How to Understand Modern Art (with Arthur Schopenhauer)
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- WATCH: Schopenhauer Explained: Aesthetics of Music and Nature:
• SCHOPENHAUER Explained...
Have you ever looked at a piece of abstract painting, and thought "what is this about?" This video is for you. We offer an interpretation of abstract painting using German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's theory of aesthetics. We compare two paintings, Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii, and Wassily Kandinsky's Composition 8. A look at Kandinsky's theoretical writings, in particular On the Spiritual in Art, will offer a solid interpretation of abstract painting that you might not have heard of before.
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this helps me feel better about the fact that I can't really draw but do immensely love to grab pencil/paper and see what happens, though I'd not call them works of art, it's a helluva a lot of fun. Hmmm maybe I will dare to begin calling them art pieces.
Start acting eccentric and give rambling explanations of your art that contradicts itself. Become friends with the CEO of a local company. That CEO can buy your art and write it off for taxes. If you simply chose to create art for the sake of art I wish you well, luck, & fulfilment in your endeavour.
@@Nomed38 fine idea you have, except with the time & effort involved in befriending a CEO I might as well learn to actually draw. One of these days...
@@Nomed38 truth.
@@Nomed38 finally a sane person
now describe the process and the feelings you have when you do it. but its pretty specific, because your just going on what feels right for that moment. not something the words we have now are terribly good at describing. so ot takes a lot of words. enjoy the experience.
Thank you so much for explaining .
I love art and was puzzled when Abstract art was called art .
Following your video ,I learnt alot about judging a painting .Thank you
I don't think you need "talent" in the traditional sense to make art necessarily. My view on art changed after I did action painting at college for a workshop. We were put into groups and every group was told to let loose and just create together. When we finished, we gave our painting a name and I was proud of our work. It might not mean much to other people, but to me art can be the process itself. It can be the memory you share with the few people who were there for the process or take time to understand the piece. Who cares if not everyone understands? That's not the point. If one other person understands what I am trying to convey, I am happy. If they do not, and it was still a cathartic process, I am also happy.
In the same vein, I do not need to like every work of art just because the critics say it is good. If it somehow tugs at my heart, eyes or mind, I am satisfied.
Of course there is art that is just used for money laundering by putting one entire stripe on a canvas. In any group, there are bad actions and people. But that does not mean it is everything in the group.
You sound delusional.
i love you comment, it was really nice reading it
Representative art is not simply a representation. Those paintings were not scientific illustrations or photographs. They are meant to be felt, and read into, just like abstract painting or music. The representation is just as much a tool to communicate "will" as the abstract
Das beste masterpiece of today is the reflection of ourselves as we are of the masterpiece.
This week i went to "Centre Pompidou" and i had a hard time understanding what it meant. This video gave meaning to the art centrum. Thank you!
Despite the idealistic and immaterial intentions of abstract art, whenever I ended up enjoying any of it, it was a profoundly material sensory experience of shape, color and texture. The tiny peculiarities and imperfections with which it presents itself, the mood and atmosphere it creates despite being so vague. I think the clinical presentation in modern museums is partially to blame for some of these paintings being inaccessible.
I once had the pleasure of witnessing a Rothko in a dimly lit room where the spotlights reflecting off the canvas were the primary source of light - it was a totally different experience. I was immersed in pure space and color. It was very immediate and in the moment, entirely unpretentious, brought about by a real, physical artifact in a specific context.
I was convinced that no other version or copy or anything of what is superficially a very simple and reproduceable painting would have had quite the same effect. Was it because of imperceptible details and techniques or was it just an illusion? I'll never really know. Perhaps by stripping away all things except color and a vague sense of space, I was able to perceive and feel something to an unprecedented level? I did not know any of this at the time, but as far as I understand this actually reflects the Artists intentions, as he was trying to convey pure emotion and feeling, seemingly literally imbuing the canvas with the passionate quasi-religious experience he had as he was painting it.
Either way it made me question the concept and purpose of abstraction itself and whether it's really the right way to describe some of these artworks. I'd argue in some sense they're more real than the neoclassical style of paintings which you used as an example to the contrary. Those are full of symbolism, idealism and careful staging, all with the intention of manipulating and shaping the viewers perception, ultimately presenting as windows into a mythical past. I find it forced and lifeless at times.
