Today, I want to talk about art. Throughout the history, there has been different movements in art, at first almost all of them were criticized by the people who followed the former movement. When Monet started the Impressionism, he was heavily critisized for his art being sloppy and formless, having poorly made, non-realistic brush strokes, but later it became one of the most known art movements in the history of art. Underappreciation didn't only apply to movements, artists were also affected by this. You probably heard the stories of artists who never sold a piece in their lifetime yet after their death, their pieces referred as "masterpieces" and sold for millions. One of the most known artist that comes to mind is Vincent Van Gogh who is known for only selling paintings to his relatives, like his brother Theo. The value of his art wasn't acknowledged but now, his art is everwhere and known by everyone. The Starry Night, Sunflowers, The Cafe Terrace at Night, The Bedroom, Wheat Field with Cypresses, Almond Blossoms are usually the most known ones yet he has carries his emotion-filled brush strokes to almost all of his paintings.When you look at his art, you can feel things, and this also applies to a lot of other artists. But, why?
Probably most of you think that the hardest part of art is the style, well it is certainly a subjective argument but I think it's "expression". First, let me elaborate by asking this question, "What makes a painting 'a piece of art'? Its' aesthetic, beauty, or material value? For me, it is none of them. The only indicator that makes a painting, sculpture, composition art is expression. Almost all artists are troubled, misunderstood, sensitive and heavily unstable people with rich inner world, and art ,for them, is a way to express their feelings, doubts and worries with an aesthetic form only special and unique to them. Now, let's get back to our topic, how we can feel something from a piece of art, even if all of us feel something different? It's because the artist was trying to express something they feel, think, value and artists are known for being perfectionists when it comes to their pieces, because they want to express what they felt in the most perfect way. They don't want to make something that doesn't describe their motive. Sometimes what they express is something heavily personal and sometimes it is something we feel everyday but nonetheless we feel something when we look at their art. That's the power of their expression. Now that I mentioned the effect of expression in art, why don't we look at some artists as individuals?
“Great art is the outward expression of an inner life in the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world.”―
Vincent Van Gogh
