"Ways of Seeing"
Everyone has different knowledge on a given topic and it has influence on his perception. The things we know determine how we see the world around us; they shape our beliefs and thinking. In his article Berger presents to us the idea of how learning new information about a piece of art, a painting for example, changes our perception. His example is Vincent van Gogh’s Wheatfield with Crows. By giving us more details on the history behind the actual painting he makes us look even closer and question our own opinion. Suddenly everything makes sense-the dark feeling, the emptiness, etc. The fact that this painting was the last piece Gogh painted before he killed himself makes us go deeper into the image, appreciate and understand it. Through this example Berger points out how knowledge is a huge part of the way we look at our surrounding. What we have learned helped us build our understanding of how other people saw the world around them, how they felt and what they wanted. But that doesn’t mean that everybody sees the same image and story. Knowledge just gives us the chance to notice things we couldn’t before.
Comments
I thought about the Van Gogh painting and how you percieve things given certain information. A picture that looked like a night in the field, turned in to the last thoughts of a man who ended his life because of the information given. I like your points on how not every person percieves things in the same way, that is very true.
Posted by: Rianna | January 24, 2007 9:18 PM
Your opinion about the ways of seeing is very similar to my opinions on the matter. The knowledge you have previously attained for yourself affects the way you see ever day things, art, or anything else for that matter so much very much. This knowledge and maybe even possibly imagination can come from so many places.
Posted by: Aaron Windels | February 2, 2007 12:23 PM