That being said, Kandinsky was right in that modern art is in danger of going very astray nowadays. It makes Kandinsky's works look like wholesome classics of a time when things still made sense.
Love your explanation when you compared abstract art with music.. that’s the fact ..
I don't know anybody that likes that music.
Bro, that’s a GREAT video ; some ideas in my head really clicked thanks to you. Thanks a lot !
How I embraced The theory of Modern conceptual abstract Art Or how I learned to love the emperors new clothes and stop worrying.
While it is true that "traditional art" can be appreciated with a simple viewing, if you are willing to go beyond the surface glance and pause, most "traditional art" includes subtext, and additional meaning beyond the surface aesthetics. Beauty and identifiable representation does not translate to shallowness of meaning. The art that connects with you is art worth viewing and appreciating. Art is a personal experience for both the artist and the viewer, welcoming new experiences in the genres of art you view is a good thing. The idea that one should refrain from embracing a love of "traditional art" that is emotionally fulfilling in an attempt to connect with "abstract art" seems to me to value how you are viewed, rathering than valuing what you view. The first time I was able to view a drawing, just a drawing, created by Michelangelo I felt such awe and . . . I don't know how to explain it, but it is something I will never forget. I've heard that music is unique in its ability to bring people to tears, I disagree.
Clear demonstrated art.Thank you sir. I always. Welcome.
Now i understand morden art
Thank you so much ...
I have studied art deeply for over half a century; I have done countless paintings and drawings for even longer. I have works in a number of museums. And I still do not like Kandinsky. So there.
Thanks... Long time i was waiting for this explanation!
This explanation only benefits that artist.
Wonderful video on art and Schopenhauer (and Kandinsky)...thank you for this one
The word art doesn't have any real meaning anymore.
Anytime you see something you can call it art.
If you go to the bathroom, it's art.
A wonderfully exciting and thought provoking video! Well done 👏🏼
You’ve convinced me
Wow, that was incredible! The parallel you made to music to explain that immaterial, concept/will is so insightful.
Really great video today
Thanks!
What would music with lyrics be to Schopenhauer? For example a song telling a story, that would be representing humans and objects. I guess a rap song would be metaphysically different than a classical music song.
Hope I made my point clear.
Thanks
Schopenhauer wasn't a big fan of opera (music with lyrics).
@@vodkatonyq This is not correct. Schopenhauer's favourite composers (as said by himself) were Mozart and Rossini. Rossini was almost exclusively a composer of operas.
@@anon-rf5sx those were exceptions. Schopenhauer thought that very few operas worked.
@@anon-rf5sx people hate that music, they can stick it .......
id assume hed see it much like a painting that is much more representational. figures and objects that u can already identify, give clarity and direct meaning but the color pallette and lighting and composition give it the indirect meaning. in music this would be lyrics as compared to instrumentals.
Like Edouard Manet's Olympia, u can get the main message through the woman's facial expression and the way she is positioned nude on the couch. but the message is also delivered in the flatness of the painting. and the lighting, and the context of its making.
I liked the video and it helped me understand more about the thought process behind abstract art, because I think many of the points are very representative of 19th century philosophy.
For example, I think it's a shame to merit abstract art as solely on its ability to be unlike as well as provide escape from a rather nihilistic and darwinistic perception of life. Imo there's no need for different modes of perceptiption, for example through abstract art, to necessarily involve a dichotomization between a dour, cynical and essentialist reality and a "higher escape" through art. Schopenhauer claiming that music and abstract art is somehow unlike or doesn't represent the 'real world' involves the idea of an essentialist reality that's removed from the ability to be perceived in more idealistic or beautiful ways such as art might. Rather i'd argue mediums such as music and abstract art represent modes of perception that are similarly available and grounded in everyday experience and perception. And not just limited to our often rather narrow perception of art as being for examle painting on a canvas or listening to a tangible piece of music.
Kandinsky claiming the combinations of pattern and phantasy, in other words the freedom of art, as somehow posing a danger as much as it involves possibilities, seems to speak to a limitational idea of what should be accepted within art. In many ways it seems that abstract art, despite having disregarded many conventions of the time, still held onto some limited conventions. Something that contemporary art seeks to overcome - for good or for worse depending on who you ask.
I've thought for a while now that aesthetic philosophy is best expressed through artwork itself.
