The ultimate sophistication
The Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri, April 2008
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo Da Vinci
Though I’ve confessed to my love of ornamentation, I also admire artists who can produce memorable works with clean lines and few details. Often this type of art has to grow on me over time, as with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly known as “The Wall.” But sometimes, the simplicity of a design is so perfect as to command instant admiration. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is high on my list of such works. It looks beautiful from any angle, striking from a distance and remarkable up close.
Simplicity of design or function is all around us, but is inherently easy to miss. When I pay enough attention to notice it, I am usually inspired to work a little harder on my continual battle to de-clutter my life. Whether it’s a building, a room, a functional object or someone’s outfit, simplicity can turn down the noise in my mind and increase my productivity by helping me focus. I hope you will be able to enjoy and appreciate at least a few such designs today.
This post was originally published seven years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
- Posted in: Uncategorized
- Tagged: arch, architecture, art, clean, design, landmarks, pure, serene, simplicity, St. Louis, symbols, uncluttered
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