I dislike Max Ernst's works more often than not, but Ernst surprised me the other day at what has become my favorite museum in the Netherlands, and one of my favorite museums in the world, the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, or the Municipal Museum of the Hague. More on the building later. The picture is called "The Entire City," and its technique (frottage) involves scraping away layers to reveal color beneath. It is as good a representation of any I've seen of the plural feel of city life and the historical layers of urban history. The thorny growths outside the city bristle threateningly but they also twirl with awkward delight, especially at the margins. (Here the technique as it's practiced today affects my reaction to the picture, because I remember doing frottage with crayons from grade school art classes.)
Some days I believe with Simon Critchley that philosophy begins from disappointment rather than wonder. This is why looking at art has become so crucially important to me: it is an experience of wonder, especially when an artist surprises me, as Rembrandt did earlier this year. Wonder matters.
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