Looking at PicturesBerger
Looking at Pictures (Berger) Final DraftUpon receiving the assignment to visit the Museum of Fine Arts and pick a painting that "seems silent and still yet invites conversation" I was originally frustrated and wanted to just get it over with and pick out the first painting I saw. However, once I entered the museum my stress and frustration decreased and I wanted to take the time to appreciate the artwork and find a piece that thoroughly grabbed my attention. The classic quiet building put me at ease and I began my search. I passed many European paintings until one particular painting struck my eye. It was a painting that "spoke" to me and induced conversation among the other visitors of the museum as well. The painting possessed a beauty and a magnetism that I was drawn to. It was an oil painting by Francois Joseph Navez titled "Pilgrimage in the Roman Campagna". The painting wielded mystification. By Webster's definition mystification means to perplex or bewilder. However, it is not the painting in itself that causes confusion, it is the perception of the observer to the painting in collaboration with the meaning the painter intends to portray. In this case Berger's definition of mystification as "the process of exp
The colors were vivid, yet the aura was somber. The real significance of the painting lies in the eye of the beholder. She is holding the hand of a little bow behind her, (perhaps her son) whom looks very concerned. After reading John Berger's essay titled "Ways of Seeing", he helped me to better visualize and comprehend the meaning behind the painting. Another woman looks into the sky with her finger on her chin, as thought she is gravely foreseeing what is about to happen. Navez's painting mystifies the spectator and coerces him/her to decipher the true meaning of the piece of art. It is an appearance, or a set of appearances, which has been detached from the place and time in which it first made its appearance and preserved for a few moments or a few centuries. Perhaps the expression exuded from these peasants is Navez's way of illustrating the tormented and arduous lives they led. It is after reading Berger's interpretation of ways of seeing that I have learned to appreciate the distinct divisions of interpretations and messages that Navez intends to elicit in "Pilgrimage in the Roman Campagna", or "Visit to the Miraculous Shrine". To my dismay, the plaque gave a brief biography of Navez but no discussion of its true significance. A melancholy sensation emanates from these peasants. It would have been interesting to hear comments from bystanders so that I could compare my interpretation with theirs and perhaps hone my knowledge of the painting. Everyone in the painting is barefoot. The facial expressions of the peasants seemed to express distress and longing for something.
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