Monday, January 10, 2011

Upside Down








"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55

These are two paintings by Giuseppe Arcrimboldo, who was a native of Milan and lived in the 1500's. I snapped them from the newspaper. He was a court painter for several of the Hapsburg rulers, and has been rediscovered in the past century as the artist who virtually invented the still life and may have been the first surrealist. He loved to paint fruit, flowers, vegetables, and fish. And had some fun with them, too. Look at these two pictures when turned upside down. Actually, which painting did he view as the right side up one? This reminded me of a book Phil has called "The Upside Down Kingdom". It is about how God's kingdom is pretty much upside down from the world's. In the world, power is everything. To God, being a servant is everything. So maybe upside down is the right way to look at things, after all.

"For he who is least among you all-he is the greatest." Luke 9:48

34 comments:

Regina said...

So true!! Love the illustration of fruit, as well as both those verses. This world is so contrary and if you look at it..well ya, upside down! His strength perfected in weakness to the foolishness of God being wiser than man's strength..it doesn't make sense and I guess why it's spiritually discerned..a hidden thing. Love your header!

Reanaclaire said...

These painters are really creative.. God's gift...
A good sharing here, Ginny..

Anonymous said...

Interesting post and great analogy Ginny. Hope you have a nice day.

SquirrelQueen said...

Ha, I love these Ginny. Arcrimboldo had a great sense of humor, the faces are delightful. Very cool idea for a header too.

Anonymous said...

What a way of looking at things...the paintings are really beautiful. And a great header to go with this interesting post as well!

LC said...

Loved those faces. And your verses nail the basis for "upside down."

Fred Alton said...

How 'bout that? Both pictures of fruit bowls, when turned upside down, looking like ogres! Most interesting.

From the Kitchen said...

I had to study the paintings for a bit before I saw the ugly "creatures" in the upside down shot. Amazing! And, leave it to you to bring us a different angle on things this morning.

Best,
Bonnie

Karin said...

Very creative post Ginny and a good way to teach this concept!

RoeH said...

Cool pics!

MadSnapper said...

at first i thought you had lost your mind. until i read it. i was seeing faces in the upside down and thought how odd. so he did it on purpose. LOVE the upside down header toooo. life sometimes make us feel we are living upside down and all around. hope your day is smooth sailing today and right side up

DawnTreader said...

I wonder if he had the ability to see the upside down effect in his head to start with, or if he stood on his head or used mirrors? Or a camera obscura perhaps? (Talking of the painter - not of God...)

Neal said...

Interesting....
Kind of like my life sometimes...upside down. :)

Stephanie V said...

A different sort of imagination, for sure.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

What a unique post, Ginny... I love seeing those 'faces'.... I love them better as 'faces' than I do as fruit bowls. NEAT pictures... Thanks!!!!

I've read and have a copy of the "Upside Down Kingdom"..
Hugs
Betsy

Bobbie said...

What a great post. And so true!!! I have that scripture hanging in my mud room where I'm in and out a lot... and every once in a while I stop and read and am reminded that His ways are not our ways. Thanks for this great post Ginny.

Ruth Hiebert said...

God is using you and others to speak to me.He has turned my life upside down,and now I want to trust Him to turn it right side up again.The journey has begun.Thanks for this post.
Blessings,Ruth

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, Very interesting post and thoughtful as usual! Have a wonderful day!

Chatty Crone said...

You can see a different picture in the up and down can't you?

sandie

aspiritofsimplicity said...

That is so strange! Very creative and interesting.

Kerrie said...

Interesting! Enjoyed it! K

srp said...

It seems I remember a book about learning to draw that used the upside down method to teach. They said that in the right side up state our brains have a picture of what things should look like and tries to make our hands draw that, but upside down the brain is confused so the eye has control in guiding the hand.

S. Etole said...

What a gift that artist had ... to be able to view the world in such separate ways.

Ann said...

Quite interesting. I can't help wondering what his thought process was when he was creating these mastmerpieces.

Doris Sturm said...

Lovely post - as always, Ginny! You do a great job in incorporating scripture in your posts. It's very enjoyable to read.

Those paintings are so much fun when they are upside down - they look like faces! I've always enjoyed looking at things from a different perspective and I think we should exercise that in every day life lest we become stale and rigid!

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a way to view things. The paintings are most interesting and it took a while to see what to others was probably obvious from the get go. You find such interesting things as a lead-in to your thoughts for the day. It is always interesting here. I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary

Nikki (Sarah) said...

these are so cool....

Tracy said...

Ginny,
Interesting perspective and we do live in a world of upside-downs don't we?
I read your comment on my blog and that is a horrible situation you witnessed in Target...my heart breaks for anyone who is addressed in such a manner. Words are so powerful and when will people realize that concept?
UGH, makes me so cross...
thanks for stopping by!

Glenda said...

Great analogy, Ginny! We just finished a study recently called "The Kingdom Experiment" which reminded us that kingdom life doesn't make sense by the world's standards.

Thank you for your well wishes. I'm feeling better now. I'm sorry you've had so much sickness in your family and hope everyone is well soon. It's been a bad year for illnesses of all kinds here, too. But God is good - all the time!!

Mom Daughter Style said...

beautiful pictures as usual.These ones are a little bit different very artistic. Yes, the link I had in my post was See's. I love their chocolates too

George said...

These paintings are neat -- the faces in the upside down paintings are fascinating. What a wonderful find you've made here.

Dawning Inspiration said...

Fun!!

Melanie said...

Those pictures are so neat.
Yes, God's Kingdom is so different from the world's!
I like that close-up picture of the snowflake, too. :)

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I have often admired works by Giuseppe Arcrimboldo.

I love the scripture in this post. If we could all only love as truly as Jesus did!

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