I am no art expert, and admit on museum visit wondering if its better to read the label first and then examine the art, or do my own attempt at understanding before jumping to the “answer”. There is no right way, right? But how do you go about trying ti understand a painting (and remembering from my undergraduate Art History class how much was not readily apparent without a guide.
I enjoyed finding this interactive web guide How to read a painting.
From the gallery of 50 paintings you can get a guide that zooms in and explains a detail in 10 steps, and then offers you a chance to explore on your own. I like how the site defines a structure and shows it in action:
what is this the name, the painter, the year. One sentence, out loud.
first look what’s there before deciding what any of it means.
who is here count everyone. People, animals, reflections, backs of heads.
what is happening one sentence you could defend while pointing at the paint.
the objects pick two things that look deliberate and ask what job they do.
how it’s builtwhere does your eye land first, and where does it go next?
when and wherewho could afford this, and who was meant to see it?
the bit that sticks the one thing you’ll still remember next week.
This is a data visualization from a site called sheet works (they do consulting on built spreadsheet based tools and systems)- I get them by email as the data drop " We pick one thing and take it apart with data. A film. A sport. A market. Some strange corner of the internet."
Note that you can explore 3 of the 50 paintings for free before they ask for a subscription, but I find it is a clever and well structured method for helping understand art.
Pick a painting and share what you discover their the guide.
Me, I enjpyed a detailed walk through of elements in Van Gogh’s Potato Eaters, learning his whole focus was the detail of the hands.
