Masterpieces That Move Us: Encountering Art That Inspires a Generation

I'm literally running through the streets of Florence with John following a short distance behind. We are about to lose our spot at the Museum Academy Galleria. We tried to buy our tickets the day before, but they were full, and the only way to go was to pay twice as much and join a tour.

The tour guide is waiting with Jake and Dimitra while we race to get there. Already six minutes late, we still have another few blocks to go. I’ve been fast-walking three miles each morning for a few months before this trip, and it feels like I’ve been training for this museum run. I’m actually feeling great and thankful for the exercise after all the pasta and carbs I’ve been consuming.

Jake is calling us asking where we are, and I'm out of breath explaining our location without any clarity he can understand. Finally, we see Dimitra and Jake waving their arms in our direction near a huge line that extends down the streets past us. My heart rejoices at the idea that so many people want to go to art museums and see the old masters. I had wanted to come to this museum last spring when we went to Florence, but all tickets were sold out, and we were only able to go to Uffizi Gallery.

 Heritage and Heroism

My love for art museums started when I was 14 years old and I visited my first museum in Thessaloniki, Greece. I didn't know I was an artist yet. That transformation happened about eight months later. The museum in Thessaloniki had ancient things like pottery, jewelry, coins, and statues from the time of Alexander the Great. I was mesmerized seeing the men’s armor and couldn't believe how short they were. The shin guards, shields, and helmets looked like they were for children. Their tombs looked tiny.

I also saw a Byzantine exhibit featuring ornate 24-karat gold jewelry with intricate patterns and designs. I was completely transported back in time seeing the manuscripts of the scriptures and how they painted illustrations on the parchment's side edges. I imagined the people of the time walking with scrolls under their arms, dripping in gold bracelets and jeweled rings.

Something shifted in me that day, as I realized I was a descendant of these people and that my ancestors came from the very city where these relics were found. Museums hold and celebrate the greatness of people, immortalizing their heroic feats. I truly believe a seed was planted in me at this museum that opened me up to to seeing that my destiny was in art.

Art and Anticipation

Since this time, I have seen a lot of museums anywhere I have visited. So far, the Louvre has been the most impressive to me. I stood breathless in front of Caravaggio and Rembrandt paintings, completely transfixed by the work of my heroes.

Now, in Florence, I am about to see the famous statue of David by Michelangelo. I nearly miss my chance for the second time because I’m late. We miscalculated how far the museum was, and thankfully, Jake and Dimitra compel our tour guide to wait for us.

My heart is still beating fast from the sprint as we rush through the line to find our tour guide at the front, bypassing the crowds. I no longer begrudge the expensive ticket and feel truly blessed to have made it inside the museum without issue.

We aren't free to roam around and have to stay with our guide, listening to her talk at length about each painting by Italian Renaissance artists I have never heard of. They have a large collection of Giotto, which is very impressive, but the rest of the artists I don't know about. I keep looking down the hallways to catch a glimpse of David. After all, this is why there is such a crowd here.

 In the Presence of a Masterpiece

Finally, after a whole hour of painfully slowly looking at everything BUT David, we begin to walk down a corridor of statues, at the end of which is a giant atrium with 40-foot ceilings of domed skylights, offering a gorgeous canopy of natural light adorning the 17-foot-tall giant. I don't care if I'm abandoning our guide. I blow past the other statues to go and gaze at this gorgeous monument.

There he is: a marble feat of pure excellence, deserving of all his glory. The young man who defeated Goliath with just a stone. He who killed both a lion and a bear with only his hands and protected his sheep from wolves and thieves when he was just a boy. The brave boy who became a king and danced naked before the Lord.

I cannot imagine a better subject of such a sublime creation. Every muscle and every angle sculpted with perfection. For the first time, I am standing in its very presence.

We spend more than 30 minutes with the statue of David. Afterward, we look at everything else in the small museum and realize that this sculpture is the reason tickets are constantly sold out and the museum has lines down the road. Many of the sculptures inside are replicas, and many of the paintings are by less significant Renaissance artists. It is as if the museum is filled with the dregs and sluff left over from the other Italian museums just to fill it for David. I don't think anyone comes for anything else. Only David.

I don't want to diminish the other art like "Rape of the Sabine Women" by John of Bologna or the work of Giotto, but compared to Uffizi, Michelangelo puts this museum on the map solely because of his David. Imagine creating something so powerful and so impressive that you carry a museum solo.

 Dreams, Legacy, and Aspiring to Greatness

As I wander through the completely disappointing museum gift shop, I think about the idea of creating something so compelling and beautiful a whole museum is designed around it. The very room David was displayed in seemed as though it was created only for him so that the generations could admire him with such wonder. This memory and image of the statue of David will forever be sealed in my heart and fuel my prayer that I could create something so epic that it would inspire as many as this statue.

Even if it never actually happens—maybe none of my work will ever find its way into a museum at all—I love the idea that it could. That I have the same or even better opportunity than Michelangelo. Like him, I live in a moment in time that cries out for the expression of Beauty and Majesty. I live in a moment that would compel artists to memorialize their heroes. So why not? Why not strive for such things as an artist?

Do you ever think about your legacy? What masterpiece do you imagine lies inside of you waiting to live under the skylights of 40-foot-tall ceilings in a museum with sold-out tickets?

Share your thoughts in the comments!