note #2

To churn is a verb that has a odd and violent connotation for me.

If an idea or memory is churning in your head, it means it is being spun restlessly without any relief. Like rolling down a hill, it picks up speed. You can’t stop cycling through a thought incessantly. You feel displaced. It can be compared to an obsession, and it may cause nausea. Mental churn.

One of the few art pieces that have captured this feeling for me is L'Estaque, Melting Snow (1871) by Paul Cézanne. The snowy hills look as if they are going to fall on the orange-roofed houses. The dreary, gray clouds form the backdrop. It’s like the world is about to roll over and suffocate itself.

For me, this painting is emotionally charged. Cézanne painted it during a time of great personal and social upheaval. The landscape represents our minds under duress, caught in a churn that swallows everything else.