Painting=Memorial

(Robert Venturi's Christopher Columbus Memorial, Philadelphia)

In the midst of last post's discussion, the topic of memorials emerged, and I was reminded of my recent interest in this subject, and the companion subject of monuments...I included some links having to do with the subject of memorials and art, on my last comment, but for some reason they are not working. So, here they are again, for those who are interested, with clickability:

"in memoriam" (scroll down)
http://www.douglaswitmer.com/blog/2005_06_01_archive.html

Robert Venturi, et al and their thoughts about memorials, etc:
http://www.vsba.com/whoweare/index_philo.html

This is an interesting concept to me, especially related to a question that Douglas Witmer, a friend of mine and accomplished painter, were thinking about not too long ago: What is our art for?

One idea that emerged was that of the role of memorial...and I was particularly struck with the possibility of paintings being memorials, by Douglas's making of a particular painting (seen in the link above) for memorializing a significantly painful and poignant point in another's friend's life.

Some time ago, I wrote in my sketchbook,

Monument = Painting?
Painting = Monument?

This is not to be taken as a fact, but a question. Can a painting be a monument or memorial? In a way, all paintings are memorials; however I'm thinking of the intent towards memorializing, rather than by virtue of the work itself. Can a painting become a monument?