As an Art History major, I happen to enjoy spending time in art museums more than your average student. I enjoy reading about the artists and the pieces, and I like reflecting on books that I’ve read, lectures I’ve attended and ideas that I’ve learned about as I wander. I enjoy bringing a sketchbook and pencils and sitting in front of a singular piece for hours, trying to capture the curve of one of Picasso’s female nudes or the flawless precision of a Magritte.
Of course, I understand that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try a little bit harder to appreciate art and its significance. Just because you don’t like history, or don’t understand why that blue canvas is considered art doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try to like it or try to understand it. In a world where it seems like people are often ignorant, let’s make it a goal to be cultured. Let’s go and see paintings that aren’t the Mona Lisa, and stray outside of the mainstream. There is something to be appreciated in art that isn’t known by everyone, and there is something to be appreciated by seeing them in person. It is much too easy to say your favorite artist is Picasso without studying Kandinsky, Ernst or Mondrian. Without getting up close to these artworks, it becomes increasingly difficult to see the creator behind them. When you can physically see the brushstrokes and in some, the pencil lines underneath the paint, and it’s as if you can visualize the artist behind the work as they physically make those marks.
Art, whether you choose to believe it or not, is one of the most incredible symbols of the power of humans. Through the denial of witnessing the evolution of our creativity, you are denying yourself understanding of how we, as humans, have developed. Humans were putting pigment to cave walls before we understood how to farm. This history is hugely important, and while it is not necessary for everyone to study it, I think that it’s vital people take two days out of their year to go see art. I think that people other than Art History majors need to appreciate our history of creating and the incredible skill and thought art requires. And yes, you definitely won’t be an art museum regular like me and my fellow art enthusiasts, but I can guarantee you’ll be happy you went, if you go with an open mind.
Go and see images of pigment on cave walls, see the remaining fragments of once towering Greek monuments, see ten thousand different interpretations of love, loss, and spirituality, and in doing so, see the history of humanity.
