We are all well aware of such a method of psychologists as the interpretation of drawings. But few people think about what a powerful philosophical foundation it is based on.

When the children and I studied the most difficult topic “The worldview crisis of the late 19th - early 20th centuries and its reflection in literature and art”, I explained to them the essence of art using a very simple, everyday and familiar example for every mother. Once I came to the kindergarten for my sons and on the stairs I saw an exhibition of drawings for March 8th. I confess that I was looking for my portrait with some fear: it was in the midst of the 90s, and there was not enough money not only for a hairdresser, but even for food. I looked haggard in those years, and, as it soon became clear, I was already on the verge of depression, from which I broke after a couple of weeks. In addition, my front tooth had already been half chipped for a long time, and this also prevented me from smiling.

Imagine my shock when I discovered that my son portrayed me with golden hair and a cheerful smile. Like an insight, the thought came: little things and trifles are not important for children - they penetrate into the very essence of phenomena. Mom is beauty, kindness and a smile. And a real mother may be tired and angry, but the child will draw her cheerful and beautiful. At least not until proven otherwise. Therefore, children's drawings must be treated carefully and carefully, remembering that art is a way of knowing the world. However, what do we most often require from a child? So that he draws and sculpts, achieving maximum resemblance to reality.

And now a person grows up, for whom the highest praise for a work of art is “as in life”, and even “as in a photograph”, reducing the role of art to simple copying. But it is exactly what should stop our gaze that does not coincide with our idea of ​​​​the world around us, because it is precisely these things that can reveal the truth to us. The artist does not just draw from life or randomly throws paint on the canvas - he tries to comprehend the meaning of what he sees. Visual art reveals to us life as it really is, and not as we used to imagine it. In this, art approaches science, and in modern philosophy there is a special term - non-scientific forms of cognition. It is not necessary, like some scientists, to be skeptical about these forms, because the philosophical method of cognition also belongs to this category. Art and science are not opposed, but complement each other.

Therefore, try in the museum not to pass by what you do not understand, but to stop and think about why. Get into the habit of stopping in front of one picture, which depicts, for example, a landscape, and wonder why this particular view, often very ordinary, attracted the attention of the artist. Believe me, this is very interesting and will help you understand a lot ... in yourself.

Pieter Brueghel (the Elder). Adoration of the Magi in a winter landscape. 1567

Why is art necessary? Some will say - for relaxation, others - for pleasure, others - for the artist's self-expression. Of course, this is partly true, but only partly. Art is, first of all, a document of the era, it reflects the thoughts, aspirations, faith, hope of a generation that conveys its message to the next generations. At the same time, art is a special way to express an idea, verbally, visually, musically, so that it can be heard, perceived and not lost in time. And this imprinted image, a written text, a person of another era is able to understand and decipher. It can be said that art serves as a conduit for the transmission of an idea to a new generation. A vivid example of this is the Gospel, which is not only a record of the Word of God, but also a great work of verbal art that has inspired many artists, poets, and composers over the centuries. We can say that the gospel text was created by people in synergy with God, it is inspired by God. But to a certain extent, art becomes art when there is inspiration from above, because a person has been given this gift from God - the ability to create. The only question is what idea, thought guides the artist. What does he want to say to his contemporaries and future generations? Will he leave evidence of faith and love or hatred and destruction?

With the advent of man, art also appears on earth. We find images on the walls of caves, stone sculptures and clay figurines, painted pottery and bone products dating back to the prehistoric period, when there was no writing. All this suggests that ancient people sought to create not only utilitarian things, useful and necessary for survival, but also something that brings joy, decorates life, teaches something, lifts a person above the ordinary existence.

Creativity is what distinguishes man from animals. At first glance, we find something similar in nature: birds make nests, beavers build huts, the social structure of bees and ants is striking in its organization. But for thousands of years, beaver dwellings and bird nests do not change in their design, they do not turn into architecture with changing styles that is striking in beauty, and not only habitable. The technology of making honey by bees and the arrangement of anthills also do not change and are not improved. The instinct invested by God does not develop, but works always and everywhere in the same way, while a person is capable of developing his talents, he is constantly looking for something new and trying to create something that did not exist before him. This property makes him related to God, who creates the world from nothing and creates everything new.

