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How To Analyze Art
A Step-By-Step Guide On What To Research
Whenever I am in a museum I feel pressured to witness as many pieces of art as I can, therefore I stroll around the creaky floors at a slow but constant speed, slightly pausing at the art the grabs my attention. There are the pieces that I can pass by easily, there are the ones that I like and take a picture of, and there are the ones that I need to research later, hang up a replica I printed off to hang in my room, and continue to stare at it. One of those paintings is Printemps (Spring) by Francis Picabia.
The dynamism of the flowing sheet and the amazing use of color for the skin had me mesmerized from the first time that I laid eyes on it. The magazine cutout of this painting still hangs on my wall to this day.
But where do we start when we want to analyze that piece of art? The first question you need to answer is:
How does this piece make you feel?
Finding out how it makes you feel will help you identify the features that cause this reaction. For example, one might feel wistful while looking at a painting of a sailboat on the open sea, versus the compelling visuals of a…