I usually say that the history of art It was my serendipity. I don’t like to romanticize the idea of discover your vocation by chance, but, if I had not been rejected in Journalism, perhaps I would never have dared to study a degree that was sold as a direct pass to the unemployment line. Although I was always a creative and sensitive person, I couldn’t fully connect with people. visual arts. The same thing didn’t happen to me with music, for example. The truth is that I never really identified with the cold, elevated and often described as elitist aura that we usually think surrounds this type of creations.
Finishing the race did not improve the situation. It was right at that moment, between helplessness in the face of an uncertain future and the need for a change, when the idea of my book came into my head for the first time. What if she could tell about art in a more enjoyable, close and friendly way for common mortals? What if we broke once and for all with the eternal division between supposed “high culture” and entertainment?
Given the lack of resources, the project began as a timid profile in social networks. Years later, when publishers started knocking on my door, I knew it was time to try to make it real. I wanted to write a book that mixed the wonders of art with the freshness of teen magazines.
Darkness and reflection
I wanted to write a book that was different on every page, colorful and relatable, whose stories felt like they were being told to you by a friend over a cup of coffee. I wanted to create the Super Pop of the history of art and that also had its critical part; that went beyond Europe, took a position on controversial issues such as cancel cultureny would bring women to the place where historically they should always be. It is not just a book of gossip and anecdotes, it is also full of darker and more reflective sections.
This is how it was born A Van Gogh in the living room. His name was chosen as a declaration of intent: the family’s favorite work of this Dutch painter, Almond Blossom, one of the few that was never removed, hung for a long time in the living room, above the piano. A anecdote that helps you connect (we all have our favorite work) but that curiously will go unnoticed in most manuals, commonly focused on much more technical aspects that, although relevant, do not penetrate the reader’s memory.
Why did I do it? I can only say that it is the book that I would have liked to hold in my hands in those moments when I felt defenseless before the magnitude of that sacred object that is the artwork. It is a hug, a path in company for all those people who cannot fully enjoy the visit to a museum or who want to discover its wonders from perspectives that had not been considered before. Because, above all, what I want is to demonstrate that art is not so far from life as you thought.