Great video! I enjoyed and understand even it's complicated to understand.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@WeltgeistYT if she can't understand it, it must be good.
Even if it's children's fingerprints
Great video
Thanks for the visit!
I tried, i really did try to watch to the end but its your pace.
This is a logical explanation of absract art and I am appreciative for it as the only other explaination I had heard of was that abstract art was "it is the manifestation of a troubled mind" or something to that effect. Also after the large text of the word will an advert played with the word stop just as large as in the video. My question is should I wait a minute and listen, is it hammertime, or in the name of love?
They say that you don't see it because your not sophisticated enough, so therefore it must be good even though music is better they say.
But people hate that type of music and never listen to it.
And all this is from people who can't even paint properly.
"An artist paints what he feels." "Maybe you should see a doctor."
Just wow
And then I thought : "Why must a painting by locked onto a wall? And why must the wall be forced to carry paintings?" So I removed both the wall and the paintings, I let both free but they were lying there flat on the ground, not free. So I realized only an idea of a wall and a painting could be free. Then I went finally to the shrink.
Very interesting. Do you think Schopenhauer inspired the symbolist movement?
The Symbolists were inspired by Wagner, who was heavily inspired by Schopenhauer. Baudelaire was a huge Wagner fan and Edouard Dujardin (who is credited with being the first writer to employ stream-of-consciousness) was directly influenced by him. Wagner of course was heavily indebted to Schopenhauer. So in a way, yes.
@@WeltgeistYT very vomiting.
The analogy with instrumental music is valid and persuasive. Bach, Vivaldi, Pink Floyd , particularly The Great Gig in the Sky, often touches and stirs somethings within us that is not usually reachable. For me, representational art can do this as well. A particular favorite is JMW Turner, who in his later years painted in a more abstract manner. Like music and pretty much anything very little of the output is very good and meaningful, but those that are can produce moments of enjoyment, pleasure or insight.
I think something should be said about the impact of the Tavistock Institute on art.
Wonderful, this video really changed my perception of art! I, suddenly started to understand these "wanna-be music" masterpieces. And therefore I just became a supporter of this "modern art revolution", although it being impossible to create a music-level thing from these earth materials, I think with technology improving every other day some time we will achieve the every intellectual's dream: another music-like substance which gives you a break from the suffering! Continuing the marathon of all your videos now, kind regards and thanks for all of these, you really deserve thousand times more views and likes. Please continue educating people and spreading our "Schopenhauerist-Nietzscheist" cause.
Thank you so much for this great comment. What kind of music are you talking about specifically? Cab you link an example?
@@WeltgeistYT I don't prefer one music gender over another, that would be narrow-mindness in my opinion. But I generally listen to 19th and early 20th century music nowadays, never touching on modern. However Wagner has a special corner in my head, I think you should have it too. Maybe due to his contacts with Nietzsche and as Nietzsche said "Wagner being the composer who can portray suffering the most wonderful". Wagner is a really controversial figure; due to his antisemitic views and producing a child even though he should have followed anti-natalianism. But for composers without any special meanings like Wagner's, Strauss is definitely wonderful. Verdi is also very good, he influenced almost all composers of his era, contributing very much to the shaping of music. Other than that I may suggest all Monteverdi as the baroque composer.
What are your thoughts on language of philisophy being German? Would you prefer French, English or any other language? Or do you just love German due to all its already existing "philosophical words"?
What kind of music do you prefer? Maybe you're "more liberal" than me and got some modern music in your library of sounds!
Kind regards.
Wagner is great. What's your favorite piece?
@@WeltgeistYT Der Fliegende Holländer, what's yours?
You have fallen
Nice video, thank you.
Am I only person who noticed that this video is also an art.
I have played levels in Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 that have more artistic merit than Composition 8. Random shapes on a canvas don't take us away from the material world.
When I paint, I want to get an image, be it sad, beautiful, ugly or happy that I see through to the viewer. It’s the same when I write or when I play music. I want people to understand my feelings, understand what I am going through as I put pen to paper. Abstract modern art just doesn’t cut it for me.
Definitely understandable. I like letting loose every now and then and just having fun. But to me nothing beats expressing a specific emotion or experience than a well defined piece.
I don't like that type of music, never listen to it.
