{"id":60756,"date":"2024-10-24T22:46:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T20:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/?p=60756"},"modified":"2024-10-24T22:46:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T20:46:14","slug":"by-heavenly-oath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/by-heavenly-oath\/","title":{"rendered":"By Heavenly Oath"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We have made a pact with the heavens\u2014each human being for themselves. We must remain faithful to it. This is what I took with me from my conversation with the painter Philip Nelson. We sat in front of his studio, in the summer twilight, looking at a blooming candle plant\u2014a tower of light rising above us, an axis between heaven and earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve all made a pact with our own province of heaven\u2014to hold it in trust, and even more so, to hold ourselves thus. Presumably, the genius that hovers over each of us seals this contract, and if, in the bustle of everyday life, we forget our agreement, it\u2019s this genius that, again and again, reminds us of it. Perhaps, it\u2019s this bond that is the magic in the appearance of beauty in every human face. And, perhaps, as my intuition tells me, if we live this promise with our heavenly origin, then a life becomes a work, a stone of the new Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lonely, But Never Alone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Philip Nelson\u2019s stone contains 3,400 paintings that he created over forty years; he has sold 1,200: documents of his alliance, because, he assures me, he has always remained faithful to his agreement, and because he continues, he knows that a soul compromise would cost him his inspiration. Again, presumably, however much artists play and experiment, however much they let their imagination run free and are thereby freer than other mortals, when it comes to this higher bond, then it is they who are chained. These are chains that artists place upon themselves. Philip tells me his struggle is \u201cin\u201d the painting and not \u201con\u201d the painting! I ask him if any of the darkness of the world\u2019s abysses makes it into his paintings. Philip: \u201cNever,\u201d and he laughs. \u201cNo, never. Not once. Really not.\u201d He has to bring it into harmony, transform it into good. \u201cWe\u2019re so shattered by the evil that\u2019s raging in the world, we\u2019re being overrun. I can create in the chaos, but I never create chaos. This is a struggle within which I stand in the fire. This transformation is what it\u2019s about! This alchemy, on the way to beauty.\u201d \u201cWhat Rudolf Steiner calls \u2018climbing into the skin of the dragon,\u2019 this happens in the process?\u201d Philip: \u201cThat\u2019s a process, it\u2019s the struggle, and I\u2019m amazed I never died in the process. Honestly. My sense of humor and my willpower get me through it. One can\u2019t see the struggle in the painting, but all my scars are there.\u201d At an exhibition, my gaze wanders from Philip\u2019s paintings to the exhibition visitors. Some are quiet and wholly focused on a painting, alone with themselves. This probably mirrors what Philip says in conversation: \u201cIt\u2019s a lonely path to paint a painting\u2014and yet, I am never alone in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Philip Nelson, Alexander durch die W\u00fcste<\/em> [Alexander through the desert], 2024, 158 \u00d7 98 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three In the Morning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There is always a smile around Philips\u2019 eyes. \u201cAnd none of that struggle can be seen in the painting?\u201d \u201cNo, it\u2019s not in the painting, but it is preserved in the deeper layers of the painting. Perhaps, in the future, X-rays will be used to make these layers visible. But the struggle is not in the result. I live for the result, and there is this little voice inside me that speaks up, and then I know it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That (or so I understand Philip Nelson) is part of his agreement, this struggle not to go off the path. He cannot determine when it\u2019s over alone, and\u2014also probably part of this earthly-heavenly co-creation\u2014neither can he decide its beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes I feel like I\u2019m a midwife, a birth attendant. I always have to be ready when the baby announces itself, even if it\u2019s at three o\u2019clock in the morning. For me, the baby is not physical but spiritual. You have to be ready when it comes. If I\u2019m not available, I get sick. Fortunately, I don\u2019t need much sleep; three or four hours is enough, so I\u2019m there when such an inspiration announces itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Philip Nelson, Wagenrennen<\/em> [Chariot race], 2024, 130 \u00d7 100 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not a Thought, But a Power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou drive a black car and like to wear black clothes, and yet black is not to be found in any of your paintings. Why?\u201d Philip: \u201cI don\u2019t know why, and in fact, I\u2019ve never painted black, not once, except for black lines. I think it\u2019s not right to paint black. It just doesn\u2019t come. That\u2019s not a thought; that\u2019s a power.\u201d \u201cIs that also part of the contract\u2014to submit to such a decree?\u201d Philip: \u201cBy the way, I can hardly wear colored clothes. There is so much color in me\u2014a fire of color.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it part of your heavenly contract that you don\u2019t own a cell phone or a computer?\u201d \u201cI address all invitations by hand. The day before yesterday, I thought: my God, you have written 25,000 addresses by hand. Yes, a computer would disturb my imagination. I respect technology, so this is not a judgment of others. But I can\u2019t stand technology when I\u2019m painting\u2014I\u2019m sensitive to it. It was a big decision when I received my diploma in film in the USA in 1976 and also won a prize. Many people around me said that I would probably go into film. In that moment, I felt I couldn\u2019t do it. Later, when I got to know anthroposophy at Emerson College, I understood better why that is the case for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Philip Nelson, Cleopatra waiting for Marc Anthony<\/em>, 2024, 130 \u00d7 100 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Time Becomes a Picture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every painting captures an instance, holds a moment. Just as music is able to be painted, painting is able to sound, showing the inside of a moment. Five years ago, Philip Nelson had already spanned this arc between time and space. He created seven paintings for the seven cultural epochs described by Rudolf Steiner.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> My recent visit to his studio serves an inverse undertaking by Philip. While the previous work was about capturing millennia in a painting, he now goes the polar opposite way with the brush: capturing the moment within which a millennium occurs. \u201cThe inside of the moment is eternity,\u201d writes Plato, and Philip has now brought such eternal moments into pictures: Cleopatra, waiting for the arrival of her lover Mark Antony at the port of Alexandria. Although Mark Antony was overshadowed by the great rulers Caesar and Augustus, he inscribed himself in world consciousness through his love for Cleopatra, the last Egyptian pharaoh. Shakespeare\u2019s play Antony and Cleopatra <\/em>certainly contributed to this. The literary speech of Antony at Caesar\u2019s court has become a rhetorical masterpiece in the series of great historical speeches. In 1963, Cleopatra<\/em> was the most opulent Hollywood film to date and brought the Roman-Egyptian story of love and war into the twentieth century. Another moment chosen by Nelson is from the decline of Egypt. Three oracles shaped the political fortunes of Europe and the Middle East in ancient times: Delphi, Dodona in northern Greece, and Siwa on the Egyptian-Libyan border. Like his mythical role models Perseus and Heracles, Alexander wanted to visit the desert town of Siwa and, in 331 BC, set out on the dangerous, 200-kilometer-long journey through the Libyan Desert in a sandstorm and heat. The historian Plutarch describes a memorable moment when Alexander reached the oracle. The priest would have been thought to greet Alexander with \u201cO paidion,\u201d meaning \u201cO my child.\u201d But, inexperienced in Greek, he said, \u201cO paidios\u201d [interpreted as \u201cO pai Dios\u201d], which means \u201cson of God [Zeus].\u201d Alexander, according to Plutarch, immediately seized upon this exaggeration. Whatever actually happened, it was here that the foundation was laid for Alexander\u2019s apotheosis and also for his campaign in the Orient, where he carried Greek culture as far as India. The oracle approved of his aspirations for world domination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One painting shows a lion with a child. \u201cFor me, this is the birth of Greece,\u201d explains Nelson. If the founding of Rome was the she-wolf, here it is the lion. He dedicates a painting to Rome showing a chariot race in the Hippodrome. What are now major media events have their origins in these arenas of antiquity, because unlike Greek races, where the focus is on athletic competition, the Roman \u201ccircus\u201d was about entertaining the audience. Nelson\u2019s moments of world history invite us to grasp the inside of these moments, where history lifts itself out of the temporal course and streams out far into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Philip Nelson, Die Geburt Griechenlands<\/em> [The birth of Greece], 2024, 100 \u00d7 80 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not I, But the Paintings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen interested people visit your studio, do you have a sense of who will discover which painting?\u201d Philip: \u201cSometimes I\u2019m fairly sure they\u2019ll buy a certain painting. This is especially true for art collectors. But I never say a single word because, for me, it\u2019s a sin. It would break my inspiration. It\u2019s often a mystery how paintings find their way to human beings. Once, someone in a tavern in central Switzerland saw a painting of mine on a poster and was captivated. Two years later, he heard my name in Basel and searched for me for weeks. Then, he came to the studio, and the painting hadn\u2019t been sold\u2014it was still in the studio. He saw the painting, and it had been waiting for him for three years. I have often experienced this. I feel like I am at the center of inspiration, but these inspirations are not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Philip Nelson tells me about earlier meetings, including those in larger groups, I become conscious of the power of his photographic memory. He can picture in his inner eye who was sitting where at the table and what color their clothes were, and he can even add the date off the cuff. \u201cDo these paintings come to you, or do you have to conjure them up?\u201d I ask. \u201cI only do so when someone asks me or asks for something in particular or when there\u2019s a reason to call up a painting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conversation with Philip, seriousness and inward responsibility are mentioned time and again. \u201cIs seriousness the medicine for our time?\u201d Philip Nelson: \u201cYes, I think Europe is falling apart; what held it together has lost its force. I\u2019m not afraid. I do what I can.\u201d \u201cYou often paint children, teenagers, or adults; I don\u2019t find old age in your paintings.\u201d Philip Nelson: \u201cI believe I\u2019m 25,000 years old, but the child in me is still alive, and it\u2019s nine or ten years old. It plays and is infinitely serious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbsolutely, and children see when someone is lying. They are fascinating to me. They are still spiritual. They believe that we all come to Earth as good human beings, and you really notice that when you play with children. They can take a small stone and play with it for hours. I was the same as a child. I grew up in the desert. I played with scorpions and rattlesnakes. It\u2019s a pity we didn\u2019t meet back then; we would have had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip says that he painted two hundred children and young people and that almost all of these paintings have been sold. \u201cPeople like this youthfulness and freshness\u2014human beings sitting and dancing in a tavern. That\u2019s what I painted, but not a single older person.\u201d \u201cIs that the love of life?\u201d Nelson: \u201cYes, I believe it, certainly. I love life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Exhibition of paintings<\/strong>
From Oct. 13\u2013Nov. 17, Sundays 1:00\u20136:00 pm or by telephone appointment. Atelierhaus, Brunnweg 3, Dornach, 4143, Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translation <\/strong>Joshua Kelberman
Title image <\/strong>Philip Nelson in his studio; Photo: Wolfgang Held<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have made a pact with the heavens\u2014each human being for themselves. We must remain faithful to it. This is what I took with me from my conversation with the painter Philip Nelson. We sat in front of his studio, in the summer twilight, looking at a blooming candle plant\u2014a tower of light rising above us, an axis between heaven and earth. We\u2019ve all made a pact with our own province of heaven\u2014to hold it in trust, and even more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15963,"featured_media":59671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9097,8797],"tags":[11546,8798,11571],"class_list":["post-60756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-conversation-en","tag-ausgabe-35-2024-en","tag-deepening","tag-english-issue-43-2024"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15963"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dasgoetheanum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}