Perceiving and Critiquing

Perceiving and Critiquing

One of the most recognized artists of the 20th century, Picasso, once said "Many people say they do not like my art because they do not understand it. Well, I do not understand Chinese, but that does not mean I do not like it" (Biography for Pablo Picasso). Art was never something I thought I would like and every time I went by a museum I never had the interest of going in to explore what the museum offers! But taking on this course of introduction to fine arts, I believe that I will change my mind regarding art and will understand the theme and symbol of the subject matter. I am writing this reflection to share my understanding of the way I explore and interpret art. In this reflection, I will choose and explore two artists' pieces, their background and then answer some questions regarding those pieces. I will conclude with adding my perspective to those two pieces and how I interpret them.

"The old guitarist" by Pablo Picasso and "St. Jerome in the desert" by Leonardo Da Vinci, the two artists I chose for my reflection. The old guitarist by Picasso was painted in 1903, in Madrid, and it is an oil painting. The St. Jerome in the desert by Leonardo Da Vinci was painted in 1480, and it is an unfinished painting that is now in the Vatican museums, Rome. The painting was made with oil on panel.

Pablo Picasso was a famous and well known artist of the 20th century. He was born in 1881, in Spain and died in 1973, France. Picasso's father was an artist and a professor of art at the school of fine arts, and that is how Picasso gained his love and knowledge to art, under his dad's wings. Picasso was curios to explore the art and left to Paris, in 1901 to find conductive surroundings for his experiences. Picasso was a peace lover, and he expressed it in his paintings. Steve Shelokhonov, wrote "an innovator and a multi-faceted personality, Picasso dominated the 20th century Western Art, spreading his influence beyond art into many aspects of culture and life" (IMDb mini bio). Picasso's paintings were rank among the most expensive art in the world, and he was vote as the most visionary artist ever.

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452, Tuscany and died in 1519, France. Leonardo was famous for his designs that later in life, helped us to invent things like the helicopter and much more. Museum of art stated "Leonardo Da Vinci, to this day, remains one of the greatest people to ever shadowed this earth. His work has often been imitated and almost always unsurpassed" (Leonardo Da Vinci Secrets). Leonardo was known primarily as a painter and one of his most famous one, was the Mona Lisa. Leonardo has made remarkable discoveries, but never published any of them; therefore, it did not have any effect on future science. Leonardo was described as the prototype of the Renaissance and was considered to be the most talented