Art, Generalization and Sight
One of the keys to understanding art is generalization because many of the most creative artists donate their ideas not to contemporaries or to those in the generation afterwards, who might not even understand, but to other great artists centuries later in very different circumstances.
For instance my explanation of Henri Matisse's View of Notre-Dame (1902), above, shows how the face of an important French painter is turned into the facade of France's holiest symbol. The day before, by chance, I had discussed Michelangelo doing something very similar with the Sistine Chapel (1508-12), turning the interior into a 3D construction of his own skull. Even Claude Monet, long thought to have painted only what he saw, turned the facade of Rouen cathedral (1892-3) into a series of impressions of his own face as Camille Pissarro did with a village church (c. 1890) and its surroundings. The idea repeats itself throughout the history of art as a universal truth, a possibility that only generalists are likely to imagine. For a written description of the idea, a poor translation at best, read one of the entries.
Linked not far from the same idea is Leonardo da Vinci's The Virgin of the Rocks (c.1483-6). As already shown in its own entry he painted the ruins of an ancient cave - with Christ and the Virgin inside - as a depiction of his own divine mind creating. There must be many more examples waiting to appear so don't just look at your favorite artist. Look everywhere.
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Reader Comments
Having viewed and read lots of your old post
Exclaimed that you are great!
You are a great mental collector of endless and countless paintings
Otherwise how can you compare handily and render comments like a pundit !
Loraine
08 Apr 2016