Learning to See – Ep 274

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Learning to see. I don't think I've ever traveled as much as I did in 2025, particularly in its final stretch. I spoke to CFA societies in the UK and France, traveled to Mexico to watch my son propose to his girlfriend. you can find a link in the show notes, then flew directly from Mexico to NYC to attend a small investment conference. Most of the travel, with the exception of Mexico, was for work. But it never felt like work.

Because I traveled with my family. I hate traveling alone. In Europe, I was joined by my wife. In New York, I was accompanied by my brother Alex. When I came back to Denver in early December, after almost a month away, I told my assistant Maylee that I was done traveling for at least the next few months. Of course, the very next day, I found myself telling my daughter Hannah about a play I saw in NYC.

And before I even finished, I caught myself asking her, This play is only running for another week, and then it will most likely be gone forever. Do you want to go see it? She was on winter break from the University of Denver and quickly said yes. Her brother Jonah did not require much convincing to join us. He never does. But Mia Sarah still had school. So.

Four days after I returned from NYC, I went back with my older kids for a two-day trip. The play was the main reason for the trip. My friend Jeffrey Scharf, a value investor just like yours truly, has an affliction for writing plays his play reunions was running off broadway and as a good friend i felt i had to see it i did not expect it to move me so much so much that i wanted to bring my kids to see it

I was not surprised that they fell in love with it, too. I love NYC during Christmas time. I'm not big on celebrating any religious holidays. But crisp air, lights, decorations, even a throng of tourists. Make this city nostalgically special at this time of year. Nostalgia is the right word. Somehow this most iconic American city reminds me of my childhood in Russia.

The secular country I grew up in was big on celebrating the new year with Grandpa Frost, Russia's answer to Santa Claus. The event was bigger than Thanksgiving and Christmas in the U.S. combined, walking the streets of NYC. Layered up in clothes, the cold air hitting your cheeks, and finding comfort in a cup of hot tea. All of this felt somehow nostalgic. Add to this, spending time with my kids.

Going to the theater and visiting museums. What could be better? Let me say something about going to museums. I have loved classical music all of my adult life. But my love for visual art only really developed over the last 10 years. Growing up, my parents would take me to art museums whenever we visited a large city. But I only went because they did.

In 2012, I started an annual tradition of driving to Santa Fe with my father and Jonah. I always looked forward to it because I got to spend time with them and visit the wonderful Santa Fe Opera. However, the official purpose of the trip was to visit the galleries on Canyon Road. Imagine a sleepy neighborhood where every one-story adobe house has been turned into a tiny gallery, over a hundred of them.

all exhibiting art. At some point, Hannah joined us on our yearly visit, and we've continued the tradition without my father. In the last several years, Jonah's fiancée, Molly, has tagged along as well. Looking back, something changed inside of me around the time we started making this annual pilgrimage to Santa Fe's museums and galleries. A change from, I go because that is what we do, to I cannot wait to go to a museum.

I even started going to museums on the rare occasions when I traveled by myself. I'd put on headphones and just dive into the world of paintings from centuries earlier. Just as reading good fiction transports you into a different world. and into the lives of others, these visits do the same, with the added benefit of the beauty you see nurturing your soul. What truly amazed me is that my kids have now developed a desire to visit museums on their own.

without any nudging from me. Jonah and I were in Houston in September on a company trip. We had a few extra hours. Without asking me he found an art museum nearby. and we were looking at Claude Monet's haystacks 20 minutes later. The same thing happened on this trip to NYC. At Jonah and Hannah's insistence, we visited not one, not two.

but three world-class museums. We started at the Guggenheim, then moved on to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met, probably my favorite museum in the world, and concluded with the amazing Frick collection.

This was our first time visiting the Frick. Henry Clay Frick was a robber baron during America's Gilded Age. The story we heard at the museum was that Frick started his collection either out of guilt or because he wanted to change his legacy. after 10 people died in a labor strike. In less than a decade, he assembled a truly remarkable art collection. His story reminded me of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

who, after reading his own obituary accidentally published in a newspaper, wanted to change how he would be remembered and wound up creating the Nobel Prize. It is amazing what people will do for their legacy. If you donate $100 or more to any charity listed in our show notes, I'd be delighted to mail you a signed copy of one of my books, Soul in the Game, The Art of a Meaningful Life, or The Little Book of Sideways Markets.

Donate $200 or more and we'll send you both. Just email a copy of your receipt to barbara at pa at imausa dot com and indicate which book you'd like to receive. If you already have a copy, we can mail it to your friends. We can only mail it within the US. I have selected three specific charities that are near and dear to my heart. Jewish National Fund, an organization dedicated to building a strong,

healthy and secure future for the land and people of Israel. American Jewish Committee, AJC, Global Advocacy Group Fighting Anti-Semitism, Defending Israel and Promoting Jewish Security Through Policy, Education, and coalitions. Boulder Symphony, an organization committed to connecting with the human spirit through symphonic music and fostering music education in our community.

back to the art as we walked through the museum i carefully observed my kids especially jonah i remember when he was maybe six years old and we took him to the denver art museum for an impressionist exhibition He practically sprinted through the whole museum. I could not get him to stop and look at the art. Today, he was inhaling the art slowly, sharing his thoughts with us about each painting he observed. At the Met,

He stood in front of one painting, Rembrandt's Aristotle with a bust of Homer, for five minutes. This is what he later wrote on X. A man drained of spirit reaches for a sculpture.

as if it were the last vessel capable of understanding him. In touching this lifeless form, he confronts the truth that he has become just as hollow, finding solace only in something that, like him, no longer possesses a soul you can find a link to the post and painting in a link in the show notes you may look at this painting and see something else it does not matter this is the beauty of art

we bring ourselves into a world created by others. In addition to walking 10 miles a day and our museum adventures, we also visited watch stores while in NYC. I wanted to see the watches of Switzerland store in Soho. The investor in me accompanies me everywhere, which exhibits a lot of micro-brands. It is interesting how researching watches of Switzerland has sucked me into the world of Swiss watches.

I'm not as fanatical about them as Jonah or my brother Alex, but I appreciate them a lot more now. After we returned to Denver, I asked Hannah what her highlights from the trip were. She surprised me when she mentioned visiting watch stores. She is not interested in collecting watches, but sees their artistry clearly. We can debate whether these metal trinkets are art or craft. In my view, you can find art anywhere.

You just have to be open to seeing it. This is what trips to museums do. They open our eyes to see. Looking back, I recognize that my parents, my mom, passed away when I was 11. gave my family an amazing gift, the ability to see. They never forced us to go to museums. They just took us with them. My father would discuss paintings with us. He did not tell us what to see.

Though as an artist, he definitely had a lot to share. He asked instead what we saw, and he genuinely listened to what we said. I realize now that my father taught my kids and me.

to really look and see. I hope someday my kids will pass that gift to their kids. And with this, I present to you a work of art by a new Katzenelson artist, my daughter Hannah. You can find a link to the painting in the show notes. For the first 12 years of her life, she had an incredible teacher. My father. I think he'd be proud.

This is my final article for 2025. As the year winds down, I'm grateful you've been part of this conversation. Writing is a lonely craft until readers and listeners like you bring it to life. I hope these articles have added something to your life. a new perspective, a useful framework, or perhaps just a moment of clarity in a noisy world. May your holidays be filled with what matters most. Thank you for reading and listening.

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