As a recent college graduate, it seems customary to go on a trip for some time before falling straight into the full-time working life. For decades it has been a right of passage for students to flock to major European cities, outlandish unknown territory, or the next state over to experience a different way of living life. Though coming from art school it seems no structure we were put in was ever the same as “normal” college; our professors were working artists, our buildings were far apart and our campus was the city of New York. It has been a privilege to study art works in the classroom and then be able to go to a gallery or museum and see them in person. Not many students in school are given that opportunity, and perhaps that is one of the best things New York City can offer an art student. Though for these four years, there have been countless art pieces that I have spent hours reading and writing about and yet have never been able to see or witness in person. Can one really understand what it is they’re looking at if it isn’t the object itself? This is a question I have struggled with for a couple of years now, and so I have planned a trip to find the answers.
As of Tuesday I will be in Florence seeking out some of the most prominent art in the city that I have come to know through textbooks. I can’t help but wonder what it will feel like to see and experience the surface of Michelangelo’s David, the contours created and the depth he was able to achieve from a single piece of stone. To see the colors, scale and detail of Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus I can only imagine will fill me with an understanding of the importance of a single work of art in the history of an entire culture. Following this city, I will venture to Rome to see the churches that are decorated with some of the most exquisite stained glass, alters, and ceiling pieces that have existed in my life only through images. The anticipation of being able to survey first hand the work of some of the most prominent names in art history, I wonder if the way I expect myself to react is what will actually take place.
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Having only ever been to Britain, the rich history of Italy and each of its cities will be evoked with every street traveled and all paintings viewed. I can prepare myself only so much for what I will learn, be around, and better comprehend through this exposure of such grand places and spaces. Though I can imagine how seeing the art with my own eyes will make me feel, I can already anticipate the emotion that will overcome me when I first lay eye on true works of art. As I take this trip, and take time away from school and work, I hope to better understand the way in which I think about, view and know art pieces, and perhaps what it means to be an artist now. In a society that isn’t too different from that of Italy, where art is ingrained into life, culture, and day-to-day tasks and has become essential to an entire country’s understanding of itself and it’s place in history.
