Understanding Art

"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one without trying to understand them? But in the case of a painting, people have to understand." Pablo Picasso

Does Picasso sound a little irritated? You bet. He was one of the first abstract painters and was getting tired of answering questions like "What is that? or "Why did you paint that?" He is basically stating that he isn't going to answer these questions.

Picasso's statement equates art to nature. We don't question a beautiful sunset so why should we question him about his art. He is basically stating that we should stop asking questions and just look at the painting and appreciate it. He is defining an artist as a force of nature. Many artists would agree.

Some artists that are tired of answering questions will resort to misdirection. For instance, Andy Warhol when asked why he painted Campbell's soup cans stated, "Because I like soup." This may have been true but was this really the reason why he did paintings of soup cans? To understand Warhol, you have to look at more than just a few paintings. You have to look at a body of his work and you have to pay attention.

Picasso and Warhol have shifted the burden of understanding onto the viewer. They are making it clear that we won't get any answers from them. They want us to look at their artwork and actually see it. If we want to know more, we will have to do the research ourselves.