Why We Make Art?
Being one of the most creative ways of expressing human experience,
we have used art as a means of telling stories.
-The purposes, motivations, intentions, and inspirations behind the art
are endless. Below are just some of the reasons why we make art
1– We make art to tell stories
May it be the story of a single person, of a community, or of a nation, art
has in many ways contributed to the beautiful way these stories are told.
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls” –
Pablo Picasso
The definition of art can be multi-disciplinary.
In the same way, art can also convey an experience that’s so common that many
people can relate to it. Take Adolf Menzel’s The Balcony Room, for example.
This piece shows a space with strong light pouring into a typical room while a breeze
blows into the white curtains. Instead of making something revolutionary or
innovative, Adolf Menzel took the very common scenario – a room in an ordinary
house – and turned it into a masterpiece. Through art, Adolf was able to enhance what
otherwise was a common experience and turned it into a serene, emotionally charged
story that everyone can appreciate.
The Balcony Room by Adolf Menzel
(The Balcony Room by Adolf Menzel was produced in 17th Century and is considered to be one of the
famous artworks of Realism movement. The work can be viewed now at Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin )
2-To practice faith in a more tangible way
Believing in a higher being can be a unique experience, and art is used to make those
beliefs much easier to grasp and feel.
Creativity is one of the demarcating landmarks that differentiates us from animals. It
is what makes us human.
Faith is another factor that has been a key theme behind reasons for
making the art.
Sri Krishna as Envoy by Raja Ravi Varma
Medium: Oil Painting
Subject(s): freedom, harmony
3. To record history
Another reason people make art is to record a moment of the past.
More specifically called History Painting, we use art to capture the most significant
historical scenes. Some notable examples include Benjamin West’s Death of
Benjamin Wolfe and Jacques-Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii.
These paintings and other art forms have a special way of making history a point of
interest to otherwise disinterested people
They spark discussion, commemoration, and appreciation of important historical
events.
The Knotted Gun by Carl Fredrik
Reuterswärd)
The knotted gun ”Non-Violence” was originally created by Swedish artist
Carl Fredrik Rueterswärd as a memorial tribute to John Lennon after he
was shot and killed in New York City in December 1980. The Non-
Violence Project Foundation is a non-profit organization promoting peace
and social change through education.
”WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING THAT GOES ON ”
John Lennon –
4. To teach something as an alternative to verbal or
written methods
The changing generations have made it much harder to attract the attention of our
young learners.
The question – of why we make art – is becoming less relevant these days.
With the help of art, people who would otherwise ignore books can be taught concepts
more effectively using visual arts
The Berlin Wall 1963 Postwar European Art
These can be seen in the form of visual Public Service Announcements and awareness
campaigns in the form of films. In some cases, artists make art with great imagery that can
also complement written messages.
5. To tell a story from literature, myths, religion, and
poetry
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper is one of the most famous paintings inspired by
Christian history.
There are also a lot of famous paintings that depict significant parts of famous
literature. Sometimes visualizing a story is the best way to appreciate it. That’s why we
use art and why people make art – to elaborate on the myths and religious aspects of an
event or a period
)The School of Athens by Raphael Sanzio)
6. To create someone’s portrait.
It’s not just about someone getting their portrait painted.
It’s about how the artist sees that person. The most famous example, of course, is
Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, whose smile has captivated the world throughout
history. Van Gogh’s portrait of Dr. Gachet, who happens to be the artist’s close
friend.
Why Is the Mona Lisa So Famous?
question often asked – Why Is Mona Lisa Painting Famous? At first glance, Leonardo
da Vinci’s Mona Lisa appears to be just another portrait of a woman. The work,
painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, features a brown-eyed woman with dark
hair, a wide forehead, and a round chin. She’s seated, hands resting on the arm of a
chair. A varied natural setting, comprised of roads, rivers, trees, and hills sits behind
her.
Monalisa painting
The faces of these people, their expressions, and the painting itself have the power to
show you what these people mean to the artists who made them.
7. To allow the artist to express oneself.
One of the most adopted reasons for people making art is to allow themselves to
represent their thoughts and life.
When Edward Munch painted The Scream, he was thinking about the orange sky
he had just recently seen which, to him, it looked like nature was screaming. This is
how he used art to effectively convey his idea or opinion about something.
Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature) by Edvard Munch
was produced in 1893 and is considered to be one of the famous artworks
of Expressionism movement.
One of the most moving expressionistic statements, well-known as The Scream or
The Cry and has considered being the most reminisced in modern art.
Medium: Oil Painting
Subject(s): nature, suffering
The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo documented her lust for life through her deep and surreal works, and those
were a true depiction of Frida’s life and thoughts.
Frida Kahlo lived the epitome of alegría—a lust for life She was infamous for her social fire.
