Contemplative Prayer and Visual Art: On Interiors and Interiority in Vilhelm Hammershøi

The Reverend Dr Luigi Gioia discusses contemplative prayer and visual art - interiors and interiority in Vilhelm Hammershøi

Contemplative prayer starts when we learn how to abide in the here and now, even just for a while. It is the ability, and the gift, to let ourselves, God, and the world appear to us afresh, originally, not through our fears, judgments, and expectations, but as they are. It grows deeper through the practice of mindfulness, the way we approach visual art, and listen to poetry. It leads us not to withdrawal and indifference but to struggle for justice; not to taking refuge in sacred spaces but to reaching out; not to spiritual elitism but to humble solidarity with the journey of every other human being on earth.

Dr Luigi Gioia is a theologian and researcher at Cambridge University and exercises his ministry at St Paul’s Knightsbridge in London.

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