Are You Seeing the Flowers?
The Prompt A Day Quote for today caught my eye:
There are always flowers for those who want to see them. — Henri Matisse
I prepare the prompts a year at a time so when they appear in my inbox they are usually just as fresh for me as those who subscribe to my email list. I decided to learn a bit more about what seems a rather obvious fact.
Rarely, if ever, can I remember seeing an ugly flower. There is a beauty intrinsic in flowers that’s universal. Their beauty makes them popular not only for gardens but as gifts and use in art. So, yes, it’s pretty obvious there are always flowers for those who want to see them.
My mind went to, ‘who wouldn’t want to see flowers?’. Someone going through a dark time would be the most likely possibility. Is that what sparked Matisse to make a statement like that?
Henri Matisse was a French artist, sculptor and draftsman. He’s best known for his paintings. He was born in 1869 and died in 1954. He’s been suggested by many as being on a par with the likes of Picasso and Duchamp in defining many of the artistic developments of the early 20th century. His mastery of the expressive language of colour and drawing has given him considerable recognition in the art world.
The original quote came from his book “Jazz” published in 1947 and written in French. The book was a limited edition containing images of many of the colourful graphic paper cut collages he started creating following surgery in 1941.
After the surgery he was confined to a wheelchair, his ‘gouaches decoupes’ were what he called painting with scissors.
The original quote was:
Heureux ceux qui chantent de tout leur cœur, dans la droiture de leur cœur.
Trouver la joie dans le ciel, dans les arbres, dan les fleurs. Il y a des fleurs partout pour qui veut bien les voir.
An early translation into English was:
Happy are those who sing with all their heart, from the bottoms of their hearts.
To find joy in the sky, the trees, the flowers. There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
A translation for an article in 1995 produced:
Happy are those who sing with all their heart, in the forthrightness of their heart.
Find joy in the sky, in the trees, in the flowers. There are flowers everywhere for those who want to see them.
Curious what Google Translate would produce, I used it today::
Happy are those who sing with all their hearts, in the righteousness of their hearts.
Find joy in the sky, in the trees, in the flowers. There are flowers everywhere for whoever wants to see them.
Regardless of which is the correct translation, the quote has found its way onto many images of floral arrangements over the years.
At first glance the quote seems to be popular because it promotes the beauty of flowers, even every day, commonly seen flowers. The quote also demonstrates that even the most common of sights, sounds and smells around us has beauty when we choose to see it.
The other cliche, ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’, is another expression of seeing the beauty in the world. Right now as the latest variant spreads like wildfire upending many people’s plans for the holiday, we need to keep in mind, no matter how much uproar we experience in life — there is still beauty to be found.
As I was writing this post today I glanced up from my keyboard and noticed this on my stairs:
That black ‘object’ is Tramp using one of the railing posts as a pillow as she slept on the stairs.
I find it interesting the difference between my two cats and their preferences. Tramp tends to prefer to sleep on the stairs or window sills. Hobo prefers to curl up right beside me or on a chair near a heater.
There is beauty in those little bodies and how they share the space with me.
She awakes and surveys her domain. Wonder what she sees.
Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
She created Prompt A Day to share with others. You can subscribe to Prompt A Day to get started. You choose between the Daily Edition or the Mon/Thurs Edition
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This is a creative way to approach the prompt. You always nail it when it comes to creatively creating Something unique out of a...cliche? Hehe.
Nice one up there.
I have tried playing around with Google translator and there is always a slight difference from the outcome given by different translators.
The one you highlighted above have more things in common. Hehe.
Good to see the Young lady up there. Those books though, you are indeed @shadowspub. I can see how arranged they are in your shelf. Keep some for me 😂
I found the differences in translation interesting. They were not major but do shift the nuance a bit and gives different perspectives.
Tramp is an interesting little soul. She's more of the introvert between the two but has her times when she pushes Hobo aside vying for attention from me. Hobo just lets her, bides her time and then comes for her attention.
Those small books laying flat in a stack are copies of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer a friend gave me. The editions are older ones she received as a child. She passed away this year.
