A story that makes you see the world differently…

Sometimes, one sentence can change the way that you look at architecture, nature...or even the whole world!

When I was around twelve years old, I took my first painting course. As soon as it started, the teacher asked me: ‘I have a very important question for you. I want you to look out of the window and tell me, what color is that tree?’

Chuckling at his question, I remember thinking that the beginner class was way too ‘beginner’.
Silence filled the room. Was he serious? He was waiting for an answer!
So I hurriedly claim THE answer: ‘Green, of course.’

Disappointed, he nods his head almost in despair. Then, as if taken by a huge artistic passion, he regains some energy and bombards me with questions:

‘Do you see over there where the light hits the leaves? It’s yellow and bright green. Or there, where all the leaves are bundled together in the shadow? It’s dark brown, dark green with traces of…pure black! And over there, poor leaves on the other side. They are starting to wither. At their extremities, it’s ochre, orange with…touches of red! No, the tree is not green. If it were green, it wouldn’t be real! It would be flat just like the coloring books of children. The tree is a million shades of colors! And that’s exactly what gives it all of its depth.’

Starting that day, I never looked at life the same way again.

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