Thinking things out

Saturday, January 14th., Cadogan Square, London.

I walked to the Leicester Galleries and on the way thought of a great idea for a modernised version of "Faust". I mean I thought it out in detail - the original idea came to me yesterday. 

Where do ideas come from I wonder? Clearly there is some sort of unconscious 'thinking' going on which we only become aware of when it emerges into our mind. What are the implications of this? I increasingly feel that a lot (probably most) of what we do is not by conscious intent, but is a sort of sophisticated learned behaviour. As an analogy, when I play tennis I am not 'thinking' about each shot; my body does it all automatically. Occasionally I may play a very good shot and think "That was clever", but I can't help concluding that the apparent decision to play the shot is an illusion which follows rather than precedes it. Every day when I am writing it is apparent to me that I have little idea what I am going to write until it appears on the paper. And the same is true of conversation.

Anyhow, today I ordered a literal translation of Goethe's "Faust".

Odalisque, Henri Matisse, 1928

At Leicester Galleries a show of drawings and lithographs by Matisse. Compared to the price of his paintings the drawings were very low priced. I bought one drawing for 25 guineas and two lithographs. Also a show of paintings by John Armstrong, which are causing some stir. I wasn't quite startled by their excellence. I had a talk with Armstrong, who was looking quite spick and span in relatively new clothes. Presumably acquired for the occasion. He said, in reply to my questions, that he had been chiefly influenced by Carpaccio (a Venetian painting of which he had never seen the original) and Signorelli. Also Picasso.