It was God the Creator who put the ability for creativity into man, we are created in His image and likeness. God is the greatest Artist, in Greek "creator" - "poets", "poet". God creates the world according to the laws of beauty and harmony, writes it like a beautiful poem, creates it like a magnificent architecture, like a grandiose musical symphony. And God admired this beautiful world as a work of art: “And God saw that it was very good!” And God created man in order to have someone to rejoice at the beauty of creation, so that there is someone who can appreciate this beauty, who can preserve and cultivate it, continue and develop, comprehend and sing!

Art, no doubt, was born in paradise, although we do not know what it was. But it is clear that man could not help admiring the wisdom of God. It can be imagined that Adam, like David later, exclaimed: “How many are Your works, Lord! You have done everything in wisdom; the earth is full of your works!” (Ps 103:24). And if creation sings of the Creator, then the crown of creation, man, created to sing of Him, had to become the regent of this choir, the conductor of the great sounding universe.

But it so happened that Adam did not fulfill the mission entrusted to him, lost paradise, lost the opportunity to contemplate God face to face, while he did not stop feeling the harmony of the world and hear the music of the spheres, did not lose the ability to be creative. But his art has become, in many ways, nostalgia for a lost paradise. Moving away from God and enslaving the creature, a person began to feel the need for creativity as self-expression, it became the cry of his soul, crying, prayer. He discovered the cognitive possibilities of creativity and began to develop the communicative functions of art. But often he turned his divine abilities to his own benefit, moving away from God. Of course, from time to time a longing for God broke through in art, a desire to see God, to get closer to Him. And it gave rise to great works of art. However, having lost the knowledge of God, a person refined his imagination, invented God or gods, tried to break into the paradise closed to him with the help of art, endowing him with magical power, sometimes bordering on infernal spheres. Like everything in the world after the fall, art acquired duality: it could both lead to God and lead away from Him.

But God, knowing this, began to educate His people, protecting them from dangers. The second commandment of the Decalogue, which forbids depicting God in any way, because God is above everything created, conceivable and pictorial, put a kind of fence for human creativity. This showed God's concern for man so that he would not fall into idolatry. This commandment does not deny art, God does not deprive a person of creativity and the ability to create beauty, but teaches us to see the truth in beauty. The Bible says that God Himself gave instructions on how to create a tabernacle and Temple, how to decorate them, what patterns to weave, and what precious stones to lay out the clothes of the high priests. And the ancient Jews learned through the art of serving God. Divine services, musical instruments, numerous choirs - all this undoubtedly belongs to the field of art, and all this is successfully developing among God's chosen people. But the most amazing phenomenon in Jewish culture was David the Psalmist, an example of high art, perfect creativity, which is beautiful in form and deep in content and has been inspiring poets for thousands of years. The Psalms testify to the deep faith of the Jews, and this has been handed down from generation to generation right up to our time. There is an example of pure poetry in the Bible - this is the Song of Songs, a lyrical poem about the love of a young man and a girl. Later, interpreters and sages will read it allegorically, as a story about the relationship between the soul and God, Christ and the Church, but initially it is still a poem about simple human love, written in an amazing style, with vivid metaphors and a sharp plot.

There are many different genres in the Bible that reflect various forms of literary art: historical chronicles and parables, rhetoric and epics, drama and tragedy, proverbs and sayings, lamentations and even elements of humor, etc. Such genre diversity of the Book of Books suggests that the Jewish people were undoubtedly talented and that God allowed their talents to manifest and develop.

But why all this to God and why to man? What is art for anyway? The Bible, of course, is a divine message to mankind, transmitted through God's chosen people to the whole world. This message was formed over the centuries, formed gradually, accumulated, first transmitted through oral tradition, so that the memory of the great deeds of God would be preserved from generation to generation. Then this legend was written down, now it is read and comprehended. But after all, ideally, all art is like this - this is the message of one generation to others, the future, this is the message of one people - to others, one person - to another person. We talked about pre-literate eras, it is through art that we learn how we lived, what we believed in, how the ancient man understood the world. We also learn about the life of disappeared peoples, such as the Maya and Aztecs in South America, from their art, exploring the excavations of cities, pyramidal temples, bizarre images on reliefs, etc. Yes, and closer to us eras convey their message to us through paintings, sculptures, verbal and musical creativity. This is a message, and an exchange of gifts, education of the soul, and sometimes a revelation. If there were no Bach's music, how would we understand how high a prayer can ascend?! If it weren’t for Dante’s Divine Comedy, we wouldn’t think about what paths human souls take, carrying with them the burden of their sins, and how great is God’s mercy, which opens the way to redemption. Some works are easy for us to understand, and we perceive the idea invested in them immediately, some keep a mystery that entire generations are trying to unravel, such as the Mona Lisa smile, and others cause fierce debate, like Malevich’s Black Square. Art gives us the opportunity to feel that the world is beautiful and complex, diverse and many-sided, that it has different spheres, different facets, different languages.

