Haiku hollandais
/The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has a rich collection of Dutch Golden Age paintings, from Gerard ter Borch’s satiny skirts to Rembrandt’s moody lighting.
This month's creativity theme is CELEBRATION. So, on a recent visit of these galleries, I considered how best to celebrate these marvels. I walked from painting to painting, stopping to enter each canvas's incredibly detailed world. And then, it hit me:
Obviously, I was going to celebrate them in haiku.
It turned out to be a really fun exercise. As I looked at each artwork, I had to decide either to focus on the overall mood of the painting or on specific details. A still life table became a lot more complicated when I only had 17 syllables to capture its essence!
What follows are an American's celebrations of Dutch artworks using a Japanese poetry form in a Canadian museum.
A Meat and Fish Market (Winter)
Lucas van Valckenborch, About 1595
Soft Flemish winter
Do not get blood on your dress
Fish swimming in snow
Portrait of a Lady
Gerard ter Borch, About 1676-1677
Shimmering satin
Lace and bows engulfed in black
Public and private
Interior with a Woman Playing a Virginal
Emanuel de Witte, About 1660-1667
Maid in the distance
The dust swirls in the sunlight
Sweeping in shadows
Portrait of Odilia van Wassenaar
Abraham van den Tempel, About 1655-1660
Look here, sit up straight
Tell your dog to look at me
Why are you so scared?
Banquet Piece
Floris van Dyck, 1622
Goblets thin as air
The world on a tabletop
Cut me some Gouda
Address: 1380 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal ∣ Métro: Station Peel or Station Guy-Concordia (Green Line) ∣ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, major exhibition open until 9pm on Wednesday
NOTE: The MMFA is free this December (except the main temporary exhibition)!
