Art as a Window to the Soul
Everyone’s familiar with the idiom, “The eyes are the windows to the soul.” Though the origins of that phrase are a bit obscure, its meaning is not. It means that a person’s eyes are “openings” through which we can see/discover their true character and intentions. In 1975, The Eagles wrote a song called “Lyin’ Eyes” that teased out this idea, especially through its chorus:
You can't hide your lyin' eyes
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes*
What songwriters Don Henley and Glenn Fry were lamenting is this, “On the outside, you seem sincere. But when I look through the ‘opening’ of your eyes, I see your soul – your true character and intentions. Sadly, it’s to deceive me.” Ouch! In this discomforting, albeit true idiom-affirming verse, I’d humbly suggest that art is a window to the soul, too. This is true for better or worse in at least three ways.
First, an artist’s artwork is an “aesthetic opening” through which we see their true character and intentions. Whenever an artist engages wood, clay, canvas, or any other material, they’re creating a window. When completed and “looked through,” that “aesthetic opening” reveals something about their soul. Indeed, by creating such a “window,” the artist is implicitly or explicitly inviting anyone and everyone to this exact adventure!
This invitation to intimacy requires us to approach artists’ art-windows with reverently humble inquiry. After all, we’re approaching a person’s soul! (Perhaps this is why art museums tend to be quiet, reverent places?) Getting our own souls into this reverent space can be difficult because art-windows will reveal any number of things about an artist’s soul: virtue or vice, profiteering or panhandling, silliness or sobriety, godlessness or godliness, usefulness or usury, creation or destruction, and more. Whether or not we agree with or even like what we see about the artist’s soul through their art-window, we can always give thanks that they’ve allowed us the privilege of such a personal inquiry.
That said, it seems to me that the highest calling of an artist is to embrace and employ this window-making call with purpose and uprightness. I’m to do that by cultivating my own soul with beauty, wholeness, godliness, grace, and truth so that I can create artistic “windows” where people encounter such things as expressions of my soul. I want people to sit at these “windows” and behold an already-blazing, life-giving, sunset-of-a-soul, not a stinky, death-dealing, trash-heap-of-a-soul. I count this a tremendous privilege and responsibility.
Second, the artwork we enjoy and/or acquire reveals our true character and intentions. Perhaps the best way to see this is to ask what we’re seeing when we “look through” the art-windows (sculptures, paintings, etc.) in someone’s home. More specifically, we might ask what the artwork says about the person that acquired it… what they value, what makes them tic, what they care about? All these questions are really about what’s in that person’s soul.
If this is true, then even a quick tour of the art in someone’s (your!) home or workspace will reveal a lot about their true character and intentions. My own home is a great example of this. Among other things, I value peace, calm, and beauty, especially as expressed in sea-related aesthetics. So, I’ve acquired (or created) art that expresses these soul-traits. As a result, people who visit my home often say to me, “Your house is so… calming… so peaceful.” What they’re really saying is, “Doug, by looking through the ‘windows’ of your artwork, we see a soul that values calm and peace.” Yay!
Third, the deepest art-borne joys come when we look through an artist’s art-windows and experience harmony between our true character and intentions and theirs; that is, between our soul and theirs. Sometimes, this happens immediately and intuitively. We stand before an art-window and something inside us (our soul, perhaps), ignites, “Wow! I love it! I feel connected to this artist. They value what I value. It feels so good to be understood and to experience this mysteriously, soul-uniting connection.”
It seems to me that the best art invites an ongoing conversation about these things whether or not we experience this “souls united at first sight” thrill. It invites us to pull up a chair, sit down, and gaze through it as we would with a window that faced the deep blue sea. In so doing, we notice details, ask more questions, and use the Element of Art** to discover and interpret our findings. Thus, we discover new and deeper harmony between our own soul and the artist’s soul. This is exactly (and quite literally) what Henri Nouwen describes in his marvelous little book, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. Amazon’s synopsis of this book reflects what we’ve been saying, above.
A chance encounter with a reproduction of Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son catapulted Henri Nouwen on an unforgettable spiritual adventure. Here he shares the deeply personal and resonant meditation that led him to discover the place within where God has chosen to dwell.
This inspiring book personally, thoughtfully, and deeply explores the ideas that:
an artist’s artwork is an “aesthetic opening” through which we see their true character and intentions,
the artwork we enjoy and/or acquire reveals our true character and intentions, and
the deepest art-borne joys come when we look through art-windows and experience harmony between the artist’s soul and our own soul.
Have fun sitting at art-windows, my friends! And check out my abstract “window” artworks that inspired these deep thoughts HERE.
* Lyin’ Eyes by The Eagles from their album “One of These Nights,” 1975. Songwriters Glenn Lewis Frey / Donald Hugh Henley.
** The “Elements of Art” include concepts like line, shape, form, color, space, texture, value, mark-making, materiality, etc. All artists employ these elements, whether they do so purposefully and skillfully or not. Those who truly appreciate art will use them as interpretive principles by which we discover an artist’s character and intentions.