The Lord gives each person his own talent, and to some, several, and by realizing these gifts, a person increases the wealth of God's world. If he buries his gift, even with pious intentions, the world of God will be impoverished, humanity will lose a lot. If he uses the gift not for good, but for evil, he will become the enemy of God and the destroyer of the world. But God cannot be mocked, the glory of Herostratus turns into eternal shame and damnation through the ages. This, too, is a way of conveying a warning to other generations.

Art is the school of humanity, but learning in this school takes place not so much through the mind as through feelings, through the education of the soul. Even controversial art makes us think about ourselves and the world we live in. The main thing is to learn to see and perceive, to hear the voice of the Creator through the earthly voices, and through the images created by people, to be able to see the image of God. Sometimes you need great art that can touch the deepest strings of our soul so that we understand some kind of truth. It is no coincidence that the Lord resorted to parables, explaining the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, and these were bright beautiful images presented with the grace of a true poet: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net… like leaven… like a mustard seed, etc.”

So what is art for? One wise man said this: "Art is not salvation, but a wise staff for those who follow the path of salvation."

(519 words) If a person lives in a society and leads an active lifestyle, then he is obliged to understand culture, because this knowledge is necessary for someone who wants to take a worthy place in society, because it develops a personality and is able to give it new ideas to create innovative projects and original solutions in various fields of work. In addition, an understanding of art shapes our own taste and helps us appreciate a genuine masterpiece and distinguish it from a cheap fake. All this makes our life richer and brighter. To explain my point of view, I will give examples from books.

In M. A. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, Ivan Bezdomny also became a victim of his ignorance. He wrote poetry, although he did not know how to do it at all. Its activities were managed and directed by Berlioz, who did not care about the quality of the text, it was only important to him that the officials approved his editorial work. The young man simply did not have enough education, he did not know and did not read other literature, except for the party. Therefore, his poems resembled the works of the beginning of time, when people were not yet so developed spiritually and intellectually. Ivan realized his mistake only when he met a truly talented Master. The writer pointed out the squalor of Bezdomny's work, and the young man listened to the neighbor's opinion. He promised him that he would no longer stain the paper. Lack of understanding of art put the hero in a stupid position and forced him to waste time on things that he did not need. This means that we need this knowledge in order to soberly evaluate our activities and see the difference between talent and mediocrity.

Thus, an understanding of art is necessary because it enables a person to correctly evaluate the phenomena and objects related to culture. This ability allows him to understand what surrounds him, so such a connoisseur is not easily deceived by an inflated figure. In addition, artistic taste helps us live more interesting, brighter and richer, because we are all pleased to create and see beauty around, not squalor.

This is a rather interesting question, for which there is no complete answer yet, as far as I know. And I will try to answer exactly from a scientific/biological point of view, without any attempt at philosophizing or making sense (I warned you!).

But there are speculations. Let's start with a small example:

What do you see in this picture? Most likely you see here a rather skeptical (or simply dissatisfied) face and a crookedly drawn cube. Correctly? In fact, of course, there is no face here. It's just two dots and a slash. But you see the face. You can't help but see the face. Moreover, you even "see" the "emotion" on this "face" (more quotes!).

Cuba is not here either. A cube is a three-dimensional figure, while a figure is two-dimensional. But you "see" the volume. But in reality it's just a few curved lines. And here you should, for good, stop and think: what the hell is going on here. why do you see a face instead of two dots and a dash? How can it even be a face? Where is the cube from? Why can't you stop.

