the art of perception

This month's issue of Smithsonian magazine features a fascinating article written by Neal Hirschfeld titled "Teaching Cops to See," which describes how art historian Amy Herman helps police officers refine their observational skills. In her course "The Art of Perception," Herman challenges officers to interpret the scenes depicted in various works of art without allowing them to read the associated labels. She also forbids them from using the words "obviously" or "clearly" as they describe what they see, since what one person thinks is obvious may not be clear to someone else. The goal of the course is to help officers fine-tune their attention to detail, a critical skill in the crime-prevention/solving business.

At one of her classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Herman showed a group of NYPD captains a painting by Caravaggio (see above). Noting the coins on the table and the men's gestures, the officers assumed that a crime had taken place and the guilty party was being fingered. After their discussion, Herman revealed the truth: the painting was titled The Calling of St. Matthew. The young man hunched over the coins is Matthew, the tax collector, and the finger-pointing man in the shadows is Jesus Christ: "As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him" (Matthew 9:9).

Reflecting on what he had learned in Herman's class, one officer commented, "Amy taught us that to be successful, you have to think outside the box. Don't just look at a picture and see a picture. See what's happening."

After reading the article, I thought about my own powers of observation. How often do I allow preconceived ideas to influence how I read a given situation? What details am I overlooking? What context is missing? Where is God in the midst of the scene and how is He calling me to respond? It's time for me to learn to think outside the box.