Rembrandt Is in the Wind: Learning to Love Art through the Eyes of Faith

by Russ Ramsey

Beauty draws us deeper into community. We ache to share the experience of beauty with other people, to look at someone near us and say, “Do you hear that? Do you see that? How beautiful!”

We should engage with beauty deliberately and regularly because these are the clothes we will walk around in for all eternity.

because I was attracted to my wife’s beauty. Not only are we drawn to beauty, we are the only creatures who engage in certain behaviors purely for the sake of encountering beauty. We use vacation days to drive to places where we can see the sun come up over the ocean. We visit art museums, theatres, and symphonies. We look at the moon and the stars. We climb to high mountain lakes to put our feet in the frigid water to feel the rush and see the reflection of the summit in the ripples we have made. No other creature stops to behold something beautiful for no other reason than that it has stirred something in their souls.

Engaging with beauty sharpens our eye for what is pleasing, and it broadens our imaginations of what could be. Artists draw inspiration from other artists because beauty doesn’t just fill us with wonder; it drives us to go create beautiful things ourselves.

When we create, we reflect the image of the Creator. There is a cycle of creation here: Beauty inspires creativity, and creativity is a path to more beauty.

Nine Artists