In my small, happy one-room apartment hang unusual original paintings. My paintings. They are very simple, as I am self-taught in the world of painting. But that is not the point. Guests in my home remark not so much on technique or style as on the very energy of the works. They invariably want to examine every detail, to ask about the subject… this adds a living, trusting quality to our conversation. The explanation is simple enough: paintings made by hand possess a magical allure. Painting lifts us out of the bustle of daily life and makes us reflect on what is depicted; in that moment a most useful and necessary hormone forms in the mind — the “happiness hormone.”

Can you imagine what it would be like if genuine canvases by Degas, Vermeer, Polenov… “settled” nearby?! Of course, there are not enough originals for everyone, yet every home should have a true original painting. This is a call to action! That artistic images, especially paintings, exert an energetic influence on a person and their state of mind has long been known.  By surrounding ourselves with the beautiful and the interesting, we affect our subconscious, create a positive, invigorating energy that builds the foundation on the path to success. That success may lie in career, study, or relationships. Psychologists will confirm that our inner state, our spiritual harmony, is directly linked to the processes and phenomena around us. It is we who create the world around us.

Paintings that sustain harmony and coziness in the family, in your home, and attune you to the right mood are no fairy tale. This is a reality confirmed by world history. For example, in seventeenth-century Holland a painting could be found in virtually every house. It was an unprecedented case when even a peasant, a craftsman, a townsman sought to buy an original canvas for their interior. As you understand, painting had a sacred, symbolic character. The canvases depicted an ideal life that “carried” one into a world of dreams. Life was not like that in reality, yet people aspired to it; it is no accident that the Netherlands is still considered one of the most promising countries today.

Another positive example from history is, of course, the Impressionists. Their “painting of happiness” speaks for itself. A special experience of light, color, shadow, and reflections on the surfaces of objects. What mattered to the Impressionists was not the subject itself, but its sensual perception — the impression it could make on the viewer. And indeed, those bright colors leave no gaze indifferent. Enjoying the canvases of the Impressionists (Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Renoir, Camille Pissarro….and many others), we are drawn into the sensuality of color, into the beauty of the world.

This is the power and freshness of the first impression, allowing one to seize the unique in what is seen. Once again I return to the question I posed at the beginning: “Can you imagine what it would be like if genuine canvases ‘settled’ in the home?” Let us move to our own time, the twenty-first century. One is glad that there are so many ways to acquire an interesting, beautiful painting. Moreover, today, from a great variety of options and styles, one can acquire what one has truly liked — that very “living” original work made by a human hand. There are many contemporary artists who, in the making of paintings, are no lesser than the renowned classics.  This is truly so (I am not speaking of myself, of course). Such a painting will hang in your home, “catch” the eye, and nourish you emotionally. For the world of color works wonders!

Elena Dovzhenko,

history teacher,

instructor of children’s yoga, acrobatics, aerial yoga,

traveler and endless lover of painting