I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (the AGO) this afternoon. My spa for the soul. I love it there. It never fails to uplift and delight me.

So for my post this week I have chosen a poem I wrote some years back when an amazing work-of-art there took my breath away. Its female creator, Françoise Sullivan, long recognised and feted in her native province of Quebec as a multi-talented painter, sculptor, dancer and choreographer, has now achieved another milestone. She turned 100 in May this year. And she’s still creating!

So come with me, back in time to a frigid winter afternoon in 2010, as I wandered into the Gallery and just followed my nose, not consciously knowing where I was going, or why.

Until I got there.

Love At First Sight

I sat.
            Transfixed.
Before a towering painting 
of crimson. 
                      Entranced. 
 
As if in deference 
to my new-found love 
everyone left the room. 
 
I wanted to call out 
to them: 
                 Wait! 
                 Can’t you see? 
 
But they left me alone 
                                            to gaze 
in enraptured wonder 
into my first 
                        real love affair 
with abstract art. 
 
The motionless paint 
surged like storm clouds 
across the colossal canvas 
while the rubescent pigment 
                                                        beat incessantly 
in my veins, 
                       quickening my pulse. 
 
I undid my coat 
                              and sat and stared 
and sighed in gratitude 
to the woman in Montreal 
who poured her art 
                                       and soul 
onto the canvas 
                               for me. 

Just for me. 
 
For no one else could feel 
what I could see.

© Copyright Alexandra Innes Feb 21, 2010

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash