A lesson from art on context
Sonia Delauney was an artist whose career spanned much of the twentieth century. The dynamic forms and vibrant colour of her paintings captured the spirit of modernity, celebrating techology, urban life and dance crazes. Along with her husband, Robert Delauney, they developed a distintive approach to abstraction art called simultanism. It followed on from the work of a nineteenth century chemist Michel-Eugene Chevreul who studied how the perception of colours seems to change when they are placed alongside each other.
Look at this abstract piece of art by an unknown artist and check it out for yourself. The same colours are used in different places, but they look different dependent on what is next to them. Their context shows them in a different light.
We are like this too, put us in rooms of different people and we show up in different ways too. We are who we are in relation to others; not better or worse, just different. Pay attention to this over the next few weeks, notice who you are, not who they are. Don't fight it or try to change, just get curious about what happens and when it happens. This is one step towards shifting the level to which you connect and share with others. I'd love to hear what happens.
Many thanks to the Tate Modern for the Sonia Delauney exhibition 15 April - 9 August 2015.