I look at abstract art like the language of animals. Whimpers, growls and whines can convey a lot of meaning, but not nearly so much as well crafted, representational words assembled into structured sentences according to our mutually learned and understood grammar and syntax. Representational art and abstract art may be equally capable of communicating gut feelings, but the common language of representation is certainly capable of saying much more. I get tired of staring at abstract wall paper art much quicker than I do when I look through the window into another world.
So according to that logic I listen to russian music and DJ as it is an escape.
I can tell the difference between a Beethoven piece and something my nephew would write, but I can't say the same thing about a so called abstract painting
whats so called about it. it IS an abstraction, and if its mostly paint on a medium, it IS a painting.
Yes
Human life is "nasty, brutish and short" is more of a Hobbesian understanding. I am not sure if Schopenhauer's philosophy is exactly that
Schopenhauer quotes Hobbes approvingly throughout The World as Will and Representation. He likes the Latin phrase "bellum omnia contra omnes", war of all against all, to describe the world.
@@WeltgeistYT Very good. Enjoying your work!
@@girishravindra4695 for what it's worth, still has nothing to do with a good painting
You open my mind for arts
That's not true art.
To most people it doesn't mean anything...That's the point. It's intentionally obtuse to separate the "cultured" from the unwashed masses and give people a sense of superiority. Some abstract art is ok, I like the stuff that has nice contrasting colors or optical illusions that play with your eyes but to pretend there is deeper meaning outside of the decorative aspect or visual appeal just gives it a pretentious vibe in my personal opinion.
so it's like music but trying to be visible
how is music not a representation of sounds of nature?
No meaning? I have a hard time thinking about that?
I still didn't get this. Why?
So explain this to me.
Why modern art's value doesn't depend on the art, but the artist?
If I painted like Van Gogh, I was Van Gogh.
If I wrote war and peace, I was Tolstoy.
If I composed like Beethoven, I was Beethoven.
But if I threw paint on a canvas like Pollock nobody would've cared...
Not a single one of you would've paid me even 50$ for things that are sold in thousands... if the art itself is valuable, it shouldn't matter to you the name of the artist.
Alright. My previous comment is no longer representative of my ideas. But I just want to ask: With the infinite creative potential of art, why would modern art become about representing feeling itself? Feelings, like it or not, are real. They are a part of the world. I can easily tease out specific feelings with more representative art. If I wanted to tease out arousal, I could paint porn. Does that mean that that porn has achieved the higher feeling like music? When I listen to music, I feel emotions. But those emotions aren't unique. If I listen to something with no real emotional meaning like "The Turning Away" by Pink Floyd, I feel morose, an emotion that I can easily categorize. If I listen to Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", I feel annoyance. Music is not unique in its ability to tease out emotions, it just does it more efficiently. Art can do it too, but only after I interpret what it ''means.'' But with modern art, they directly try to get to the feeling. But that doesn't work. Imagine the emotions from the word "Rape." I can make you feel "Rape" just by mentioning it. But I can only convey that through a medium like language. I can't physically make you feel "rape" without doing it to you. But even then you are feeling the rape through your senses. Your body becomes the medium for understanding the concept. If I wanted to convey rape through art, I'd paint a scene of rape. Bloodied clothes scattered about. A shadow cast through a doorway. If I wanted to convey rape through music, well I'm no musician but I'd use the sounds of rape to create music. None of this changes the fact that they are mediums of which convey emotion. The medium must be interpreted from something. Trying to paint the feeling of rape is not possible. And anyone trying to is going to fail. So I guess my new point about modern art isn't that it doesn't make any sense, its that it isn't supposed to make sense, its supposed to make you feel. Well, now I'm totally convinced that modern art is a complete and utter failure.
You mention porn, which is a good example.of something that is not art. The arousal that it stimulates is purely physical, with no emotional element. The emotions engendered by true art cannot be categorized with words such as annoyance, disgust, or joy. Sometimes when you see great art, you can feel the earth move beneath you, as in Monet's late forest paintings. It requires no interpretation. Any interpretation destroys the experience.
