Etel Adnan’s recent popularity
Etel Adnan has just recently gained popularity among millennials in the art world. Her determination at such an old age can only be an inspiration to all generations.
I have always admired people who after retiring don’t think that their life is over. Because, you know, probably even your own grandparents are like this: they get up early do the errands by giving them the utmost importance, have their lunch, watch a couple of series, go for a walk or take a nap and, well, they feel lucky enough if they are not alone in this journey and have some grandchildren to look after from time to time and brag about. Looks like a pretty calm life, but would you like to spend your after-retirement years aimlessly like this.
If you think about it, after you retire you don’t know how many years you have left, but they might be well over 40. And yes, you won’t have the stamina of your 20-years old you, but will you actually be impatient and in a hurry as before?
Etel Adnan is an artist in most senses. She was born in Lebanon in the distant 1925 but for most of her life she has lived in America. Adnan studied philosophy in the Sorbonne and later continued studying at Berkley and Harvard. She has written quite a few books, publications and a lot of poetry but it is not until later in her life that she became famous for her painting skills. You can find some of her works of art in The British Museum in London, The Pompidou Centre in Paris, MoMA in New York and others.
Contrary to her intense life, her paintings are calm and colourful. She has painted a lot of harmonious landscapes, but she hasn’t limited herself just to this theme. It is interesting that instead of brushes she uses a palette knife and an explanation for this should not be looked further than her strongly decisive personality. It is much faster to paint with a palette knife and she also never repaints or goes back in the process of painting.
However, the interest in her art only took off recently in a very late stage in her life. There is so much demand for her pieces that she needs to work on a new one almost every day.
Matching this to the opening paragraph it is inspiring and fascinating to see that Etel Adnan, over 90-years-old, is actually trying to keep up with this demand in spite of her age. Maybe she would’ve dreamed of this happening earlier in her lifetime but as they say later is better than never!
The admirers of her works of art can only be in awe of her persistence and inner source of inspiration that gives her the opportunity to continue working. I also believe that her determination should serve as an example for older people who have somehow given up on the progressing of their skills or even the development of new ones just because of their age.
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