Talking About Art: From Prehistory to the Renaissance

About the Topic

In art museums, we often see visitors consulting exhibition guides, taking photographs, or looking through books to find a work’s title and supposed central meaning.

Is this a good painting?

Does painting well mean painting realistically?

What makes it a masterpiece?

Why is this artist called a master?

Must appreciating art mean searching for the right labels?

Is art really so mysterious?

Do the familiar phrases piled up in art criticism put you off?

How might we approach a work of art?

Can we look differently and explore it more closely?

Why read art history?

Gombrich’s The Story of Art is not a dry academic arrangement of works. It tells a story from early cave paintings to experimental art, presenting art history as a history of traditions repeatedly changing course.

This substantial survey also gives readers new to art a way to look at works for themselves.

On this quiet Friday evening, let’s talk about the story of art.