Everyone tries too hard to find a meaning in the art they see. As if museums were traps, collecting beauty yet exposing it as a test. If you get the answer wrong, then you fail this unspoken test. People tend to think so much about what everything means that they don’t feel it. As if racing your brain to understand fogs the true artist inside you. It doesn’t have to represent society but it has to move you. When you see a painting of a stranded boat in the sea it makes you feel lost, alone yet ironically quite free. A floating paradox. Those feelings all attack you at once because that is the power of art but each one of us will feel something different due to our life experience or our story. We see through our own reality. Every human being feels different, that is what makes us so distinct. The instinct that to show intelligence you must find a meaning to a painting makes you forget to follow the real one which is: how does it make you feel?
Is it wrong if I don´t see it your way?
This is not only about paintings but music, dance, books basically all of the art that surrounds us. When I was younger teachers would find the most spectacular meanings in the choice of colors or the words battling our books. Nevertheless, I never had the highest grades because I interpreted what I read in another way. The symbolism I saw had to do with my experience, my mind would follow my heart because only he knew the truth. Although some music seems to have quite straightforward lyrics we won´t all fall in love with it for the same reason, some of us will remember a moment, something that happened when it was playing, others will be touched by the lyrics because it reflects their experience, however, some people will just fall in love with the rhythm. The hypnotizing rhythm is the art for them. That is our biggest problem, we tend to want to decide what is art.
The best example to prove my point I can give is with the painting that most moves me – The Kiss by Klimt.
I don´t know what others see in it but when I first saw it, a feeling rushed through my whole body. The painting looked so natural to me, the kiss seemed so passionately, the way they held each other looked as they were longing for each other and finally they held wrapped with a sigh. Finally, the colors are so bright, I feel like they love each other so much that slowly their world became gold. I know that the artist is known for using gold but that is not how I see it. The painting is so beautiful because it feels so natural to me. My opinion didn’t change after I heard others opinions. My opinion didn’t change since this is what I felt. The painting touches my heart in a different way than it will touch yours. What do you see in the kiss?
Does it move you?
When you interpret art
You are entering a world
What you see
What you hear
What you read
Is seen by your eyes
It is felt with your heart
It moves your soul
Troubles your mind
Makes your demons question themselves
You shouldn´t feel the need to try to see
What you think you are supposed to
You should let yourself feel
Free yourself from that jail
It is your perspective
That minds
Because art
Is for the heart