Well now look here. Same items:

Yes, now it is a set of some points and curved lines, which it has been all this time. The magic is gone.

Why am I all this. What I mean is that we see the world not as it is (whatever that means). We see a model built on the interpretation of signals from the senses. And this model goes through a huge processing, with the selection of different objects, the completion of the missing, etc. And it's all completely out of control. But sometimes this system fails, and the following pictures are obtained:

Many people can look at a picture for several minutes and see nothing but a brick wall. But after they see this "something else" - it will already be there forever. This again shows that as we see it is not what it is. The picture of the world comes to us only after heavy post-processing by our neural networks of the brain. The important is singled out from the signals and the superfluous is eliminated. Moreover, what is important and what is superfluous is not always obvious. Like the picture above, for example.

And so, what does art have to do with it? Well, according to one of the hypotheses, art is, including the use of undocumented features of these same neural networks. This allows us to see on the painted rags what is not really there, to hear inspired melodies in strange rhythmic and squeaky sounds, and so on.

That is, roughly speaking, art can simply be a by-product of critical information processing channels, and not carry any practical value (from a biological point of view, of course).

But, most likely, everything is much more complicated and this hypothesis does not claim to be an exhaustive explanation of the entire phenomenon, as usual. Well, for example, because the very concept of beauty has a biological meaning. . But in general, this is a question that is very difficult to study, because there is too much subjective and superficial cultural in it.

On June 20, I have a retrospective at the Russian Museum, which is flattering. It has absolutely nothing to do with art.

Amuses pride, but does not apply to art.

Generally speaking, the phenomenon of exhibitions arose at a time when art had lost its significance - Michelangelo, working on the Sistine Chapel, was not burdened by the lack of exhibitions, and Mantegna wrote his Triumphs for ten years, living at the court of dEste, and about the fact that It was he who wrote, no one knew. Moreover, these "Triumphs", not appreciated by the DEste family, were gathering dust unnecessarily until they were acquired by the English Charles II and dumped them in Hampton Court, where they were hung in a dark pavilion and where almost no one sees them to this day.

I’ll ask you: do you know about the painting “Triumphs” by Andrea Mantegna, I’m almost sure that none of you even imagines the presence of this work - and this is a polyptych of nine canvases, each six meters long, and this is one of the most significant works of the Renaissance . I'm not exaggerating, this is not to achieve reader surprise, it's just the way it is: Mantegna worked for ten years on a thing that clarifies the concept of Plato - finished it, died, the picture was not needed, then the conceited Englishman bought it, hung it in country estate, and they forgot about the painting.

But the picture did not cease to exist and give its energy to the world. The picture is hidden, and we do not see it, but the effect of its presence in the world is enormous.

Art exists in order to give our not always meaningful existence the energy of authenticity. It is the kind of energy that gives people the ability to feel compassion for others; to experience feelings that were previously unknown to them; to compare their inherent emotions with the incomprehensible emotions of their own kind, to feel the world around them more sharply. This is a kind of recognition of the world, however, this is not the knowledge that science gives people, it is rather an ecstatic experience. Art condenses this experience and gives it to the world - moreover, true art has the ability to produce this action constantly for centuries. Here, the picture of Mantegna exists, and this action takes place regularly, regardless of whether someone sees the picture or not.

You see, I am sure that the emanation of the spirit is an objective physical phenomenon.
You have probably paid attention to groups of tourists who march through the Hermitage or the Louvre without turning their heads towards the painting - it is customary to make fun of such people.

I think that they are laughed at in vain: these people receive an incredible charge of art, a powerful injection of the authenticity of being. Paintings give them their energy, even if people do not look at the paintings.

The need for art exhibitions arose in a society that began to produce one-day crafts instead of art designed for eternity. Mantegna wrote for the ages (like Plato, whom he deciphered), but the journalist writes on the topic of the day, the coupletist composes for the day of the firefighter, and the modern artist, if he does not show his works before dinner, will already cease to be modern, that's the disaster . The risk of "not having time to declare oneself", to be late with self-expression - appeared in the destroyed consciousness; this is a consequence of a mental disorder instilled in the whole society by the virus of journalism.

