Introduction
When I was about 5 years old, my father took me to this huge gallery with lots of huge frames hanging from the white walls with lots of space in between them. I was amazed at the size of these art pieces and their colorfulness. At that time though, I really couldn’t understand why the adults were drawn to these pictures that didn’t make much sense to me. All I saw was some colorful paint being splashed on and it was a big deal to the adults who stood talking about it for hours. As I grew older, I started interpreting the meaning of art thru my imagination and opinion. I soon got the value of one’s interpretation of these abstract sculptures and paintings. I was first impressed by the “Last Supper” painting by a world-famous Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. Thus, Leonardo da Vinci has been my most favorite artist since then.
Forms of art
Art comes in various forms and it depends on how one interprets it. Some of the art forms include architecture, body arts, engravings, painting, photography, sculptures, etc. Art can’t be defined in a specific way as it’s subjective to everyone. Perhaps my favorite art form would be paintings. In my opinion, painting allows one to be expressive of their thoughts and emotions then. Looking at a painting allows me to view it from an abstract view as well as with an in-depth view. Thus, a painting creates an informal bond between the painter and the viewer. Not every viewer would get the same idea or thought that the painter is trying to express. People are still analyzing and interpreting one of the most famous pieces of art, the ‘Mona Lisa’ which was painted between 1503 till 1506 by the famous Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci. Thus, art pieces encourage one to look beyond what is portrayed in the picture alone.
‘The Da Vinci Code’
Most recently, an American author Dan Brown wrote a mystery novel titled “The Da Vinci Code’ published in 2003, which became an instant hit. In this book, Dan Brown talks about the 2 world-famous paintings, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. As you read, you will learn his interpretation of the hidden messages in those paintings and view it from a different angle than you would have viewed it before. For example, he claims that the figure on Jesus Christ’s right is Mary Magdalene and not John as most people believed. This created a big controversy as soon as the book was published. Thus, each painting can be viewed differently every time a different person looks at it. That’s the uniqueness of a painting compared to the other art forms.
Painting styles
There are also various painting styles such as abstract paintings, expressionism, fauvism, pointillism, and so on. My particular favorite style would be the realism style of painting whereby the painting is painted just as you see it. It mainly started in the 18th century and became somewhat famous around the 19th century. A famous artist using this style would be Leonardo da Vinci, producing some of the world-famous paintings as mentioned above as well as paintings like Madonna and Child and The Virgin of the Rocks. Some of the other famous artists using this style were Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec who produced the Moulin Rouge painting and the famous portrait of Vincent Van Gogh. Another one of my favorite styles would be the expressionism style with its famous artist, Pablo Picasso. Among his famous pieces of art were ‘The Three Dancers’, ‘Three Musicians’ as well as ‘Guernica’.
Meaning of art
Apart from that, as the inquisitive person that I am, I find art to be very mysterious and fascinating. I can always find a piece of art that would make me stand for hours, just viewing it and interpreting it in various ways. I also think art can make a person feel relaxed, thus a stress reliever. A lot of upper-class people seem to feel the same, which perhaps explains why they all stand in a gallery for hours looking at a painting. A piece of art is getting more appreciation and recognition than ever before as people are starting to realize its importance. There are also more art classes being held in hopes of encouraging the younger ones to develop an interest in this area. However, art can is forced upon oneself, it has to come naturally from within oneself.
Conclusion
In a conclusion, I think art is for anyone. A person can just appreciate art just for its appearance or for its mysteriousness. I perceive art as a very relaxing and fascinating piece of work that should be appreciated as opposed to my first impression of art. This could be due to the lack of exposure to art classes in schools those days. However recently, most rich people pay a lot of money for a piece of art that best describes their idea or their interest to display it in their living room, bedroom, and so on. This gives a stranger coming to the house a general idea of the hosts. Thus, hopefully, the next generation appreciates art as much as we do in hopes of keeping art alive for many more generations to come.
References
The art gallery. Web.