Perception of Art

 Art, simply put, is about subtly breaking barriers that only come with a depth of understanding and perception. While exploring the world of art through history, we can understand the plethora and range that it constitutes.

Initially, the concept of art was limited to replicating nature, but it has gradually evolved to understanding the dynamics of human culture, relationships, emotions, and communities.

Art has increasingly been used as a way of communicating thoughts and concepts.

With each era throughout the history of humankind, the idea of art is in constant flux. Yet, the necessity to express ourselves remains unchanged. It is, in fact, in our DNA to articulate and share our innermost stories and perspective through our eyes.

Art can be comprehended as blatantly raw and symbolic to a particular instance in time or a notion of elusiveness. A narrative is compelled by the layers and gravitas a work of art retained regardless of its origin, genre, or form.

A painting, relic, or art form denotes the blending of thoughts, personality, ideology indoctrinated from our personal and unique experiences. 

Fundamentally there requires a certain courage and child-like spirit to challenge the current comfortable way of life and explore beyond the norm and societal boundaries.

In the early 1860s, four young painters with unbridled chutzpah defied convention and dared to broaden and redefine the concept of art. 

Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Frederick Dazille defied the judgment of artistic standard regulated by L’École des Beaux-Arts through emphasizing the elegance of ordinary stories, life impressions, and magnificent everyday environments.

At a time when art was focused on portraying the elitist ideals as the main subject, the impressionist movement celebrates the commoner. Both impressionism and contemporary art spin tales of individualistic stories and modest upbringings.

With this movement, the entire idea of what we consider art to be is with paintings like 'Sunrise' by Claude Monet, or 'The Luncheon on the Grass' by Edouard Manet, and 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' by Georges Seurat come to life.

Similarly, in the 20th and 21st centuries, contemporary art was a rebellious phenomenon that redefined the concept of art. In modern times, a painting gives us the freedom to interpret and understand it in many ways. With the amalgamation of symbolization and crude representation of things as it is, the depth it provides is the essence of contemporary art. This ideology and philosophy have piqued my interest.

In reference to 'Sapiens - History of human Kind”,  Yuval Noah Harari says, "We study history not to know the future, but to understand our present situation is neither natural nor inevitable and that we consequently have many more possibilities before us than we imagine." And therefore, as we study art history to understand the brave, courageous, and unapologetic, we learn lessons from them that we can take to the future.