The attractive power of doors …

By looking at the pictures I took within the last year, I realise that I really felt attracted by doors… And considering the many artists inspired by doors, I am not alone to feel hypnotised  by them!
Look at this house with a ship on the door. Isn’t it worth a trip to the sea ? Knocking at that door, my kids would certainly have expected a Captain to come out!
And this one, in the same idea, with Dolphins on the front door…

Art is full of doors…

Doors are only an excuse here, to analyse how artists expressed their ideas or feelings by referring to them…Let’s begin with Music! In this area, doors are in everywhere in the lyrics! The american rock band The Doors was obviously fascinated with “the doors of perception” from William Blake, that would, “if cleansed, allow everything to appear to man as it is, infinite”.

As Jim Morrison’s group seemed to like the yellow and black colours, here below is a door that would have matched their criteria…

Some groups are more down to earth though, as Otis Redding, who sang “open the doors” in his great 7th album “The dock of the bay”.  Another doors fan? Bob Dylan, of course, with his song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, which was covered by many other singers.
And more recently, the Arctic Monkeys sang “Secret Door”; Radiohead also created “A wolf at the door”…
I just refer to some songs I like, but there are also many more musicians, some of them quoted in this article, like BB King or Tom Jones, for whom the doors lead to some creativity, for the better (or for the worse sometimes!).

Regarding Paintings, Fragonard was the one who used doors to protect lovers… In “The Lock” or “The stolen kiss”, I like the details of lovers’ attraction that must remain hidden…

And look at this picture with a spy-hole that would have been suitable in 18th century, either to spy others, or to prevent lovers from being caught!
In photography, I can’t help but show you this capture of doorways closing before the musician was able to take his instrument with him! Doisneau and his incomparable humour… Was this picture a genuine chance, or was it all planned? I don’t know, but the result is eloquent: mind the doors!!!

Doors offer endless possibilities…

Doors are either open or closed, nice and attractive or unfriendly … endless possibilities that inspired many songwriters and artists. In my case, I have seen some doors to be inviting or colourful like these two doors that appear like sisters…
Some can even be funny like the one I showed you in another post about the house, leaning to its right after the centuries…

More than photographic objects, doors develop our imagination… I like this quote from Walt Disney about doors offering opportunities.

We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.

So keep opening the doors, remain curious, you don’t need to be an artist for that!