Very easy penting
I can do Abstraction in Figure Drawing
How to Understand Modern Art ? this is one of if not the biggest major problems with the art world and the art market and has been for some time. Once one starts this sort of Rhetoric commentary it can and dose undermind the individual's personal views and damage the artist's communication and his art. If a so-called authority feels or needs to guide or is telling people how to or how one should see or feel art in a certain way then the artist has not produced an artwork that communicates ineffectively and is not very good art for this is the main point of art "Communication". Everyone is different and perceives what he sees and feels differently in varying degrees based on many factors, if there is anything one can or wants to do, hone one's awareness and perceptions based on oneself. I am an art collector of over 300 works over 20+ years I have honed my awareness of my tastes and perceptions of artwork with study and research of not only art but the world around me.
As far as I am concerned, he author of the video failed miserably at explaining what he proposes. It is just a report on idealogy or intentions of painting without giving any details on actual art and clues as to how it has succeeded in that.
Kandinsk6y is great as painter but as silly as Schopenhauer as philosopher.
Jay z
Schopenhauer would actually point out that a certain ethnic group has no visual sense ("Thou shalt not make a graven image"), and said ethnic group dominates galleries, critics, rich people with more money than taste, academia, etc.
Schopenhauer's anti-semitism does not make his main point wrong. There are a lot of great artists and philosophers who held views which are now unacceptable.
@@4CardsMan he made that point for his benefit and to mask his inability as an artist.
The question might be turned around, what do you know that he does not? In an era when asking what is a woman, is a question that can be thought to be an attack on ideological conformity which rejects biological distinctions and realities, a lot of abstraction fits right in. That said, a few make exceptionally visually appealing work, and if one get close enough or far enough away from anything or takes a part of something and magnifies it, the result is almost always visual abstraction, like the images of space from telescopes such as the newest one, the Webb Space Telescope. But so much of it is nonsense, established as good by the authority of "experts" and high prices. Think for yourself.
the question is not the attack, the framing, goal, and intentions were.
For me traditional art is music and modern art is just noise
"Music has no form so painting too shouldnt" is a horrible analogy. If we wanna compare a modern art piece o music we have to listen to random and ugly notes not a well composed art piece.
many music represent a scene, i heard a lot ,your just bias on modern art
What an eye-opener, finally I can appreciate that cacophony of brush strokes! Nah, just kidding, still garbage.
Yeah same, what this video taught me is just that my former 3 year old self was a greater artist than I ever will be.
🤣🤣🤣 EXACTLY
I don't know much about art, but I know what I DON"T like.
I still think it’s garbage. Everybody could make a painting like Jackson Pollocks Number 19. guys like Spitzweg had talent.
Actually not. I had a companion who owned a painting by an artist who imitated Pollock. It was angry and ugly. When you view a lot of art, you can immediately spot the real thing, and Pollock is the real thing. There's a film "Who the xxxx is Jackson Pollock" that's worth seeing. It's a doc about a painting found in a garage sale, which resembles a Pollock and may be an early version while Pollock was crafting his thing. The art critics that saw it immediately knew that it was not a genuine Pollock, even though the painting was subjected to a scientific analysis that seemed to indicate that it was genuine. Once you learn to look, it will become clear.
_what does he know that you don't?_
*ABSOLUTELY NOTHING*
I "feel" that abstract art is sold to rubes and bumpkins. No disrespect intended.
pierdolenie
BS
Modern art sucks
Meh modern arts trash. Y'know what I'm gonna piss on a paper towel and call it "Bowel movements". I could probably sell it for a few million. I guess the meaning could be "I piss on paper towels nerd".
Try doing that and selling it to a museum. If you have no context as an artist, that kind of performative stab at art will fall flat. Just because there's a media story about some artist that produces that kind of thing and is financially successful doesn't mean that the main body of modern art is fake. Most of the curators of museums are not fools. There are a few that cash in on something simply because it is provocative. We have reached a state where it is very hard to shock people, so the really bizarre gets a lot of media attention because the media are starved for real content. The video is correct. True art inspires a direct emotional response unconnected to any idea. Spend a lot of time viewing the best work, and you will start to experience this yourself. It's a process that you have no direct control over, and you can't predict when and where it will happen, but it when it does, a new world will open up for you.
@@4CardsMan " It's a process that you have no direct control over, and you can't predict when and where it will happen, but it when it does, a new world will open up for you." Your entire comment - very well said. Thanks.
This could have been an excellent video. Instead, from beginning to end, your sexism is interwoven throughout the entire video.