Who is the Clairvoyant Canine?

The term clairvoyance refers to the ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the known human senses, a form of extra-sensory perception [Source: Wikipedia]. A person said to have the ability of clairvoyance is referred to as a clairvoyant ("one who sees clearly").

The Clairvoyant Canine claims to be a precognitive clairvoyant, that is, that he sees clearly into the future. His abilities have not been subjected to any scientific rigors.

Those who meet the Clairvoyant Canine are usually taken by his expressive eyes, gentle but playful demeanor, excellent gait and incomparably shiny double-coat fur. His precognitive abilities have been dismissed by human and canine skeptics as highly anomalous. He reveals his wit, wry humor and socio-political commentary only to me.

- Clara

Reality collides with dreams

"For my part, I know nothing with certainty, but

the sight of stars makes me dream." - Vincent van Gogh

[painting above: Starry night, van Gogh]

Pissarro, Monet and van Gogh were calling me that day. 

It had been a nerve-wracking week. Countless pages written and re-written, coffee mugs filled and refilled. Lunches at 3pm and calls that lasted over 2 hours. Hairs were pulled. Eyebrows furrowed. And I turned a year older on Friday the 13th. van Gogh would have been envious.

Ever wise, the Clairvoyant Canine reminded hubby and me that Dreams & Reality: Masterpieces of Painting, Drawing & Photography from the Musée D'Orsay Paris runs until February 5, 2012 at the National Museum of Singapore.  I saw the exhibit weeks ago but I was in a sacrilegious rush from painting to painting. Besides, I was so enthralled that I didn't need convincing to view it again.

The most stirring masterpieces in the exhibit...

ignited emotions...

Hoarfrost, peasant girl making a fire, Camille Pissarro

or transcended temptations.

The Knight of the Flowers, George Rochegrosse, 1892

There were tales of quietly assuring harvests

The Harvest, Pissarro, 1876

View of the Marseille Gulf from L'Estaque, Cezanne, 1878-1879.

and unflinching landscapes,

Gauguin

of deceptively calm

The Port of Rouen, Saint-Sever, Pissarro

but thrill-seeking sea breeeze

Mondrian (an early Mondrian!)

Boats: Regatta at Argentuil, Claude Monet, 1874

Most of all they were mirrors of footsteps

  

of gasps and sighs, 

A Box at the Theatre des Italiens, Eva Gonzales

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Monet

The King's Daughter, or the Princess in the Garden, Sir Edward Burne-Jones

capturing an embrace

or a dance

Degas


with fortune, good or ill...

The Card Players, Cezanne

   

Sometimes slowing down is all you need

Siesta, Hans Thoma, 1889

to find tranquility in the most ordinary spaces

Young Woman on the Beach, Philip Wilson Steer

and encounter the best of your dreams.

The Railway Bridge at Chatou, or The Pink Chestnut Trees, Renoir, 1881

I caught the Clairvoyant Canine muttering "Hmphh...sappy nonsense!" under his breath. He couldn't join us but in truth, he was thoroughly pleased to see this outstanding exhibit albeit vicariously. He foretells that there will be more exhilarating intrusions of art into our lives in Singapore, where almost anything is a train ride or 10-minute cab ride away.

- Clara and the Clairvoyant Canine

*With gratitude to the National Museum of Singapore and the Musée D'Orsay Paris.

The National Museum of Singapore,
a stone's throw away from Bras Basah MRT station