‘Moonlit Night with Van Gogh’. Intimate encounters with art

There is a beautiful way to talk about and interpret art, to get excited and dream. He found it Raffaella Arpianiauthor of “Moonlit Night with Van Gogh – and other intimate encounters in the history of art”, published by Feltrinelli. The author is also known for having created the “Essential Art” project, designed to make everyone passionate about the history of art with the opening of the YouTube channel of the same name which today collects hundreds of informative lessons and millions of views. “Moonlit Night with Van Gogh” is her first book: “The idea – explains the author to AGI – was born as a natural evolution of my way of talking about art, which originates in the lessons I give at school from many years and which in 2020 saw the birth of the Essential Art YouTube channel, I essentially take the opportunity to talk about the works, artists or movements in a simple and easily understandable way, to then end up dealing with essential and identifying themes that concern us. everyone. In fact works of art function as a mirror in which to find oneself. This is why NDLCVG is aimed at art enthusiasts, but not only that people who have never studied art history are reading it and yet find it useful and interesting.”

Does it work with young people? “Certainly – underlines the writer – it depends on how art is told. If I had the book opened on page 36 and stopped at dates and data, the works would become terribly boring. If instead I make it clear that the love story between fr Filippo Lippi and sister Lucrezia Buti was the vehicle to seek a personal fulfillment that resembled happiness, or if by describing the mocked Christ of Beato Angelico I face the fear of not being worth anything, the kids are prepared, they are very well prepared on the subject, so they end up having more things to say to them, in front of the work, than me who guides them in the analysis. The question I most often ask the kids is ‘what do you see?’ Meaning that what they see in the works is there, and that there is no need to be scared by ‘not knowing anything’. And little by little we can reconstruct the picture together, analyzing the clues scattered on the canvases or in sculptures as if they were crime scenes to be interpreted. And we art historians and students of the investigators of the past”.

How do you make the competent institutions understand that art is a driving force for the economy? “This is a very delicate topic – says the author – There are museums that make extraordinary numbers, too, too large, to the detriment of optimal visibility and usability of the works. Other places, however, for example many churches or many ‘minor’ museums ‘ are closed, because they would be entrusted to volunteers, or the hours are reduced due to lack of funds, personnel and investments. However, art should not be considered a productive industry, for example as a tool that allows for example to form better, more aware and happier citizens. Paradoxically, more time spent in a museum means greater serenity, better health, more joy. It is also in these terms that we should consider art: a tool for making people less unhappy and angry and more accomplished. Many works are lent for ridiculous exhibitions, just to make numbers and hook into the propaganda of some public figure. Others, however, are locked up in storage. A large investment in education would be needed: my kids almost always fall in love with art and obviously then I find them around exhibitions and museums! They often write to me, years later, sending me photos from the Louvre, the National Gallery or the Uffizi: once the passion is triggered, the art continues to work deep inside. And it also keeps the economy going.”

A chapter is dedicated to Nike of Samothraceits wings also seem to resemble a symbol we often see. What do you think when you hear ‘Naik’ (as people mistakenly pronounce in Italy) or ‘Naiki’ when instead the correct pronunciation would be Nike as it is written?
“In reality – he explains – our culture is full of artistic traces that are hidden until someone reveals them, at which point art fulfills its role, that is, it allows us to see reality from a new and different also for the Nike of Samothrace. I point out to the kids that there is a great similarity between the brand of the shoes they wear and the work we are studying, they light up, as if they had discovered a world the same happens in many other cases the kids are amazed and dumbfounded when they discover that the infamous Roman salute comes from David’s painting “The Oath of the Horatii” from 1784, which had become the symbol of the French Revolution. And a student the other day was struck by it when she associated it with narcissism rampant of our times, to the work of Caravaggio that I was talking about, which is no coincidence that it is half the cover of my book”.

Let’s talk about the YouTube channel idea:
“It was born from the need to produce lessons for my students during the pandemic. The first lessons – explains Raffaella Arpiani – were hasty and approximate, I recorded them between one online lesson and another. Then, gradually I began to make them more accurate. And they have become hundreds. The reception was immediately excellent and extraordinary! I continually receive positive comments from students, including university students, and colleagues who use them in class, or to review a podcast while goes to work, while walking or while at the gym. Confirming that there is a great thirst for content and culture. Many people write to me that although they are no longer very young and have never studied art before, they can approach the topics without it fear, to the point of becoming passionate. The thing I like most is that there is an atmosphere of kindness on my channel. I gladly welcome criticism, if it is constructive, aware that many lessons are imperfect (I don’t do any type of post-production and filming. at the first after studying a lot and having prepared the documents I need!), but I believe that kindness and smiles are contagious, so since you can feel it, whoever listens to me or reads me, then adapts to the same tone of communication”.

But why Van Gogh? “He was a wonderful and complex character – underlines the author – who we often know for his dramatic story. For me he is a wonderful example to talk about fragility, diversity, isolation. How many times have we felt wrong in comparison with others ?Here, practically all his life. This talking about him and showing his works already makes us feel a little at home: we’re fine as we are, his paintings tell us! It’s very romantic, very evocative it is not a book about Van Gogh. We imagine we can enter one of his paintings and lie back to observe the starry sky and the moon from the shade of one of his trees with gnarled trunks, or sitting on the quay of the port on the Rhone Ecco thoughts would come to mind? All the ones we would do when we can be collected, in intimacy with ourselves. Because this is also what allows us to dialogue with ourselves deeply. This is why ‘Moonlight night with Van Gogh’ has the subtitle: and other intimate encounters in the history of art. Paintings and sculptures for me are like mirrors scattered in museums around the world. We look at them and they look back at us. We observe them and inside we can find the issues and urgencies that concern us closely. We can enter and exit the works of Giotto, Michelangelo, Caravaggio or Kandinsky. But also from classical statues, or from Donatello and Masaccio”.

We are often haunted by existential questions such as: how to achieve success, how to face the fear of failure, how to free ourselves from guilt or a toxic relationship with a narcissist…” The questions that art can answer are potentially infinite – the writer continues – This is why I wrote this book. It captures the full spirit of the book by Caravaggio (or who for him), which is reflected in that source of water that represents his prison, but inside he finds the reflection of Van Gogh’s starry night. And this is how it works with art: when we look, even what could appearing problematic, thanks to art it transforms into thought, into evocation, into higher reflection. The narcissist even becomes a dreamer who looks up and finds Van Gogh’s stars inside himself with Van Gogh”.