The Art of the Delicate

A visitor speaks of the Agnes Martin Gallery at the Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, Northern New Mexico.
"It is one of the most special galleries of art in America. The seven paintings are all five-feet square, and are built from horizontal lines and a pale blue wash. The room is gently lit: Natural light falls in from a conical skylight and the hardwood floor distributes the light throughout the space. A single bulb, about 40 watts worth, lights each canvas.
The paintings surrounded me; their delicateness intimidated me into silence. Even the sound of my pants rustling as I walked from painting to painting seemed intrusive. I quickly realized that the best way to experience Agnes Martin's paintings was to stand still in front of them and to allow myself to not just look at them, but to feel the experience of being in this place.
Ever since that visit, I've thought about how the key to enjoying Martin's paintings is less in looking at them and more in absorbing their presence. "This poem, like the paintings, is not really about nature," Martin once wrote. "It is not what is seen. It is what is known forever in the mind."
For more on Agnes Martin who died recently see post "Agnes Martin Dies"
Irish Art