Contributor: Brian Anthony. Lesson ID: 11798
Why do you need to learn how to look at a painting? You just look at it, right? No, to appreciate art, you need to LOOK at it. Then, you can really SEE the art behind it. Learn the simple principles!
You walk into an art museum. Fine works of art are displayed everywhere.
If you want to dig for interesting stones, it's not too hard.
Any kid with a small shovel can find neat specimens. If you want to dig for gold or precious jewels, however, you need more time and some specialized tools.
It's the same thing with looking at art. Most people have their sense of what good art is based on whether the art looks beautiful and sensible or ugly and confusing, but there are other tools you can use to get more meaning out of art.
A man named Dr. Albert Barnes devised an interesting approach to looking at art, and he developed one of the greatest art collections in the world in an extraordinary museum outside the city of Philadelphia.
Barnes' gallery is unlike any other, and you will explore his method in the Got It? section.
First, learn about the life of this interesting and complex man. As you read The Legacy of Albert C. Barnes. Part 2. The Barnes Foundation, write down answers to the following questions.
After reading, consider these follow-up questions.
You can tell from his biography that Barnes was no ordinary man, and he did not have a conventional attitude toward art.
In the Got It? section, learn more about what made Barnes' art collection unique and how he thought we should look at art.