woman's mouth was open, it was indicating sexual availability. It would have been inappropriate for Vermeer to paint his daughter like that.
Evo kako sam došla na ideju ove priče. Najpre sam pomislila da moram da je postavim u kuću. Kako je Vermer poznaje? Pa, pretpostavljalo se da je ona njegova dvanaestogodišnja ćerka. U vreme kada je naslikao sliku, ćerka je imala 12 godina. Pomislila sam, ne, radi se o veoma intimnom pogledu, ali to nije pogled kojim ćerka gleda oca. Jedno je sigurno, u holandskom slikarstvu tog doba, otvorena usta žene, ukazivala su na seksualnu dostupnost. Bilo bi neprikladno za Vermera da tako naslika svoju ćerku.
So it's not his daughter, but it's somebody close to him, physically close to him. Well, who else would be in the house? A servant, a lovely servant. So, she's in the house. How do we get her into the studio? We don't know very much about Vermeer, but the little bits that we do know, one thing we know is that he married a Catholic woman, they lived with her mother in a house where he had his own room where he -- his studio. He also had 11 children. It would have been a chaotic, noisy household. And if you've seen Vermeer's paintings before, you know that they're incredibly calm and quiet.
Tako da se ne radi o njegovoj ćerki, već je to neko ko mu je blizak, fizički blizak. Pa, ko bi još mogao da bude u kući? Služavka, ljupka služavka. Dakle, ona je u kući. Kako da ona bude u ateljeu? Ne znamo mnogo o Vermeru, ali ono malo što znamo, jednu stvar koju znamo je da se oženio katolkinjom, živeli su sa njenom majkom u kući u kojoj je imao svoju sobu, svoj atelje. Takođe je imao 11 dece. Mora da je to bilo haotično, bučno domaćinstvo. Ako ste videli ranije Vermerove slike, znate da su one neverovatno mirne i tihe.
How does a painter paint such calm, quiet paintings with 11 kids around? Well, he compartmentalizes his life. He gets to his studio, and he says, "Nobody comes in here. Not the wife, not the kids. Okay, the maid can come in and clean." She's in the studio. He's got her in the studio, they're together. And he decides to paint her.
Kako slikar slika tako mirne, tihe slike sa 11 dece oko sebe? Pa, on deli svoj život. Dođe do svog ateljea i kaže: ,,Da niko nije ušao ovde. Ni žena, ni deca. Dobro, služavka može da uđe i počisti." Ona je u ateljeu. Ima je u ateljeu, zajedno su. I odlučuje da je naslika.
He has her wear very plain clothes. Now, all of the women, or most of the women in Vermeer's other paintings wore velvet, silk, fur, very sumptuous materials. This is very plain; the only thing that isn't plain is her pearl earring. Now, if she's a servant, there is no way she could afford a pair of pearl earrings. So those are not her pearl earrings. Whose are they? We happen to know, there's a list of Catharina, the wife's clothes. Amongst them a yellow coat with white fur, a yellow and black bodice, and you see these clothes on lots of other paintings, different women in the paintings, Vermeer's paintings. So clearly, her clothes were lent to various different women. It's not such a leap of faith to take that that pearl earring actually belongs to his wife.
Kaže joj da obuče nešto vrlo jednostavno. Ali, sve žene ili barem većina žena, na drugim Vermerovim slikama, nosile su somot, svilu, krzno, vrlo raskošne materijale. Ovo je vrlo skromno, jedina stvar koja nije skromna je njena biserna minđuša. Ako je služavka, nema šanse da je mogla da priušti par bisernih minđuša. Dakle, to nisu njene biserne minđuše. Čije li su? Mi sasvim slučajno znamo da postoji lista Katarinine, ženine odeća. U njoj je žuti kaput sa belim krznom, žuti i crni ženski pojas, ova odeća se može videti na mnogim drugim slikama, na različitim ženama na Vermerovim slikama. Očigledno je da su njenu odeću pozajmljivali mnogim, raznim ženama. Nije velika zabluda pomisliti da ta biserna minđuša pripada zapravo njegovoj ženi.
