Just Moved, Henry Mosler, 1870
I first saw this painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I loved so much about it. Most of all, I was inspired by the way Mosler painted the reality of the situation - what it looks like to just move in to a home with a young family. In general, life with young children is chaotic. In a world where social media is always showing us the cleaned up moments of life, I was convicted by this work of art that the lived in moments are where real beauty lies, and that lived in moments tell a more honest story of the time. Good art convicts.
This is what our evenings often look like. Homework, after school play time, a Halloween candy treat, dinner prep, and music. Mosler’s painting shows a tired, contented happiness in the expression of the mother and father. I see the same contented joy in these everyday evenings we live.