Ways Of Seeing

John Berger has a very unique standpoint on the way we as people, see and view art. At first, when reading this essay, I thought it to be a rather arcane concept. In order to really comprehend what Berger is trying to convey, you have to be as objective as possible. Berger suggests that surroundings as well as the viewer’s pre-conceived notions significantly affect art, especially after technology. One way he explains this is by referring to perspective as “the eye of the visible world”. For instance, in a renaissance church or chapel, we will inevitably associate the paintings on the walls and ceiling with the aura of the setting that we are in. We might connect the people or events in the paintings as a part of the history of said chapel or church.

The surrealist artist René Magritte tried to illustrate this same concept in her painting “The Key to Dreams”.  The Key To Dreams is a four square painting which shows an item in each punnett. The first quadrant shows a horse, the second a clock, the third a jar or jug and the fourth a suitcase. Each of these images contains wording on the bottom, which has completely nothing do with the picture: the horse reads “the door”, while the clock reads “the wind” and so forth. The background to each of these images is pitch black, which I believe was done purposely.

If the background had been all white, for example, the images would not have been perceived with such a “dark connotation”; it would instead be “the white horse”, or the ‘timeless clock” rather than the dark horse and the harrowing timer. This painting also demonstrates how images are independent from the words used to describe them because they are simply viewed through personal viewer portrayal/perception. Berger proposes that this is because "seeing comes before words".

This article also touches upon how modern technology has forever changed the way art is viewed. Because you can view art from the comfort of your home or office, it alters the way the art is regarded. Berger suggests that this is so because “everything around the image is part of the meaning” In “The Key To Dreams”, each image is a single noun surrounded by darkness. While the black background can change the way the piece is viewed in terms of undertone, it also allows for the illustration itself to remain untouched by outside influences because the image is constricted to a solid background within 4 lines.

A great way to also break this perspective down is imagining a picture of a heavy-set or fat man (or woman) and labeling it with the wording “skinny”. It doesn’t matter if every person around you also viewing the image is describing it as “skinny” because you will only SEE exactly what you perceive. This ties in with the cliché saying of "the sky is blue, even if someone says otherwise". I am paraphrasing, of course. 

Art can be manipulated in many ways, especially when it comes to portraits of people, mainly women. An artist who perfectly mastered the skill of manipulation for visual purposes is Andy Warhol. He is especially known for his pop-art painting of Marilyn Monroe. Berger mentions that Warhol successfully depicts her as the "creature of envy”. Everything that is pleasurable from looking at a woman is accentuated in his painting. 

The background a solid color, but, a color that compliments the painting in its entirety. The hair stands out, the lips are a darker shade and so are the eyes. It almost appears as a stencil drawing. It is not at all realistic considering the neon colors used. But still, her futures are presented so magnificently that they embody everything that is viewed as aesthetically “beautiful” and “sexual” to man and “ideal” to women. Thus creating a covetous meaning.