Timeless Art

 

I am rereading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. In her introduction to her novel Page v), on the 25^th year of its being published, she attributed its longevity and success to her advocacy and practice of a school of conceptual art that she referred to as Romanticism. She writes: “ . . . only that Romanticism is the conceptual school of art. It deals not with the random trivia of the day, but with the timeless, fundamental, universal problems and values of human existence. It does not record and photograph; it creates and projects. It is concerned—in the words of Aristotle—not with things as they are, but with things that might be and ought to be.”

 

She likely is right. People doing art, creative output or seeking to invent new gadgets, theorems, or scientific theories, will likely self-realize more and more originally and insightfully if the time into the timeless, universal themes about human existence and its conditions, that Rand alludes to above.

 

I would also suggest that the Divine Couple are a creative couple, so seeking divine guidance and inspiration is another way to be more artistic, more tied to great themes.