So we've got all the elements for our story. She's in the studio with him for a long time. These paintings took a long time to make. They would have spent the time alone, all that time. She's wearing his wife's pearl earring. She's gorgeous. She obviously loves him. She's conflicted. And does the wife know? Maybe not. And if she doesn't, well -- that's the story.
Dakle, imamo sve delove za našu priču. Ona je dugo sa njim u ateljeu. Trebalo je mnogo vremena da se naprave ove slike. Oni bi sve to vreme provodili sami. Ona nosi bisernu minđušu njegove žene. Prelepa je. Očigledno ga voli. Razapeta je. A da li žena zna? Možda ne zna. I ako ne zna, pa -- to je priča.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
The next painting I'm going to talk about is called "Boy Building a House of Cards" by Chardin. He's an 18th-century French painter best known for his still lifes, but he did occasionally paint people. And in fact, he painted four versions of this painting, different boys building houses of cards, all concentrated. I like this version the best, because some of the boys are older and some are younger, and to me, this one, like Goldilocks's porridge, is just right.
Sledeća slika o kojoj ću govoriti je Šardenova ,,Dečak koji gradi kulu od karata''. On je francuski slikar iz 18.veka, najpoznatiji po svojoj mrtvoj prirodi, ali je povremeno slikao i ljude. Zapravo je naslikao četiri verzije ove slike, različiti dečaci koji grade kule od karata, potpuno koncentrisani. Ova verzija mi se najviše dopada, jer su neki od dečaka stariji dok su drugi mlađi i za mene je ova, kao Zlatokosina kaša, baš onakva kakva treba da bude.
He's not quite a child, and he's not quite a man. He's absolutely balanced between innocence and experience, and that made me stop in my tracks in front of this painting. And I looked at his face. It's like a Vermeer painting a bit. The light comes in from the left, his face is bathed in this glowing light. It's right in the center of the painting, and you look at it, and I found that when I was looking at it, I was standing there going, "Look at me. Please look at me." And he didn't look at me. He was still looking at his cards, and that's one of the seductive elements of this painting is, he's so focused on what he's doing that he doesn't look at us. And that is, to me, the sign of a masterpiece, of a painting when there's a lack of resolution. He's never going to look at me.
On nije sasvim dete, ali nije u potpunosti ni čovek. On je u potpunosti izbalansiran između nevinosti i iskustva i to me je zaustavilo ispred ove slike. Pogledala sam ga u lice. Pomalo podseća na Vermerovu sliku. Svetlost dolazi sa leve strane, lice mu je okupano u ovom sjajnom svetlu. Tačno je u centru slike, morate da je pogledate. Tada sam shvatila da, dok sam je posmatrala, stajala sam ispred nje i ponavljala: ,,Pogledaj me, molim te, pogledaj me.'' Nije me pogledao. Još uvek je gledao u svoje karte i jedan od zavodljivih elemenata ove slike je u tome, on je toliko fokusiran na to što radi, da nas ne gleda. To je po mom mišljenju znak remek dela, kada na slici postoji nedostatak rešenja. Nikada me neće pogledati.
So I was thinking of a story where, if I'm in this position, who could be there looking at him? Not the painter, I don't want to think about the painter. I'm thinking of an older version of himself. He's a man, a servant, an older servant looking at this younger servant, saying, "Look at me. I want to warn you about what you're about to go through. Please look at me." And he never does.
Razmišljala sam o priči u kojoj, da sam ja na njegovom mestu, ko bi mogao da bude tamo i da ga gleda? Nije slikar, ne želim da mislim na slikara. Razmišljam da je mogla da bude njegova starija verzija. On je čovek, sluga, stariji sluga koji gleda ovog mlađeg slugu, koji mu govori: ,,Pogledaj me. Hoću da te upozorim na ono što ćeš upravo da proživiš. Molim te, pogledaj me.'' I on nikada ne pogleda.
