In the Broadway hit “Sunday in the Park with George”, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine captured the essence of Georges Seurat’s painting “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”by telling a story behind the painting.

When you look at the canvas, filled with dots and color that create light, it’s not hard to think about the lives of the people wandering around the lake transfixed by the beauty of a summer day.

In 2012, author Tracy Chevalier  gave a TedTalk about her fascination with the story behind the Vermeer painting, “Girl with the Pearl Earring”. Much like an investigator, she took various elements of the painting – the texture of her clothes, the look in her eyes, the parting of her mouth, the scant history of Veneer himself – and began to develop a sensual story that became her novel of the same name.

Paintings, and what a view extracts from them, can maketh the storyteller. It’s a great form of inspiration that can ignite the imagination. Go to a museum or search artwork on the internet, and let your mind flow.

Chevalier’s TedTalk is here in the link above.

Happy Friday! Enjoy!