George’s interaction with Picasso tells a story about how meeting someone you admire, and interacting with them, changes you. Or how it doesn’t. It speaks to the way people fantasize and laud people they look up to and how that often transforms into a cultivation of unrealistic expectations. I think maybe George didn’t tell his wife because Picasso wasn’t what he expected. His praise and awe of him leads me to believe he was looking for something magnificent. He saw him create live and witnessed a work of his that nobody ever will, which is magnificent, but I wonder if he was disappointed that it wasn’t what he imagined. Or maybe he was disappointed that his dream is over.
In A Season of Calm Weather
Jan 13th, 2023 by Eleanor Yeatts
Did you see something in the conclusion of the story that suggested to you he might be disappointed?
When his wife asks if he swam out too far and he doesn’t deny it, it makes me think that he believes he did. Seeing Picasso was always a dream to him. He talks about it like how my mom talks about winning the lottery: with an in depth list of all the things she would do with the money, how it would change her life for the better. George fantasized about meeting him for so long and then flew too close to the sun. He got close with Picasso uniquely and magically, so now his dream is over, and he is unsure of what to do with his interaction and experience. So I think he is disappointed that he can no longer dream about it, because how could anything ever top witnessing your idol work so organically? He flew too close to the sun. He swam out too far.
Eleanor: This makes sense, and it has broadened my understanding of the ambiguity of the story’s conclusion. I had viewed George as being content with having had this experience, not feeling the need or desire to share it, suggesting that our encounters with art are — or can be — deeply private, incapable of being translated.