Valentine’s Day is in just a few days, and if you’re anything like me, you completely forgot about the holiday. Maybe you’re in a relationship and excited to spend Valentine’s Day with your significant other, but if you’re single like me, you are excited to spend the day watching romantic comedies and eating chocolate (then going to get the half-price chocolate on February 15th). Love is the thing most people want to experience in life, and it is a feeling that can overwhelm someone so much that they have no choice but to express it in a creative way for everyone to see. While love is great and all, people can’t ignore the heartbreak that can come from being in a romantic relationship. I will be talking about the pieces of art that give me the warm-fuzzy feeling people in love talk about, but also the artworks that focus on heart-break and being alone. The best (worst?) of both worlds for this Valentine’s Day.
Paintings:
The Kiss, 1907- 1908, Gustav Klimt
One of my favorite paintings that focuses on love and romance is The Kiss by Gustav Klimt. This painting shows a pair of lovers embracing each other in a tender way. This painting gives me the warm-fuzzy feeling as it looks like the lovers believe they are the only people in the world and they’re focused only on each other. The type of love where nothing else matters and the only thing that matters is that everything is alright and you are with your person.
Melancholy, 1874, Edgar Degas
This painting by Edgar Degas, screams heartbreak and literally the word “melancholy” to me. This painting gives me the “person I love betrayed me” vibes and it is shown with the woman crossing her arms with a solemn expression on her face. The dark colors tell me that the woman in this painting is dealing with darkness and deep sadness.
Poems:
Poems are a form of art that I sadly forget about and then remember every few years. Some poems make me feel like the poet took my thoughts from my head and put it beautifully on paper. When I think of poems about love, I think about “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe. I have no clue why I think about this poem, but I think it has something to do with the emo phase I had at 13 and I read only Edgar Allen Poe to “fit the phase.” I think Annabel Lee fits perfectly for a heartbreaking love. The story of young love that even the angels in heaven were jealous of. The love was tragically cut short after Annabel died, but while you could argue the man never falling in love again is tragic, I believe it is actually quite beautiful.
Music:
It seems like all songs are created around the idea of love and heartbreak, at least that is what my playlist shows. I will scream love and heartbreak songs as loud as I can even if I do not have an emotional connection to the lyrics of the song. While artists like Taylor Swift and Adele are famous for their love songs (and I do love them!) one of my favorite love songs is “The First Day Of My Life” by Bright Eyes. The song brings me so much joy and that warm-fuzzy feeling. Bright Eyes, in general, gives me all the emotions, and while this song does sound sad, the lyrics are actually a work of art. One of my favorite lyrics from “The First Day of My Life,” is the line “This is the first day of my life I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you but now I don’t care, I could go anywhere with you and I’d probably be happy.” Conor Oberst is a lyrical genius. “The Ballad of Love and Hate” by the Avett Brothers is a song that gives me mixed feelings on whether or not it can be considered a song about love or heartbreak. I love the song a lot so I decided to include it, even if it is not exclusively a heartbreak song. The song is about a relationship between Love and Hate, and Love is thriving while Hate is going through something. The song has a lot of hidden messages embedded in the lyrics, but I think the point is, that sometimes people are meant for each other but life gets in the way. “Patience, patience, patience” is a lyric from the song, and I believe that being patient with the one you love while life gets messy and when you are apart means that you can find your way back to each other.
Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope everyone is experiencing some type of love this holiday. If you’re not, there are always chocolate and fictional characters to get you through the holiday of love.
Leave a Reply