She danced, flirted, and seduced. Her ferocious tongue rolled out a black sense of humor
and sharp wit. She kept a home for her husband Diego
She loved her pets – spider monkeys and gods. She loved guff, gossips, and jokes. She
treated servants like family and kids like equals
But Frida’s vitality was juxtaposed with anguish
Do not forget me”, she begged her friends and lovers to visit her often. She was often lonely
and was confined to the prison of the hospital bed
Frida Kahlo paintings artwork - Two Fridas
A brilliant painter, she is most famous for her portraits in which she paints herself in a
surrealistic manner
The Suicide of Dorothy Hale”, one of the exceptionally powerful paintings of Frida Kahlo, “
depicts the suicide of the aspiring American actress Dorothy Hale. The painting combines the
literal and metaphorical, the real and the surreal, showing every step of Hale’s suicide
A life full of setbacks
Frida Kahlo endured two great life tragedies
The first: a horrific trolley accident in her youth. In the wake of its destruction, it left Frida
with her spine and pelvis broken, a crushed foot, and a lifetime of suffering and pain
The second: The “worst” tragedy was her husband: the two-timing painter Diego Rivera and
.his numerous infidelities
”Diego,” she said, “was by far the worst “
Kahlo was distressed, but the couple attempted to compromise: Each was free to have sex
with whomever they wanted. For a while, this arrangement appeared to work to an extent,
and Kahlo engaged in several affairs with men and women alike
The transcending pain of Frida Kahlo paintings
Frida Kahlo paintings artwork Self Portrait
One of her “straightforward” works was “Self-Portrait,” essentially a painted mirror image of
herself with a thorn necklace, not unlike Christ’s crown of thorns, piercing her neck, and a
pendant in the form of a hummingbird, symbolizing the souls of Aztec warriors killed in
.battle
The Broken Column” of 1944 depicts a nude Kahlo jailed in the constraints of her medical “
corsets. Nails protruded from her skin like hair. Her body reveals a shattered Greek column
in place of her spine. Pale tears stream down her face.
8. To reflect the beauty of nature, a landscape, or a
city
When Vincent Van Gogh was spending time in the sanatorium, he created the view
outside his window, now the famous Starry Night.
While beautiful scenes are sights to behold themselves, they become a new creation
when turned into art. Similarly, Edward Hopper has documented every flavor of
nature in his numerous works. Most of people make art to document nature, a
landscape, or a city.
Claude Monet’s famous paintings are a classic example of experimentation of using
interchangeable nature of light and shadow by repeatedly producing the same visuals
of nature multiple times to discover more than one angle of nature’s light to shine on
one image.
9. To illustrate a narrative or a diagram.
Why we make art – To teach people. Art can be quite educational too, especially
when it is used not only to provide aesthetics but also to serve as an aid to educational
materials.
Often people make art or infographics about certain things that are much easier to
understand and digest than their strictly written counterparts, making the artistic
version more effective as it is appreciable.
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso
10. To depict reality and ideals.
Often referred to as realism and idealism, art can either capture a perfectly undistorted
image of reality (i.e. a natural landscape or the image of society) or portray the artist’s
aspirations or ideals for those realities.
Illumined Pleasures
The Burning Giraffe
In other words, art is a way for an artist to say “this is how I see the world,” and then
sometimes say “this is how I think it should be.”
11. To provoke thinking and discourse.
Whether it’s a painting that dramatizes the horrors of war or a dark depiction of
domestic violence, art can shock one’s senses to force a person to think deeply about a
real social issue. It can spark debates and even cause revolutions.
Oath of the Horatii by Jacques Louis David
12. To illustrate their dreams.
Perhaps one of the richest sources of inspiration is a person’s dreams.
Many notable works of the likes of William Blake and Salvador Dali have been
inspired by their own dreams.
If one were to just take a look at the photos of Salvador Dali online, you would know
immediately this was no ordinary individual. With his crazy moustache and bizarre
quotes, he expressed his opinion constantly, and especially through his artwork.
Born in Catalonia, Spain in 1904, he was a true surrealistic artist, drawing often from
his own childhood sexual desires, mostly freakish and quite disturbing.
Dali always stated that he didn’t do drugs, although many would look at his art and
disagree, but Dali claimed he was drugs. That through his work he could influence
many an open mind, whether for the good or bad.
If we take a look at a few of his famous pieces, we can see that his obsession with the
unconscious mind was obvious.
The Persistence of Memory shows us a few seemingly soft or melted pocket watches
lying about in an open land. Dali’s message was to show that time and space are
relative and that we, in fact, live in a universe of complete disorder.
Another of his most recognizable artworks is ‘The Great Mastrubator’, which at first glance
seems more like fellatio being performed that masturbating. It is clear though that Dali had
real issues with sex and the sexual act itself, stemming from his youth. He claims that as a
young boy his father had accidentally (or not) left out a book of sufferers of untreated
venereal diseases. The disturbing photos must have left a deep mark on Dali and in turn, he
brought these into his paintings.
People are strange creatures and while they may hesitate at the idea of expression like
this, they are secretly fascinated. This is the main reason why Dali’s works are so
popular. With his surrealism style, he takes everyday activities and combines them
with fantasy, yet managing to connect and communicate his thoughts through a truly
theatrical medium.
Not all of Dali’s works are so sexual. Take The Elephants for example. While still a
surrealist view and one to debate for hours,
Salvador Dali Elephant Painting
One can never mistake Dali’s works for realism; however there is a potent aspect to
the out-there paintings, that cries out the reality of everyday life. But unlike true
realism, which examines the conventional outward appearances at close quarters,
surrealism takes those outward appearances and merges it with imaginative
idealism. Dali captured this with perfection and sometimes downright absurdity.
Always one to provoke the self-righteous and conceited, Dali drove his messages
home with black comedy and often grotesque graphics. Never to veer near
conventionality, he thrived on the shock factor, which gave him many an undesirable
name in the art fraternity.
