A memory from childhood

It’s quite difficult to choose a favourite artist but I can definitely choose a favourite painting. That painting is The Haywain by John Constable. I saw it recently in the National Gallery in London and it brought the memories flooding back.

A print of the picture was a permanent fixture in my grandparents cottage in the village of Felsted in Essex. Hanging in the dining room, the print was framed and it caught my eye the first time I visited. When I had holidays there I was able to look at it in detail and truly appreciate it. Yes, my appreciation was artistically basic, if not primitive, but I realised that it was telling me a story about the two men in the Haywain and the figure next to the mill. I could decide for myself what that story was and it allowed me to take the early steps towards the creativity that I exhibited as a child. In order to make the stories my own I never asked my grandparents what the picture was about or what they thought. In my own unformed way I was being an art critic and I loved the feeling of interacting with that painting.

Seeing it again decades later I was able to pick up more details due to its size, but the feeling I got was one of security and affection which was the atmosphere in that cottage. We often talk about music taking us back to our earlier years, but art can definitely have the same effect if the connection is strong enough.