On Jewels of a Higher Order.
“In Vuillard’s interior every detail however trivial, however hideous even- the pattern of the late Victorian wallpaper, the art nouveau bibelot, the Brussels carpet is seen and rendered as a living jewel: and all these jewels are harmoniously combined into a whole which is a jewel of a yet higher order of visionary intensity.” This quote is from the remarkable essay ‘Heaven and Hell’ by Aldous Huxley, published in 1954. In this part he’s referring to the great French painter Edouard Vuillard, 1868-1940. For Huxley, Vuillard’s painting is a vehicle that transports us into a heightened sense of reality, one akin to visionary or mystical experience and this experience, which one might call aesthetic rapture, is a deeply rooted need in the psyche of man. He goes on to say that this need has been the impetus for artmaking since the beginning of our species history. It transcends cultural considerations, civilized or uncivilized, colonized or fre...