joy magnetism: The measure of a chair




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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The measure of a chair

Magnet #431 - Van Gogh's Chair and Pipe

Ok, so for as long as I've had this magnet from the London's National Gallery, I thought it was really just an inset/cutaway of the chair in Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles.

I loved that painting, because it was on the cover of a desk calendar from the Van Gogh Museum that my first boss at this company gave me. I remember, because it was the best desk calendar I've ever had design-wise, and I've spent the last 11 years trying to find that exact calendar layout. No, I'm not even joking.

Turns out, this chair, is actually Van Gogh's Chair and Pipe. (Seriously, there was some major magnifying of both paintings on my part to verify. Heh.) It's kinda cool on its own, I guess - especially now that I know that Van Gogh painted it as a companion piece to a chair that he painted for Gauguin, as a representation of the vast difference between the two men - as artists, and I'd bet, as men.

It's odd thinking about a chair being the measure of a man. I mean, these days people sit in myriad chairs all over the place - at home, at work, commuting, etc.

But, if I were to think about what my favorite chair would be, it'd be a big, soft ploppable number, where you can burrow down into it and stay for hours and hours. And it'd be blue. With blankets. And have a tv with cable, an overflowing DVR, and DVD player in front of it and maybe the remotes, some chips and chocolate beside me.

None of this straight-backed, woven seat crap. Heh, sorry Van Gogh. Nice painting, though.

Here's something else superodd. I just randomly picked this magnet for today. It wasn't until I started to write that line about my first boss here that I realized - today's my 11th anniversary at the same company. Huh. Odd that I should be thinking about that, on today of all days.
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2 comments:

The Geek said...

I love this painting, too! I've wanted to copy it for a long time, but just never gotten around to it... Maybe next year. I've copied four of his, and they're actually a lot of fun to do, because they're so messy. :)

And I think my favorite chair would actually be a couch. As much as I like sitting down into a nice cushy chair, I like lying down on a sofa even more.

Mmm... horizontal TV watching... ahhhhhhhhh...

joy said...

ITA, GG, a sofa is preferable to a couch...depends on how much you want to burrow. Heh.

But, I did see this awesome Lazy Bastard chair which could be the chair to end all chairs. Not much ploppability, but definitely high on the comfort, methinks.