And that lack of resolution, the lack of resolution in "Girl with a Pearl Earring" -- we don't know if she's happy or sad. I've written an entire novel about her, and I still don't know if she's happy or sad. Again and again, back to the painting, looking for the answer, looking for the story to fill in that gap. And we may make a story, and it satisfies us momentarily, but not really, and we come back again and again.
I taj nedostatak rešenja, nedostatak rešenja na slici ,,Devojka sa bisernom minđušom'' -- ne znamo da li je srećna ili tužna. Napisala sam čitav roman o njoj, i dalje ne znam da li je srećna ili tužna. Iznova sam tražila odgovor vraćajući se slici i tražila sam odgovor, tražeći priču da popuni tu prazninu. Možemo da izmislimo priču i ona nas zadovolji na trenutak, ali ne zaista, vraćamo joj se iznova.
The last painting I'm going to talk about is called "Anonymous" by anonymous. (Laughter)
Poslednja slika o kojoj ću govoriti je slika anonimnog slikara, "Anonimni". (Smeh)
This is a Tudor portrait bought by the National Portrait Gallery. They thought it was a man named Sir Thomas Overbury, and then they discovered that it wasn't him, and they have no idea who it is.
Ovo je portret Tjudora koji je Nacionalna galerija portreta otkupila. Oni su mislili da je to čovek po imenu Sir Tomas Overberi i onda su otkrili da to nije bio on i da ne znaju ko je.
Now, in the National Portrait Gallery, if you don't know the biography of the painting, it's kind of useless to you. They can't hang it on the wall, because they don't know who he is. So unfortunately, this orphan spends most of his time in storage, along with quite a number of other orphans, some of them some beautiful paintings.
U Nacionalnoj galeriji portreta, ako se ne zna biografija slike, nekako nam je slika beskorisna. Ne mogu da je okače na zid, jer ne znaju o kome je reč. Tako da, na žalost, ovo siroče provodi većinu svog vremena u skladištu, zajedno sa velikim brojem druge siročadi, neke od njih su zaista prelepe slike.
This painting made me stop in my tracks for three reasons: One is the disconnection between his mouth that's smiling and his eyes that are wistful. He's not happy, and why isn't he happy? The second thing that really attracted me were his bright red cheeks. He is blushing. He's blushing for his portrait being made! This must be a guy who blushes all the time. What is he thinking about that's making him blush? The third thing that made me stop in my tracks is his absolutely gorgeous doublet. Silk, gray, those beautiful buttons. And you know what it makes me think of, is it's sort of snug and puffy; it's like a duvet spread over a bed.
Ova slika me je naterala da se zaustavim ispred nje iz tri razloga. Jedan od razloga je nepovezanost između njegovih usta koja se smeše i njegovih tužnih očiju. Nije srećan? A zašto nije srećan? Druga stvar koja me je zaista privukla bili su njegovi svetli, crveni obrazi. On crveni. Crveni, dok mu se portret pravi! Mora da je on tip koji stalno crveni. O čemu razmišlja što ga tera da crveni? Treća stvar koja me je naterala da se zaustavim ispred slike je njegov prelepi dublet. Svilen, siv, ti prelepi dugmići. Znate na šta me podseća? Nekako je ugodan i pufnast, podseća na perjani jorgan raširen preko kreveta.
I kept thinking of beds and red cheeks, and of course I kept thinking of sex when I looked at him, and I thought, is that what he's thinking about? And I thought, if I'm going to make a story, what's the last thing I'm going to put in there? Well, what would a Tudor gentleman be preoccupied with? And I thought, well, Henry VIII, okay. He'd be preoccupied with his inheritance, with his heir. Who is going to inherit his name and his fortune? You put all those together, and you've got your story to fill in that gap that makes you keep coming back. Now, here's the story. It's short.
