"The Ways of Seeing"

"The Ways of Seeing" provides an incredible insight on the ways in which our life experiences affect our interpretation of images.  His argument is built upon the premise that, "An image is presented as a work of art, the way people look at it is affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions about art".  I find this incredibly interesting because it explains very precisely the reasons that two people can be looking at the exact painting at the same time, in the same place and have completely opposite opinions or reactions to the piece.  

Two years ago, I walked into the Museo De Reina Sophia in Madrid, Spain with my cousin to capture a glimpse of Picasso's Guernica.  After we had spent about 20 minutes pacing the length the painting we continued on.  There was discussion about the impact that the painting had on us, and as John Berger would predict we both looked at it very differently.  My cousin is a history buff, and I am not one for history (I couldn't remember facts if my life depended on it!) but I am an artist.  Each of us, with different backgrounds, were able to enlighten the other on why the piece was so impressive.  While I learned a bit about history, I also opened her eyes to the sophistication of the composition and the use of symbols and shapes to communicate the visual points she was describing.  We were both moved and inspired by the piece, but had completely different emotional reactions.  This painting helped my cousin to build a visualization of her understanding of the Spanish Civil War, and it inspired me to get on the other end of the paint brush.  We will both never forget the impact the painting had on our lives and equally never share the emotion it brought to us, individually.