The Paintings of Ron Levy
A self-taught painter. Pianist. A life redrawn — stroke by stroke — beginning in the middle of a pandemic.
I married a pianist, and now I live with a painter.— Maly Mayo-Levy
The Beginning
Inspired by Professor Yoram Yovell's lecture on preserving cognitive vitality, Ron Levy picked up a pencil for the first time — secretly tracing diagonal lines on plain paper. He had never sketched, never held a brush.
As a musician who started studying cello at eight, he sought something entirely foreign. Within weeks he was painting on canvas — trees, clouds, water, reflections. Several hours every day.
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Photo: Maly Mayo-Levy
About Ron Levy
I was born in Jerusalem and grew up there. After completing a doctorate in music at Indiana University, I returned to Israel and directed the Music Institute at Oranim College for fourteen years. I have taught courses in literature, art, and music at the Safed Academic College. I have played the cello since I was eight years old. Music has been my life.
Painting came later — much later. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I happened upon a televised lecture by Professor Yoram Yovell, a neurologist and psychiatrist who spoke about preserving cognitive vitality in later life through unfamiliar, challenging pursuits. Since music was second nature, I needed something entirely foreign. I chose painting.
I began with a pencil and blank paper: straight lines, curves, geometric shapes. Slowly, objects on my desk. Then the decorative pieces around our apartment. I showed nothing to my wife until I had enough confidence. Only then did I pick up a brush. "I married a pianist," Maly remarked as the canvases began to accumulate, "and now I live with a painter."
Self-taught through online tutorials — particularly the television programs of Rod Moore — I work in acrylics on canvas from a home studio in Timrat, in the Jezreel Valley. I paint in series: musicians I have loved for decades, the streets of the Jerusalem I grew up in, the landscapes of the Jezreel Valley and Sea of Galilee that have surrounded me for over thirty years, and the rooms of our home.
At eighty-one, I paint with growing ambition. The need to paint burns within me. I am an optimist by nature — and so are my paintings. They try to find the beauty in the world, and pass a little of it on.
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