"Our quest to understand art begins with a challenge, as a gallery encourages us to see art artificially. We are presented with a mass of paintings stripped from their original context. In the National Gallery in London, up until the 18th century probably most of the art on display was made to hang in a religious setting. The deep beliefs of the people looking at such pictures meant they were subconsciously understood as much as read."
"As far as he was concerned, the painting was first and foremost a tangible representation of the Son of God, the Virgin Mary and the saints around them. The painting represented his faith and reinforced it. Hanging in the same place it was made for and in its original frame, it was as fresh and purposeful for him as it had been for his predecessors over 500 years ago."
Reading a painting requires attention to historical and living context. Galleries present works removed from their original settings, which can obscure devotional, social, or political meanings. Many pre-18th-century paintings were created for religious spaces and were subconsciously understood through shared beliefs. A painting retained in its original church and frame can remain a living object of faith. Contemporary street works, such as Banksy’s graffiti, gain immediate meaning when tied to current events and audiences. When removed from those contexts or historicized as art-history objects, paintings can appear puzzling or off-putting, demanding additional instruction or background to be fully grasped.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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