When we speak about love, we mean the desire for beauty. — Marsilio Ficino
Welcome back to Love Notes - a curated creative journal documenting visuals, words, spaces, textures, flavors, and other elements I found beautiful lately.
Detail, Zephyrus carrying Aura, Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (1484-1486). Tempera on canvas. Uffizi, Florence.
Robert Frost, Nothing Gold Can Stay
It first happened slowly, stealthily, then irrevocably all at once -
Some invisible chord struck.
Was it spring?
That blink of a week - first leaf, first bloom - the first precious herald of confidence that the pendulum has irreversibly swung. Frigid ice melted into sweet river.
Top: Detail, Venus stands in a scallop shell. Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (1484-1486). Tempera on canvas. Uffizi, Florence \ Bottom: Interior and lamp detail, The Mayfair Hotel, London
Detail, Cupid in an orange grove. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera. Tempera on panel. Uffizi, Florence.
The out of tune daily melodies suddenly hit every note at perfect pitch - days when nothing happened turned into days when everything happened. A familiar rhythm returned: long walks by the Hudson at dusk, Thursday nights lingering in Chelsea galleries, the unfettered desire to see, to create, to celebrate.
Left: Detail, Lucas Arruda, Untitled (from the Deserto-Modelo series), 2023. Oil on canvas. 15 3/4 x 15 3/4’’. On view at David Zwirner, as part of Assum Preto.\ Right: Algae sequin dress, Philip Lim. On view at Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Left: 1860 French evening dress, light blue silk taffeta. On view at Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. \ Right: Detail, floral fabric on The Hora of Spring’s gown. Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus (1484-1486). Tempera on canvas. Uffizi, Florence.
The aura around each thing.
Respect it – Pause a moment – before you grasp something.
— Susan Sontag, “2/8/79” in As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
Top: Lyndsey Kong, The First Green, 2024. Watercolor on paper. \ Bottom: Iris van Herpen, Nautiloid dress, SS20. On view at Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Left: Detail, flowering grass and wild clover etched into organza. May dress, Christian Dior, spring 1953. On view at Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. \ Right: Detail of Flora (the goddess of flowers)’s gown. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera. Tempera on panel. Uffizi, Florence.
Flights to escape became flights to explore. I began tracing green’s aura - that inescapable verdant glow, from Sheep Meadow to Hyde Park to the Presidio.
Left: Roof detail on the Wolfson Gallery. The National Gallery, London. \ Right: Detail, Lucas Arruda, Untitled (from the Deserto-Modelo series), 2024. Oil on linen. 37 3/4 x 45 1/4’’. On view at David Zwirner, as part of Assum Preto.
Left: Detail, Green Park, London, Claude Monet 1870-1871, Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art. \ Right: Thousand-year-old quail egg, as part of small delicacies. Benu, San Francisco.
Then summer rushed in. Layers shed. Skin bare. Witness how sage deepened to forest moss. Chartreuse exposed to electric lime. Rippling jade waters. Tender melon. Charred asparagus off the grill. Iced matcha in hand.
Top: Window detail, The High Museum, Atlanta. \ Bottom: Detail,David Huffman, Africa, 2024. Acrylic, oil, fabric, spray paint, glitter, photo collage, and color pencil on wood panel. On view at Casey Kaplan, as part of Children of the Sun.
I no longer dreaded the return.
Left: Sorbet of summer melons with lemon balm. Benu, San Francisco. \ Right: Ivy Creek Greenway, GA
Mary Oliver, Spring
If nothing gold can stay, I strive to hold onto the first green’s aura - remember this - where light and everything lush began.
Detail, two of the Three Graces and Venus standing in the orange grove. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera. Tempera on panel. Uffizi, Florence.
is a major inspiration for the format of this Love Notes. Molly has such a great eye for colors, details, and just an immaculate style. Thank you Molly!
