The Most “Artistic” Home in Atlanta

All right, so it’s not a home anyone actually LIVES in, but it’s immediately recognizable.  This house sits on the grounds of the High Art Museum.   The High Art Museum, of course, is one of Atlanta’s great treasures, and the sculpture is “House III” by Roy Lichtenstein (1997), the famous pop artist who also constructed such classics as Crying Girl (1964), seen here (and brought to life in the film Night at the Museum). 

House III looks like an ordinary home, but as you walk past it, and look at it, it appears to move as you move – sort of like the eyes in a portrait following a character in an old-time horror film.  I really ought to post a video, shouldn’t I?  Or maybe this will inspire you to go see for yourself.  It’s really quite amazing.  The house appears to undulate and move with you, and the optical illusion also has the perspective fooling your eye - like an Escher sketch.  The sculpture was completed in 1997, the same year that Lichtenstein died, so I presume that it was one of his last works (he died in September of that year).

Being a Realtor, I love that one of the major attractions one sees in the outdoor pavilion at the High is a *house*.  The piece has me reflect on the thought that many operate under the illusion that home never changes – when, in fact, whatever you call home is constantly in flux, and it is rarely how you remember it.   

I must also mention that the exhibit currently at the High, Picasso to Warhol, the Modern Masters, is AMAZING.  I had high expectations and it exceeded them all.  The exhibit runs through April of 2012, so you have plenty of time to see it (and marvel at the most artistic home in Atlanta on your way in).