A FEW WORDS ABOUT ART(Charles E.J. Moulton) A FEW WORDS ABOUT ART

On the cave walls of France pre- historical men used mud and dirt in order to draw pictures of what they aimed to catch or what they had experienced during the day. It came from the urge in mankind to express themselves and grow to subsist as a mirror of what happened around them. Their thinking thus became abstract; they reflected on themselves, they tried to see what their deed actually had changed in their life and what their future deeds could change and how to better their own thinking. So, after a long day’s work and toil they would paint.
That has not changed.
Art is reflection. Reflection means that it is a form of meditation, but also a mirror. Art offers an echo and lets people see a new item in an old way or an old thing in a new manner.
Even the most banal song has some meaning.
That will never change. Art is necessary.
In the approximate words of Mr Holland from the film Mr. Holland’s Opus:

You can teach children of all ages to add up and read and write, but if you take away art and music soon enough they will have nothing to read and write about.

How did some artists reflect on themselves?
Rubens painted 1600 paintings in his life. He painted a great deal of them himself. The ones from his studio were overseen by him in every single case. He sketched the originals and chose Frans Snyders for the animals, Jan Brueghel the Elder for the landscapes and Jacob Jordaens for the people in the art. His entire army of painters would then paint under his supervision in his golden workshop. When the painting was finished he would paint it over once with an own coat of paint so that the painting really could be called “originally” his.
Raphael has been compared with Mozart.
They both took ideas from other famous teachers and changed them into a new variation. They used clichés, but with such impeccable brilliance that every note and brushstroke “sat” and would be wrong if altered even a millimetre.
Rapahel’s masters were Perugino and Giovanni Santi. Mozart’s were Telemann, Bach, Leopold Mozart and his good friend Joseph Haydn.
What is the similarity between these artists and the cave painters? Their need to experience themselves anew. According to Neal Donald Walsh, that is why we are here. Thus, art becomes the meaning of life. Wow.
Even the modern painters reflect society.
Rubens was a star painter and reflected his sponsors and female beauty. That was his meaning.
Raphael reflected his love of religion and the countless symbols and research that went to his work.
When we look at Picasso, Scoli Acosta or Liechtenstein or conceptual artists like Yoko Ono, they might baffle us. Nevertheless, they all reflect the world around them. We all need to remember that art is the nourishment and language of the soul.
Therefore art might be the most important thing we have to express ourselves.
If the artists name is Placido Domingo, Claude Monet, Helge Schneider or Robbie Williams, something they did during the day has slipped into their work. Even if it is just a bad stomach or a smile.
Just like that old hunter who painted his paintings of animals in caves, we all express ourselves in art to leave something of ourselves behind us before we leave.
Our inner truth.

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