Overview-4

Our World

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? By Paul Gauguin, 1897  Image in the public domain.

 

OVERVIEW

If nothing else, visual art provides an avenue for self-expression. As a primary source, artists express attitudes, feelings, and sentiments about the world around us through personal experiences, social interaction, and our relationship with the natural world. In short art gives us a perception of, or a reaction to, our place in the world. This idea is illustrated in the French artist Paul Gauguin’s painting (above), Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? The work brings us on a symbolic journey that includes imagery of infancy, adulthood, nature, and spirituality.

In an earlier module we referred to description as one of many roles art affords us, but this description is often imbued with the artist’s subjective interpretation. In this module we will examine how art operates as a vehicle for human expression, a kind of collective visual metaphor that helps define who we are.

In this module we look at how artists express and interpret our world. Here are the topics and themes we’ll cover:

•  Identity
• Self-Portraits
• The Natural World
• Social and Collaborative Art
• Politics, Conflict and War
• Memorials
• Peace