A Nocturne of Chopin 1895

Editor: This is Aubrey Beardsley's "A Nocturne of Chopin," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s quite small. There's a dreamy, almost unsettling quality to it. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's a dance of decadence, isn't it? Beardsley, even in his own time, was pushing boundaries. Look at the sharp contrasts and those figures—are they real, imagined, or a bit of both? A visual poem, if you will, set to Chopin. Editor: A poem…that's a great way to put it. It feels like it's open to so many interpretations. I guess I just expected something a little more straightforward. Curator: Ah, but where's the fun in that? The beauty lies in its mystery, its willingness to let us wander through the shadows of our own minds. Beardsley invites us to dream, and perhaps to question what we think we know. Editor: That’s really inspiring. I’m going to look at Beardsley with a whole new perspective now.