By Mikkael Sekeres, MD, MS
Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Policy
My father was an art collector, but he was anything but pretentious.
Art moved him, evoking emotions or even childhood memories, as with a piece by Stephen Scott Young that he particularly adored, of two Bahamian boys playing marbles like he used to, their focus on the circle of play steely.
Over a lifetime, slowly but surely and with a similar focus, buying one new painting every few years (and never for huge sums of money), he acquired a number of canvases. He applied great deliberateness in securing each piece, far outpacing his interest in buying other material items. He had no interest in spending money on things most people seemed to care about, like cars — the sole purpose of which, he often reminded me, was to get a person from point A to point B. It’s as if he followed Gertrude Stein’s guidance to Ernest Hemingway to the letter, when she advised him, “buy your clothes for comfort and durability, and you will have the clothes and money to buy pictures.”
Read the full New York Times column by Dr. Sekeres, Director of Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center’s Leukemia Program.
Feature image is a detail image from Sidewinder 0 by Elise Ferguson commissioned for the new Taussig Cancer Center. 2016. Pigmented plaster on paper.
Cleveland Clinic will offer rapid, pinpoint airborne transport of medications and other medical items
Dedicated committee and surgical fellowship strive for sustainability, energy efficiency, waste reduction
Next-generation mRNA vaccines are among the advancements likely to change healthcare this year
$50 million pledge will help remove sources of lead exposure from Cleveland homes
How to empower caregivers and engage patients in patient safety
Summit to cap off with Annual Top 10 Medical Innovations
The spine surgeon will oversee more than 125 staff physicians in his new role
Merlino rejoins Cleveland Clinic to help execute bold strategic vision