Vincent Van Gogh's Interpretation Of Art

As Anais Nin said, "We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are". As human beings, we actively process the information around us. Each one of us is unique and we interpret things in different ways according to our background, beliefs, reason, emotion and perception. Have you ever come across a situation as simple as a traffic accident. Each driver would blame the other and people around the accident would have different opinions about who is to blame. How is that different people on viewing the same accident, have different viewpoints? This is due to our different interpretations and as a result of this, disagreements may occur. Disagreements are conflicting views and opinions and are crucial in the pursuit of knowledge. They

When an artwork is created, the artist uses a set of emotions to create it. Similarly, while an expert views an artwork, he/she will interpret it using a different set of emotions. Thus one's interpretation of an artwork could differ from the intent and the classification of an artwork. Art is subjective and open to interpretation. In the "Wheatfield with crows" that was painted by Vincent Van Gogh, many experts believe that the crows in the painting are thought to represent loneliness and isolation. However, the latter believed that the crows are a symbol of death. However, Vincent Van Gogh painted the crows as a representation of freedom. In this example, on viewing the same painting, two different groups of experts came to different conclusions and this differed from the intent of the artwork. Thus disagreements in art could occur as a result of interpreting the painting using different set of emotions. The emotions that an expert uses are thus consequently depended on his/her past experiences and subjective beliefs. However, we need to question where the disagreements exists, does it exists in the emotion used to interpret the painting or the emotion provoked by the

In the natural sciences, disagreements occur as a result of reason. Reason is used by experts to doubt the validity of findings and delve deeper in the subject. In the arts, both our emotions and our past experiences influence our understanding of what is truth in art. Our understanding of what is the truth allow for different perspectives and interpretation of given facts. In a artwork the emotion provoked by the artwork and the emotion used to interpret the artwork coupled with our culture, beliefs and experiences contribute to conflicting opinions. Truth in art is subjective and differs from person to person this is what brings disagreements between experts. Through disagreements experts confirm finding and explore knowledge further. This helps to validate the conclusions drawn and theories formulated. In the arts, disagreements increase value of a painting. In the case of the Mona Lisa, Her smile is complicated and many experts disagree on the nature of the smile. Now the Mona Lisa is worth 100 million dollars. Thus disagreements are caused due to different subjective interpretations and this helps to acquire more reliable facts and