A Tale of Two Artists

By Pastor Bruce

Søren Kierkegaard was like Jesus in that he liked to tell stories or make up parables to illustrate the truth he had discovered and wanted to convey to others.

He tells the story of two artists. The first artist said, “I have traveled the world but have found no face with such perfection of beauty that would be worth painting. In every face I have seen one or another little fault. Therefore, I seek in vain.”

The second artist said, “Well, I do not pretend to be a real artist, neither have I traveled foreign lands. But remaining in the little circle of people who are closest to me, I have not found a face so insignificant or full of faults that I still could not discern in it a more beautiful side and discover something glorious. Therefore, I am happy in my art and it satisfies me even though I may not lay claim to being an artist.”

Would this not indicate that precisely this one was the true artist who by bringing a certain something with him found beauty among those he encountered every day, a beauty which the first artist failed to discover in all his travels?

Would it not also be sad if art instead of making life beautiful for us, only fastidiously discovers that not one of us is beautiful? Would it not be sadder still if love only discovered that none of us was worth loving?

Instead, the true artist sees glory and beauty in ordinary faces and true love finds what is lovable in all of us, loving enough to be able to love us all.

Last fall, Susan and I enjoyed the Renoir exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. I learned that Renoir spent the last twenty years of his life on a farm near the Mediterranean painting the very familiar faces of the people around him and the landscapes visible from his farmhouse. As you look at the paintings below, it goes without saying that he saw beauty everywhere and in everyone.

Oh, that God would pluck out the eyes from our heads that only find fault and replace them with new eyes which see beauty everywhere and in everyone! And praise be to the God of all love who loves enough to be able to love us all just as we are!

Story taken from Parables of Kierkegaard, edited by Thomas Oden, Princeton Paperbacks.