A Year With Rilke: Paintings & Poetry & Blogs

Moscow During the Winter, by Leonid Pasternak

Silenced with Unspeakable Hope, by Sharon Kingston oil on canvas, 36 x 36, private collection a painting inspired by the words of Rilke

I recently discovered a blog that couples a piece of art with a Rilke poem for every day of the year, based upon the book A Year With Rilke–translations by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows.  The paintings or sculpture are by Rodin, van Gogh, Cezanne, and Pasternak; artists who all had associations with Rilke.  I thought it might be fun to occasionally compare one of my paintings inspired by Rilke’s words next to the art chosen by the blog’s authors for the same poem.  I’ll begin with one of the first paintings I created in the Reading Rilke Series back in December of 2009. This painting evolved from a photograph of LaPush taken by my friends Kristin & Hugh during a vacation to the Olympic Peninsula late summer of 2009.  As the Olympic National Forest is considered one of the quietest places on earth–it is appropriate to have this place inspire the painting titled Silenced with Unspeakable Hope.   

It seems our own impermanence is concealed from us. The trees stand firm, the houses we live in are still there. We alone flow past it all, an exchange of air.

Everything conspires to silence us, partly with shame, partly with unspeakable hope.

From the Second Duino Elegy

Ruth at A Year with Rilke Blog says this about Rilke and Pasternak.

#paintingsandpoetry #readingrilke