Hello, Tramp!
btw, on a whim, I googled "ugly flowers"
There really are such a thing as Ugly flowers
and 39million results... who knew eh? Well I guess the 39million sources for the term.
I really like this quote. The "droiture de la coeur" can be interpreted in various ways, but I don't think he meant righteousness. Rather, I think he meant the sense of one's own heart being right, which is similar and hard to translate.
I met a man once who said there is no such thing as an ugly woman. He was an awful man in many ways, but I really liked this sentiment. I would prefer, "there is no such thing as an ugly person." This reminds me of that wonderful passage about being real from the Velveteen Rabbit, but I am veering off topic.
Beauty is very subjective .. always interesting to see people's perspective on the subject.
Thanks for sharing on #pypt!
Awww Tramp is adorable I loved hearing about your kitty companions today in PYPT and it is so cute that she uses the railing as a pillow #catthings
Have a wonderful Christmas and all the best to you <3
Christmas !PIZZA anyone?
She is isn't she. I've always loved calicos. Tramp is a torti which I've read are believed to be calicos not fully formed. Her personality is fully formed, her coat just makes her cuter. Have a good Christmas yourself.
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I read that Matisse did two cutouts that formed a wall-to-wall display around his study resembling a garden. It makes me wonder if his quote is in reference to his own sustained positivity in the face of adversity after being confined to a wheelchair and to his bed. He may not have been able to go visit his actual flowers as often, but he brought them to himself, into his new space. He chose to remain hopeful and positive and still see the flowers in his life, the joy the sweetness ...despite the pain, both literally and figuratively ❣️ Lovely post and prompt Shadows... and might I add, so nice to see Tramp in a pic too... I do love my own kitties very much. Their little bods and personalities are so unique and distinct, with varying degrees of tension and light when you scoop them up for a cuddle. Hope you are having a peaceful and enjoyable festive season 💗🎄
Tramp hasn't showed up here often.
Hobo has been personality writ large since she arrived in the house while Tramp is a quieter little character. I can scoop Hobo up and it's not uncommon to wake in the morning and find her curled in my shoulder area with a paw resting on my hand. As I write this she's curled tight against me sleeping.
Tramp on the other hand gets attention strictly on her time. She's come a long way since she arrived here. She was a kitten of a feral mother and about 4 months old when she arrived here. She was immediate buds to Hobo but wasn't too happy having me around unless I was putting food down and then don't touch. She was never aggressive .. more scared and I would just wait her out.
I would set her food down and give her head a bit of a scratch between the ears. Over time that would be a little petting and gradually she started coming to me. Now she comes and demands attention just as long as I don't pick her up or confine her in any way. She discovered she really likes those plastic tabs from cream cartons and will bring them to me to play fetch. She forgets she is nervous of me when she's playing.
She's been here two years now. Who knows, she might eventually decide I'm safe enough to hold her LOL.
Tramp sounds a lot like a rescue cat that adopted us a few years ago. Surprisingly Socks was accepted immediately by our 3 that we had at the time but he would recoil from human touch for quite some time before eventually allowing a similar quick scratch between the ears. He did learn to relax a lot more around us but always on his terms. So he would come and lie down next to us completely unexpectedly and would follow us on all our walks through the woods opposite our house. In fact we had two of our cats that would do this with us. Sadly he passed from cancer 2 years after adopting us. I hope you get those extra cuddles with Tramp one day, Shadows ♥️ I'm sure she wants to ...
they do sound a lot alike. Hobo was sort of a rescue in that she had been dropped off and then chose my door to demand entry at. I had two adult cats at the time. One accepted her immediately the other grudgingly accepted her.
Sometimes Dawn's ways left me laughing. Dawn always loved curling up to sleep in my arms. Well, Hobo decided she loved doing so as well.
One day Hobo was curled up in the crook of my arm as she was still really small, Dawn sat down nearby like she was waiting for this little interloper to get up and yield the space.
When Hobo slept on this was the next move:
Dawn was willing to share as long as she was on the top of the pile.
Oh, you don't know how much that made me giggle Shadows. I know these scenarios too well hehe Aah the love of a cat ... it's priceless !PIZZA !ALIVE !LUV
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