Humans are enthralled by the horizon line. What is it that puts us into a reverie when, in solitude, we seek out that horizontal line in nature?
The open spaces on either side encourage contemplation, while the line itself is an edge for the eye to balance on.
Small natural marks, ripples in the water below the line, wisps of cloud in the sky, are glimpsed and the alive-ness of the quiet simplicity gives us back our own huge selves. The images are reproductions of oil paintings by Canadian artist Tom Thomson (1877-1917)
The text is from the introduction to my dissertation. (2010)
7 comments:
Lovely thoughts I relate to. I also feel my own smallness in comparision to the vast expanse of the horizon, which helps put concerns I may have into perspective or balance.
Fascinating--How true that the horizontal line becomes a focal point--The distance way out beyond the skin of self is expansive--The eye seeks that expansion to match the depth of internal vision, which crosses the horizons of time and space. It creates an equilibrium of inner and outer realities.
looking forward to reading the disertation when time allows.
I think it has to do with our need (as prey) to observe as much of our surroundings (for danger) as possible. The long view with no predators puts us at ease.
the horizon locates us. grounds us. gives us something to rest our eys on. i think that when i am the deep woods and don't have a defined horizon, what relieves me and alters me as well is the reemergence of a horizon as i enter a more defined place.
oh, and tom thomson, i remember my first time seeing that work in ottawa, i thought, i am home. i know this place.
Now I wonder if its not that huge expanse of sky that is above the horizon line.....that is the real attraction.
All that space and possibility just out of reach but so worth reaching for.
I've been thinking about the big sky too. Maybe that's it - what's beyond the horizon that sets me going.
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