Uporno sam razmišljala o krevetima i rumenim obrazima i naravno da sam uporno mislila na seks kada bih ga pogledala i pomislila sam, da li on o tome razmišlja? Pomislila sam da, ako ću da smislim priču, šta je poslednja stvar koju bih stavila u nju? Pa, čime bi tjudorski džentlmen bio okupiran? Pomislila sam, Henrik VIII, dobro. Bio bi okupiran svojim nasledstvom, svojim naslednikom. Ko će naslediti njegovo ime i bogatstvo? Stavite sve to zajedno i imate priču da popuni onu prazninu koja vas stalno tera da se vraćate slici. Evo priče. Kratka je.
"Rosy"
,,Rumenko''
I am still wearing the white brocade doublet Caroline gave me. It has a plain high collar, detachable sleeves and intricate buttons of twisted silk thread, set close together so that the fit is snug. The doublet makes me think of a coverlet on the vast bed. Perhaps that was the intention. I first wore it at an elaborate dinner her parents held in our honor. I knew even before I stood up to speak that my cheeks were inflamed. I have always flushed easily, from physical exertion, from wine, from high emotion.
Još uvek nosim beli brokatni dublet, koji mi je Karolin dala. Ima jednostavan, visoki okovratnik, rukave koji se skidaju i komplikovane dugmiće od upredenih niti svile, koji su postavljeni jedni uz druge, taman se uklapa. Dublet me podseća na prekrivač na velikom krevetu. Možda je to i bila namera. Prvi put sam ga nosio na svečanoj večeri, koju su njeni roditelji organizovali u našu čast. Znao sam, čak i pre nego što sam ustao da održim govor, da su mi obrazi goreli. Oduvek sam lako crveneo, od fizičkog napora, od vina, od uzvišenih emocija.
As a boy, I was teased by my sisters and by schoolboys, but not by George. Only George could call me Rosy. I would not allow anyone else. He managed to make the word tender. When I made the announcement, George did not turn rosy, but went pale as my doublet. He should not have been surprised. It has been a common assumption that I would one day marry his cousin. But it is difficult to hear the words aloud. I know, I could barely utter them.
Moje sestre i dečaci iz škole su me zadirkivali zbog toga, ali Džordž nikada. Samo je Džordž mogao da me zove Rumenko. Nikome drugome to nisam dozvoljavao. Uspevao je da ulepša reč. Kada sam objavio vest, Džordž nije porumeneo, već je pobledeo kao moj dublet. Nije trebalo da bude iznenađen. Bila je najnormalnija pretpostavka da ću jednog dana oženiti njegovu rođaku. Ali teško je naglas čuti te reči. Znam, jedva sam ih izgovorio.
Afterwards, I found George on the terrace overlooking the kitchen garden. Despite drinking steadily all afternoon, he was still pale. We stood together and watched the maids cut lettuces. "What do you think of my doublet?" I asked.
Nakon toga, našao sam Džordža na terasi kako gleda u vrt. Uprkos pijenju celog poslepodneva, još uvek je bio bled. Stajali smo zajedno i posmatrali služavke kako seku salatu. ,,Šta misliš o mom dubletu?'', pitao sam ga.
He glanced at me. "That collar looks to be strangling you."
Ovlaš me je pogledao: ,,Izgleda da te taj okovratnik davi.''
"We will still see each other," I insisted. "We can still hunt and play cards and attend court. Nothing need change." George did not speak. "I am 23 years old. It is time for me to marry and produce an heir. It is expected of me."
,,I dalje ćemo se viđati'', insistirao sam. "I dalje možemo da lovimo, igramo karte, idemo na dvor. Ništa ne mora da se promeni.'' Džordž nije govorio. ,,Imam 23 godine. Vreme mi je da se oženim i da dobijem naslednika. To se od mene očekuje.''
George drained another glass of claret and turned to me. "Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials, James. I'm sure you'll be content together." He never used my nickname again.
Džordž je ispio još jednu čašu vina i okrenuo se ka meni. "Čestitam na skorom venčanju Džejms. Siguran sam da ćete biti zadovoljni zajedno.'' Nikada više nije upotrebio moj nadimak.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)