Читать книгу What Adults Don’t Know About Art - Группа авторов - Страница 8

We have been saying that art is really about your ideal room and that art galleries are like massive bedrooms. The weird thing is though that you can have a nice time thinking about what you might put in your room, but a gallery can be quite dull and frustrating.

The reason is that, sadly, art galleries have forgotten that they are really just bedrooms. Instead, they have become more like exam halls at a university.

If you’re in a gallery you will usually see little notes next to the works of art. You might even notice adults looking at them very carefully, with serious expressions on their faces.

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Let’s take this picture, for instance*:

* Claude Lorrain was famous for painting hills and valleys, but he wasn’t very good at painting people. The heads looked too small and the limbs weren’t quite right.

Claude Lorrain, Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullam, 1658

Here’s the label that might go beside it:

Claude Lorrain (1600–1682)

Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullam, 1658, Oil on canvas

Painted in 1658 for Prince Agostino Chigi (1634–1705), this work depicts King David with his followers outside the cave of Adullam. David longed for water from the well of Bethlehem. Three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines to fetch the water for him. When they returned, David realised he had unnecessarily risked their lives and instead poured the water out for the Lord (2 Samuel 23: 13–17). A number of preparatory drawings by Claude are known.

Reading this label makes you feel as if you’re preparing for an exam. If you are going to pass you will need to be able to answer these questions. Are you ready? You’re not allowed to look at the label again — no cheating!

Q. Who painted this picture?

A. Someone called Claude Lorrain.

Well done, that was on the label. Good memory!

Q. When was it painted?

A. 1658.

But that doesn’t help much unless you know about other things that happened then.

Q. What does (2 Samuel 23: 13–17) mean?

A. It refers to a story in the Bible.

The label expects you to know this. But practically no one knows about this story.

Q. Who was Agostino Chigi?

A. A prince.

That’s right, the label says he was a prince, but do you know anything else about him? If you asked a million adults it would be amazing if even one of them had heard of him.

Q. Why is it important that a number of preparatory drawings by Claude are known?

A. Because it proves that this picture really was painted by Claude Lorrain, not by someone else.

Were you thinking: ‘Oh I really, really hope this is by someone called Claude and not by someone else I have never heard of?’ Be honest…

Maybe it’s not surprising that a lot of people are very quiet in art galleries: they’re worried someone is going to ask them some very hard questions they don’t know the answers to.

It is all a bit daunting and off-putting. All this seriousness and all these boring facts make you feel that you don’t know anything at all. It feels like just because you don’t know all the names and dates on the little labels, you’ve no business looking at pictures.

But there’s good news here. Because actually none of this matters very much at all. Remember, you are trying to find something for your room — something that you love and that you want to have around you for a long time. The exam questions don’t help you love the picture.

Loving a work of art is a bit like making a new friend. You become friends with someone because you like doing things with them. You like playing football with them or chatting or joking with them or going to the park together.

It’d be astonishing if people said you could not be friends with someone unless you took an exam about them first, showing you know what year their mum was born or what their dad’s middle name is. You might eventually find out these things, but they are nothing at all to do with why you like your friend.

Just like how there might be one thing you really love about your friend, maybe there is just one part of the picture that particularly interests you.*

* Lorrain loved clambering up the steep sides of hills, holding on to the branches of trees. In this picture, it’s great how you can see through the arch in the cliff to see the light on the rock behind. You can imagine climbing up there. Be careful you don’t fall! Maybe there’s a cave where you could have a picnic?

Detail from Claude Lorrain, Landscape with David at the Cave of Adullam, 1658

Art isn’t really boring. But it can be made boring if it gets turned into an exam.