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AP®︎/College Art History
Course: AP®︎/College Art History > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Why art mattersWhy look at art?
Art is everywhere, not just in museums. Enhancing visual acumen through observing surroundings, like architecture or nature, enriches life. It's about noticing details beyond first impressions. This skill, applied to life, encourages a more aware, alert, and present existence. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
Who defines what is art and what it isn't?(284 votes)
I think it all depends on who is looking at it. What is art to one person is not necessarily art to another. If you enjoy something, appreciate it and maybe even find some deeper meaning within it, then you probably consider it art. This goes for everything, not just paintings and things that you find in museums. anything can be art if YOU think it is. So I guess the answer to your question is every individual person :)(52 votes)
Art has mean different meanings to different people. Why do you like art and what feelings do you have looking art?(74 votes)
I find that if you slow down really look at a painting imagine you are there, you can really transform yourself to another time and place.(18 votes)
Why do people consider "Modern Art" to be real art? When I look at Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise and then look at Warhol's soup cans... I feel that it's almost an insult to Monet to put them under the same category as "art".(11 votes)
You need to understand the history and philosophy of every piece of art. Comparing Monet with Warhol is not fair at all. Monet's ideas worked on the principles of play of light and color while as Warhol believed that art should be treated as a commodity. According to him, it should be affordable and popular. He believed in idea being superior to craft. His was a new way of thinking. Whether it was good or bad, depends on our perceptions. But then his influence in the art world is of great significance. In today's time, you have Damien Hirst cutting animals, preserving them and projecting them as pieces of art. And he is considered the richest living artist in the world. Many call him a conman but what is it that makes him stand out? Maybe we need to understand that.(19 votes)
- I think that art opens new ways of thinking and feeling. What do you think?(17 votes)
That's a great observation! I totally agree with you.(4 votes)
- Can looking at art ever be harmful? Can it send bad messages or be deceiving? If so, is it still important to look at that kind of art?(7 votes)
The supposed "harm" that might come from looking at art is exactly the reason why the Nazis wanted to control what people got to see. Like information, art wants to be free to express itself everywhere!(14 votes)
1:19What makes that painting special/what is it trying to convey?(3 votes)
That's a "color field" painting by Mark Rothko. He was an abstract expressionist who explored the expressive content of color relationships, separated from any representational image. He was asking the question, "If I just throw some colours together, without actually painting anything, what feelings can I create? What moods?" Some people like to stare at his works a long time, and then close their eyes - or look to the left or right. You'll see an "afterimage" with the opposite colours of the original. The real challenge is to look at them and see if it tells you anything at all about who the artist was - that was the ultimate goal of the expressionists. Imagine talking to the artist who painted these works. What would he sound like? How would he act? What would he say they're about?(16 votes)
Where is the coolest are museum in the United states?(6 votes)- The coolest museum in the United States in my opinion is definitely the Art Institute of Chicago. I went there in February. It is such a cool museum with all kinds of artwork from the world. The museum organizes different art into various exhibition hall. I was really into the exhibition where they hang up Monet's painting. Just standing there and stare at the painting for a while, I can really feel the beauty and feelings that are expressed in the paintings. Being in a museum like this, not only the artwork itself identified as art, but also how the atmosphere being displayed in the museum is identified as art as well.(3 votes)
- The meaning of art is different to everyone.(5 votes)
- How should we look at art? what should we notice first and pay attention to? How do we know what notions that the artist is trying to make or express through their artwork?(3 votes)
- I usually start from what moves me, which, in my case, is color. Other people start from other places. I remember my father once saying that he liked art to look like a horse outside a barn with trees behind it. I found that to be kind of boring. I start with color. Others start with form, others with representation, and still others start from the artist's own technique.(3 votes)
- Should art need an explanation to be good, or should good art just hit you in the guts without any need for explanation?(1 vote)
- Good art is what hits you in the guts. If it needs explanation, it is illustration, not art.(6 votes)
1:19Video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: I think
it's important that people look at art because
we live in a visual world. And understanding,
and looking at, and thinking about
the way images communicate in all kinds of
ways is important to being alive today. SPEAKER 2: If one has
heightened visual acumen, which you get from spending time
looking at things, whether it's looking at newspaper
photos closely, or looking at works in
a museum, or looking at your surroundings,
or birds more closely, that sort of attention
to an environment makes you a better person. You are existing in a more
aware, alert, present space. SPEAKER 3: Sometimes
people think that the only way
of looking at art is going to museums
and places like that. But maybe sometimes art is
everywhere, in the street, if you look at architectural
places, or everything. So you really don't need to
go to a museum to see art. It could be anywhere, in a
park, or looking at buildings, or going to a movie. So I think that's everyday life. SPEAKER 4: It's all
about noticing for me. It's all about trying to see
beyond the first impression. People look at art. And they'd say, I like this. I don't like this. And they move on. They have predetermined notions. But if you can just
stop and take a breath and look a little
deeper at something, you can really start to
notice some kind of detail that you might have
not noticed before. And I think that skill applies
to so many things in life aside from art,
about being able just to slow down and be aware of
actually where you're standing. And just even stop talking, and
just maybe open up your ears, for example. There's so much
detail around that you can absorb if you really
just take a moment, and just let it
come in, and listen. [MUSIC PLAYING]