Rabindranath Tagore has said that a beautiful thing should not be displayed together with other beautiful things, as this would depreciate the artistic appeal of the entire number (see “A Japanese garden,” in “A Tagore Reader.”) However, he did not say why this is true. Tagore”s statement is true and the reason is that, as tomographic experiment has shown, by altering synaptic routes and intensities of neurotransmission, one”s brain adapts instantly to whatever one is doing, making that activity progressively easier, more efficient and therefore more enjoyable. Thus, when one observes an interesting and beautiful painting, one”s brain forms at once a mental construct contoured to the features of that particular painting, making that painting progressively more easily and efficiently appreciated and more enjoyable to observe. If another painting, however interesting and beautiful, is displayed in the proximity of this painting, the formulated mental construct contoured to accommodate the features of either painting will not fit the features of the other; and to the extent that both paintings share the observers attention, both paintings will be deprived of the profound appreciation either would have inspired if appraised singly.
I suggest an experiment in which a few paintings be displayed singly, each in a small compartment of its own, quite closed off from all the others.
Dean Sparks, Lucerne
