The Role of Study and Perception in Appreciating Art

Art communicates to us primarily through our eyes. We look at art, and we try to find somemeaning in the experience. If we are to begin to think about art more seriously, we might dowell to become more aware of the process of seeing itself. Science tells us that seeing is a mode of perception, or the recognition and interpretation ofsensory data-in other words, how information comes in our senses, and what we make of it. Invisual perception our eyes take in information in the form of light patterns; the brain processesthese patterns to give them meaning. The mechanics of perception work much the same wayfor everyone, yet in a given situation we do not all see the same things. We can take great pleasure in merely looking at art, just as we take pleasure in the view of adistant mountain range or watching the sun set over the ocean. But art, unlike nature, is ahuman creation. It is one of the many ways we express ourselves and attempt to communicate.A work of art is the product of human intelligence, and we can meet it with our ownintelligence on equal footing. This is where study comes in. The understanding of process - the how - often contributes quite a lot to our appreciation ofart. If you understand why painting in watercolor may be different from painting in oil, why clayresponds differently to the artist's hands than does wood or glass - you will have a richerappreciation of the artist's expression. Knowing the place of a work of art in history - what went before and came after - can alsodeepen your understanding. Artists learn to make art by studying the achievements of the pastand observing the efforts of their contemporaries. They adapt ideas to serve their own needsand then bequeath those ideas to future generations of artists. For example, Matisse assumedthat his audience would know that Venus was the ancient Roman goddess of love. But he alsohoped that they would be familiar with one Venus in particular, a famous Greek statue knownas the Venus de Milo. An artist may create a specific work for any of a thousand reasons. An awareness of the whymay give some insight as well. Looking at Van Gogh's The Starry Night, it might help you knowthat Van Gogh was intrigued by the belief that people journeyed to a star after their death, andthat there they continued their lives. "Just as we take the train to get to Tarascon or Rouen," hewrote in a letter, "we take death to reach a star." This knowledge might help you understand why Van Gogh felt so strongly about the night sky, and what his painting might have meant to him. But no matter how much you study, Van Gogh's painting will never mean for you exactly what it meant for him, nor should it. Great works of art hold many meanings. The greatest of themseem to speak anew to each generation and to each attentive observer. The most important 13 thing is that they mean something for you, that your own experiences, thoughts, and emotionsfind a place in them.