Art, like life itself, either exists or it doesn't, and the so-called "truth of art" lies in the fact that this truth does not need to be proven. The desire to correspond to the "truth of the moment", the so-called "relevance" - is already crazy because the moment, by definition, can never be right. Butterfly shows take place all over the world every day, fashion parades shock enlightened humanity every season, and magazine zoyls have to joke and snap their teeth anew every day. This is watchdog activity, it takes place in the foyer of the theater, but art itself is about something else.

One of my teachers was the Moscow artist Evgeny Andreevich Dodonov, who died in the late 70s. This is a significant Russian artist, although you have never heard of him. However, you also haven’t heard about the “Triumphs” of Mantegna.

Evgeny Andreevich outwardly resembled Zabolotsky: a neat man in a jacket, in round glasses, at home he walked in boots. There are people (university professors or retired military men) who keep their bearings when they retire - that's what he was. He walked through the rooms of the block kopeck piece near the Kyiv railway station with a leisurely, calm step - always with a straight back, always in polished shoes.

He did not drink alcohol, did not smoke, did not know how to swear - against the colorful background of the artists of those years, he looked like an accountant. Then (however, always) the artists with their appearance emphasized the originality of their nature, and abuse and drunkenness were a necessary decoration - and the scenery occupied three-quarters of the stage. However, an indulgence soon followed: the genre of performance produced everyday outrages in creativity.
Dodonov did not like any of this and did not know how, and could not enter into any freedom-loving company.

He didn't want to join any company. He was a stubborn draftsman - all his life he painted what happened to him and his generation: he painted camps and transfers, queues for food, strange scenes in provincial squares, crying people, refugees, beggars. Dodonov spent more than ten years in the camp, left after the war, and for the next years he told what happened to the country.

He painted on paper - in pencil and tempera - for the reason that an easel with canvas would not fit in a room. Dodonov drew for a long time, savoring the strange details, drawing out the details, and then he put the pictures under the bed. Neither exhibitions nor sales were expected. Dodonov's style should most likely be called "expressionism", if we keep in mind that the line is tense, and the features of the characters are treated grotesquely. All such definitions are conditional, and the phenomenon of expressionism in Russian art is defined inaccurately. In essence, expressionism inherits stylistic devices from icon painting: in the Russian case, from the Novgorod icon, and in the Spanish case, for example, it is Greek icon painting, through the Cretan El Greco. Russian expressionists were Filonov, Goncharova. Chagall, Falk, Drevin - but, I repeat, the matter is not in the reception, not in the course of the hand. Iconic ardor, from which this style originated, is inherent in someone, but not in someone: we with equal reason call Van Gogh, Georges Rouault and Egon Schiele an expressionist. Dodonov was a sincere, fanatical man, and this is all the more surprising - that in everyday life he was restrained and boringly neat. But after all, Van Gogh's paintings are placed in neat frames.

Very often we see just the opposite examples: a stormy personality, producing a crushing decorative effect with its appearance, in reality creates absolutely nothing - and Yevgeny Andreevich was a well-mannered person and behaved with restraint, but his pictures were extremely stormy.

Posthumously, he had one exhibition - in the Tretyakov Gallery, in 2000. They looked, they were even amazed, many liked it, but they forgot right there - the “truth of the moment” was in overcoming the crisis of the 98th, in new loans, in the arrival of Putin, in accordance with world brands and trends - such passions, gasp! Exhibitions of contemporary artists rolled through the galleries of the world, this is such an ongoing marathon of ambitions - to be in time there, and then here: Venice, Basel, London, rather, whoever did not have time is late! What does Dodonov have to do with it. So his things lay under the bed. True, recently his paintings were acquired by the Volga Art Gallery, a new museum has appeared; I am proud to have contributed to this. The exposition will immediately feature about twenty works by Dodonov.

However, that doesn't mean anything either. They acquired it by a miracle, they might not have noticed - after all, he was not a member of famous groups, he did not meet with the right people at the right time.

It is customary to say: his time will come. This is nonsense, don't believe it. This should never be a consolation. The time may or may not come - understood as a moment, as an actuality, as a newspaper clicker article, as "fifteen minutes of fame" - such a time may never come. But that time doesn't matter. The time of the artist, having come once, always remains - art is in no hurry, it simply is, it remains, even forgotten, even unknown, it changes the world - this is its strength.

This power is invincible.