Gibran observed: “And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms from those who work with joy.” These are the words I remembered during the past few days when I was out-of-town at the home of an avid art collector preparing an exhibition for Fall 2024…
Author: michellefacos
I am a multi-lingual art historian, consultant (art, travel, writing), editor, entrepreneur, lecturer, and writer who has lived along the shores of the Baltic, the Mediterranean, and Lake Erie, in New York and in Paris, and in the forests of Quebec and Sweden. While I’ve lived a semi-nomadic existence for the past few decades, I’m inching toward a life anchored in Europe.
#sadgirl
Do #sadgirl selfies evidence evidence a degree of agency unavailable to affluent 19th-century women, often portrayed as beautifully wan and fragile? Or, do they reinforce Schopenhauerian ideas about feminine psycho-emotional fragility?
Teaser – Prologue
Arriving in Paris in March 2020, fresh from an eight-week long, solo, soul-searching retreat that took me from the frozen forests of Quebec to the cloud forests of Costa Rica, I found myself stranded and without income in a series of incremental incidents that transformed my carefully planned near-future…
The Lone Pelican
Sometimes incidental observations transport me to unexpected trains of thought. That’s what happened recently…
The Wise Bird
In 1893, Norwegian artist Gerhard Munthe made a watercolor design for a tapestry, one of many. His subject, The Wise Bird, illustrated a Norwegian legend about a king who sought advice from a Wise Bird living in the chestnut forest beside his castle instead of from his courtiers. Munthe pictured the king engaged in conversation with… Continue reading The Wise Bird
My Sacred Grove
Certain places seem to have powerful therapeutic qualities that affect some individuals, and others, not at all.
Cultural Misunderstanding
I’m fascinated by the jolts that occur when you assume you’ve understood something, but it turns out you didn’t…
Surprises
I shared the horror as Russia invaded Ukraine and also delighted in the discovery of a rare, natural work of art.
My Oldest Friend
My oldest friend is my greatest inspiration, even if I’ll never hitchhike alone through North Africa.
Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day has the meaning we give it.