3 Steps to Understand Art

How can you better understand a piece of art? Don't worry, it's not as complicated as it may seem! Here's a three-step guide to help you better understand artworks.👇🏼

Let's admit it! At least once in your life, you looked at a work of art and didn't understand a thing. You might have even said, "A five-year-old could do that, right?" Well, Picasso would have been really offended. He thinks it is much more difficult to paint like a child than to paint like Raphael.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” - Picasso

The first requirement of looking at a painting, as in making it, is to have a child's perspective. Curious and unbiased…

Erwin Panofsky, one of the most important 20th-century art historians, developed a simple three-step technique for understanding works of art.

Step I: Look

Studies show that each person spends about 8 seconds looking at an artwork. That's why the first step is super simple: just look. What is in front of us? Is it a photograph, sculpture or painting? What does it feel like at first glance? Does it look as if it was made in a hurry, or as if a long time was spent on it? What is its surface like? Is it smooth? Does it have a shiny texture or does it look like it has not been dusted?

The artists make many important decisions while creating their work. The materials, the style and the approach they adopt... All of them have a direct impact on the tone and meaning of the work.

Step II: See

Let's start with the difference between looking and seeing. Looking is about describing what is in front of us; seeing is about giving it meaning. When we see, we understand what we look at as symbols and interpret them.

This is where Panofsky's concept of "iconography" comes into play. Iconography is the name given to symbols in works of art. According to Panofsky, every detail we observe in a work of art carries a deeper significance.

Take, for example, Pablo Picasso's unforgettable work Guernica. Painted in 1937, this painting depicts the horrors of war. The screaming horse in the centre, a dismembered arm beneath it, a woman mourning with her dead baby, and an explosion of light enveloping all of it... All these details form the powerful anti-war message in the work.

Step III: Think

And that brings us to the final step. Thinking about the observations from the first two steps... It's the hardest one. But don’t worry. In art, we are not interested in finding the right answers. Instead, we use our creativity to make sense of the language of the work.

Context is key when it comes to understanding artworks. It's hard to fully appreciate a piece without considering the artist and the society they lived in. For example, what do we know about the artist? Do we know the society in which the work was created? What kind of a historical period was that time? Was there a war? What was the economy like? What did people believe in? Here, all that we know becomes our guide while interpreting the work.

In fact, interpreting a work of art is like doing some detective work. The important thing in this process is not to forget the first requirement: A child's perspective. Curious and unbiased ...

The Easiest Way to Understand Art

It's Piri Guide. From paintings to sculptures, from classical art to modern art, Piri Guide has an extensive library. Salvador Dali, Sandro Botticelli, Gustav Klimt, Pablo Picasso... Listen to the artists you are curious about and their works at Piri Guide. To download Piri Guide now, click here.