It’s October and time for the monthly LWD Art Appreciation selections. This year we are reading classics, exploring a variety of types of art, architecture and design, listening to opera and watching some of the all-time best films.
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ART APPRECIATION
October 2025
Classic Literature
Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier
The multi-million-copy bestseller that has enthralled generations of readers. A haunting tale of obsessive love. A mesmerizing psychological thriller.
In Monte Carlo, our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at Manderley, her husband’s cavernous estate on the Cornish coast, that she realizes how vast a shadow his late wife, Rebecca, will cast over their lives–introducing a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their love from beyond the grave.
This universally acclaimed novel has remained consistently in print since its original publication in 1938 and has frequently been adapted–for television, radio, the theater, and film–most notably in 1940 by Alfred Hitchcock, whose Rebecca received the Academy Award for Best Picture, and in the 2020 Netflix film starring Lily James and Armie Hammer.
Note: Many of us are doing our best to avoid purchasing from Amazon and a number of other large corporations, for a variety of reasons. I recommend checking the public library or purchasing books from local book stores if you have them in your area. If not, Bookshop.org is a great option.
Art/Architecture/Design
Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) is widely considered the father of Western architecture. Strongly influenced by formal temple designs in Ancient Greece and Rome, he pioneered a revival of Classical symmetry and perspective, and with it created a universal architectural language.From his humble beginning as a stonemason’s apprentice, Palladio rose to become Chief Architect of the Republic of Venice, at the time the epicenter of European innovation. There, he designed the Church of the Redentore and San Giorgio Maggiore on the landmark promontory between the Giudecca Canal and the greater Venetian Lagoon. In nearby Vicenza, Palladio built the world-famous Basilica, the Villa Rotonda, the Teatro Olimpico, and in the surrounding Veneto countryside numerous rural villas noted for their inclusion of local, vernacular architecture within a Classical scheme and the use of porticos to provide liminal spaces between the interior and exterior. Both the Palladian villas and the City of Vicenza are today designated UNESCO World Heritage sites.Over time, Palladio’s architecture evolved into the Palladian style, a universal language of cool, calm elegance that informed buildings from Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to Thomas Jefferson’s home in Monticello, Virginia, to St Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Opera
Puccini’s Tosca is drama from start to finish. Set in Rome in 1800, exactly a century before it was premiered in the same city, the entire story takes place in under 24 hours. A fairly one-sided love triangle between Tosca, Cavaradossi and the villainous police chief Scarpia leads our title character to a crossroads, where she must choose between her two suitors or risk losing true love. (20 Greatest Operas Ever Written)
Spotify Playlist:
Classic Film
In an age defined by crew cuts, sport coats, and cheerless conformity, he not only broke the mold… he reinvented it. Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, GOOD WILL HUNTING, 1997) delivers an extraordinary performance in one of the most compelling motion pictures of all time. Williams stars as English professor John Keating, a passionate iconoclast who changes his students’ lives forever when he challenges them to live life to the fullest and Carpe Diem – seize the day! Keating’s unconventional approach meets with irrepressible enthusiasm from his students, but the faculty at staid, exclusive Welton Academy prep school is, to put it mildly, not amused.
(Streaming on Disney or Hulu)
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If you have any favorites to recommend for future posts feel free to share in the comments!
LINK TO PREVIOUS ART APPRECIATION POSTS…
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