Artist Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh are names of master painters we are quite familiar with. But are we familiar with their work? Can we interpret their work or understand what their paintings are about? Probably not.

In the past art is something that has always been for the wealthy and affluent class, to be educated about, to seek out and collect, some wealthy patrons funded an artist buying their supplies and providing them with a studio to work in. The middle class has been left out when it comes to education and being able to comprehend the art of the masters. Art is a great source of pleasure to many and it also helps to deepen our perspective towards life and death. Learning about and observing art is a passion for some people. They delve into the works of a particular artist and use different perspectives to interpret it.

It is not a difficult process to interpret art and a novice can start with these simple steps-

1) Observe
Art has many aspects that are appealing to our senses. A work might hold your attention due to its subtle nature, subject matter, its beauty, its color, its realistic appearance or many other factors that are of personal taste. Take your time and after having a good look, ask yourself what is it about? Understanding the subject on which it is based is very crucial. It might be a landscape, object or an abstract work.

2) Symbols
Look for symbols. One example, would be the presence of a skull in the picture, the wealthy interpreted that wealth was only worldly, which pointed that their lives were meaningless. Keep in mind that this might not be the artist interpretation of the work. Every individual has a different perspective when they are looking at things. It is best to focus on what the work means and says to you, that is really what art is all about, how do you feel when you look at the work?

3) Style
Style is a reference to the individual artists creativity on the canvas. Their creativity is in the closely detailed work,  controlled work, or the wild ecstatic effect of an abstract. Certain artistic style can also convey a message from that time period and is interpreted different in today’s world.

There are artist’s who will sometimes go out of their way by depicting strong emotions in their painting relating to anger, disgust, lust or even happiness. Art also has a deep emotional streak. Understand what feelings are evoked by seeing a painting and why does it happen? Keep in mind when observing any work of art its’s subject, symbolism, style and self examination that it might bring to you personally. All art does not have to be liked or loved, but finding something about it that you can relate too helps to understand the art.

Images from left to right: Bill Sala, Courtney Jacobs, Heather Edwards, Anne Packard, Charity Anderson, Irene Hardy, Susan Hoehn and Steven McDonald.