I love this painting. I’ve loved it since I first saw it at LACMA in 2001. I went to the LACMA shop ready to fork over cash to buy a copy, but they didn’t sell any prints of it. This astonished me – no reprints available of a painting they had in their collection! – so little did I (do I) know about the art world. After a few emails, a patient staffer at the museum invited me to their offices and, after my signature and $1, printed me a laser copy of the painting, which hangs above my computer.
LACMA has been publishing some of their collection online, and hopefully, soon this will be one of them. I hope to buy a properly framed copy one day, but I’ll hang on to the one I have, hanging over my computer, too. It speaks to me about the nature of art, and artists, the strangers it can bring together, and the kindnesses that can result.
“Hesiod Listening to the Inspirations of the Muse”
