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Midnight in the forest

Saw this today — “Carnival Evening” by Henri Rousseau — at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and was knocked flat. The mystery!

UPDATE: I was still thinking about this painting tonight, when it occurred to me why it moved me so much. This scene symbolizes the way I move through life: as a partygoer who finds himself decontextualized (sorry to use that clunky word, but I can’t think of a better one) feeling very much out of place, on the way home, in the deep wintry woods under a full moon, with all the beauty and the danger and the mystery therein. Interesting to think about how art doesn’t explain, but reveals.

about the author

Rod Dreher is a senior editor at The American Conservative. He has written and edited for the New York Post, The Dallas Morning News, National Review, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Washington Times, and the Baton Rouge Advocate. Rod’s commentary has been published in The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, the Weekly Standard, Beliefnet, and Real Simple, among other publications, and he has appeared on NPR, ABC News, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and the BBC. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with his wife Julie and their three children. He has also written four books, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, Crunchy Cons, How Dante Can Save Your Life, and The Benedict Option.

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