“My five-year-old daughter will draw the same way”: how to start understanding art and what you should know for this

We always treat the works of artists or sculptors subjectively, because there are no strict standards in creativity. Art critic Nikita Monich told listeners of the Science Pulverizer podcast how to learn to understand art and whether you can believe stereotypes about the life and work of creators.

Does an artist really have to be hungry?

Complex issue. We come across this stereotype very often. But let's replace the word "artist" with the name of another profession. Is it true that a mathematician, a mechanic, a minister, or a president should live in poverty? If each of us thinks about our own business, we will most likely come to the conclusion: “I certainly work so as not to be hungry.” And artists treat their work the same way.

It’s also worth clarifying what “professional artist” means.

But it happens that a painter’s work receives a worthy assessment only after his death. There are many creators who lived poor lives and died ununderstood. And they didn’t have time to see that their paintings were in demand. Therefore, art historians believe: if the painter’s works have become highly valued, then he can be considered a professional who has made a significant contribution to art.

An artist, of course, does not have to be hungry, but sometimes he is forced to live in poverty. It happens that his vision of the world, his messages that he tries to convey through his works, do not resonate with those who buy the paintings. This often happens to innovators. Or with those who receive recognition only during a short period of their creative life. Then these masters really remain hungry.

But fortunately we know many artiststhat were successful. They understood very well what their contemporaries needed. And they could also add a new vision to traditional approaches. But they did it in doses - so that society could accept their innovative decisions.

Such recognition was achieved by Raphael, Rubens, and later by Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso.

But there are other examples - say, Klimt and Schiele. The first had a brilliant career and was the most successful artist in Vienna. The second is his student. He lived an unhappy short life and received recognition only at the very end.

Therefore, it happens that the artist’s motto becomes the phrase l’art pour l’art - “art for art’s sake.” And the money has to earn otherwise. This is what the famous da Vinci did, for example.

Can we separate artist legends from facts?

Let's continue talking about Leonardo and look at his Mona Lisa. There are many legends around this famous painting. For example, it is believed that the artist hired musicians so that the model would not get bored while he was drawing her. And the famous smile of Gioconda appeared precisely thanks to this music. And in general, the artist only painted the girl’s lips for 12 years.

It is difficult to separate facts from speculation here. We know almost nothing about how it actually worked da Vinci and his contemporaries. Yes, we can, for example, study Leonardo's diaries. But making sense of his notes is not an easy task.

We are familiar with the biographies of Leonardo and his contemporaries from the records of the artist and art critic Vasari. But we don’t know how accurately the facts are reflected in these works, which have become canonical.

For example, Vasari describes the eyebrows of the Mona Lisa. But there are no eyebrows on the canvas. Moreover, they are absent not only in the final version. Under the outer layer, if you study the picture using an x-ray, the eyebrows are also not visible. It turns out that Vasari either did not see this picture himself and “Rabinovich sang” to him, or he saw it, but wrote about it from memory and was mistaken.

But there are also facts that we are sure of. Leonardo wrote La Gioconda for a very long time and treated it with special emotions. He began work after receiving the order in 1467. Then he never gave the painting to the customer and took it with him for a long time. After 40 years, Leonardo returned to work. Maybe he added just a few strokes - even with the help of x-rays we cannot say exactly what year each particular stroke was applied. But we know that the artist completed the painting many years after the work began.

Who do artists actually draw in their portraits?

It would seem that the answer is obvious: those who serve as models for them. But if we talk about the Mona Lisa, you can hear a lot of speculation about who Leonardo really wanted to portray. Some believe that himself. Or even Christ.

In fact, it is not very important who served as the model for the picture. Often a portrait is just an image. Let's say the person on the canvas is very similar to the one who posed. However, each painting is also a portrait of the artist himself. But not because he always paints his appearance.

It is not the form that is important here, but the content. That is, the message, the meaning that the artist puts into each of his works. And this message depends entirely on the creator.

What role did women play in classical art?

They often became muses for creators. But they were rarely able to receive a classical education themselves and become artists.

This is one of the reasons for the limitation. Any painting or sculpture is a sensory object. Creativity has always been associated with sexuality. This is largely sublimation, that is, the direction of sensory energy in another, creative direction. And we know that artistsThose who created classical art often painted nude female figures. For this purpose, models posed for them.

However, in past centuries it was impossible to even think about a girl drawing a naked man. She couldn't even be in the same room with him.

But this does not mean that women have not influenced art in any way. On the contrary, without them it would hardly have reached a high level.

Recently the Prado Museum made project El Prado en femenino. Its creators made a video in which all the paintings that the woman ordered, bought, or made part of the woman’s collection disappeared from the walls of the museum. And as a result, almost all the main masterpieces disappeared from the museum halls in the video.

Can an ordinary person, and not a specialist, understand contemporary art?

Any painting, sculpture, work of decorative and applied art, melody is a message. And it is broadcast in some language. This means that in order to decipher this message, you need to know the language in which it is transmitted.

When a person sees some people or objects in a picture, it often seems to him that everything is clear. The viewer may think: this is a realistically drawn beautiful woman - what’s unclear about that? But he doesn’t see the allegories, doesn’t know what story is encrypted in the picture, doesn’t recognize the literary quotes associated with it. If he sees saints, he may not know what they are famous for, what their attributes are drawn next to, or why these attributes were needed. And in the end, he does not understand the message that the artist wanted to convey.

But the person concludes: “I understand this, because there are people here. But here there are just spots, my five-year-old daughter will draw the same way - I don’t understand.”

But for a relationship to arise, you need to understand what exactly you were told. If the phrase sounds in a stranger's language language - for example, in Vietnamese or Hungarian - he will not perceive anything. And he will not receive the message, even if it is extremely important and could change his life.

We conclude: to understand art means to know well the language the artist speaks. If you do not understand this language, then it will be impossible to hear the artist.

How to learn to understand art

It’s worth understanding what exactly you like and resonates with. To do this you need to try different things. It's like with products: you can compare several types of juice, and then decide that you still like beer better. But first you need to try each drink.

If you have started to get acquainted with art, remember two rules:

1. Interest in the picture begins with the second viewing. If you want to look at it again, it means there is something in it.
2. Don't be afraid of spoilers. Before going to the museum, you can read about it. And look at the 20–30 masterpieces that are stored there. They are easy to find, for example, on the platform Google Arts&Culture.

At first, just look at the pictures, flip through the pages - at the first stage this is enough. At the same time, open in new tabs those canvases that caught your attention. Then look at these works again, read about them.

Later, when you go to the museum, go straight to the paintings that interest you. That is, to already familiar canvases. This is necessary so that you do not waste your most valuable resource - attention.

Therefore, look only at what you have planned in advance. And then try to single out three works from all that you saw:

1. What you liked most.
2. What you didn't like the most.
3. What you found most strange.

Then take your smartphone and turn it on alarmso that it rings in five minutes. It is very important not to look at the screen all this time, so let it be an alarm clock, not a timer. And talk to the selected picture for five minutes. Be sure to speak out loud, only quietly - you are still in a museum. Speak at an average pace, without repetition. Continue until the alarm sounds.

Well, if you repeat this technique every time you visit a new exhibition, over time you will accumulate perceptual experience. And you will be able to interpret art better.