– I once felt real catharsis at Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “Van Gogh’s Chair” in the National Gallery in London. I really love Van Gogh for his color, rawness and vitality. There is a lot of life and a lot of loneliness in his works, and this touches the most.
At one time I was very impressed by Anselm Kiefer, for me he is absolutely cosmic, as if you could put the whole Universe in his works.
The works of Alberto Burri are very personal for me; his work with the material is amazing; he very clearly expresses some special inner state of a person.
I love David Hockney for his landscapes, Andy Goldsworthy for his subtle and pure land art.
Of course, the list goes on, I am inspired by a lot, I like a lot in the history of art. In every direction you can find interesting artists. Now there is an opportunity to visit European museums and galleries, this is an invaluable experience.
The painting “Collect Everything” recalled the abstraction “Red Square” by Malevich. Therefore, the next question to the artist was about him.
– How do you feel about Malevich’s work?
– Without a doubt, Malevich is an outstanding artist who revolutionized the idea of painting. Unfortunately, people not associated with art are somewhat dismissive of this artist, which is due to the imposition by the Soviet government of the idea that abstraction is bad and is not art at all. This stereotype is very difficult to overcome.
As an example, I always use Malevich’s peasant cycle works. My favorite is “To the Harvest.” Marfa and Vanka." There is a lot of color and internal tension in it. At first glance it is static, but another moment and we will see movement. For people far from artistic theories, this is closer, and they begin to understand this ill-fated “Black Square” a little better.
Malevich is not only a square, a cross and a triangle. His work is broader and more interesting. It seems to me that we should turn to other works of our outstanding compatriot.
– What is art for you?
– For me, art is a constant discovery of oneself and the world. The opportunity to admit your weaknesses, the opportunity to acquire new strength, to speak frankly with the world on any topic. Each artist himself chooses, so to speak, the topic of conversation. The main thing is to speak sincerely, then you will definitely find someone who will hear you.
For example, my art is about how in this world
A person not only perceives the world around him, but also influences it. We have our own specific attitude towards all objects and phenomena. A person performs certain actions: communicates with friends, reads books, answers a lesson, listens to music, then he experiences various feelings: joy, sadness, inspiration, disappointment.
People express their feelings in art: music, painting, poetry.
When we say the word “painting”, we hear the words “vividly” and “write”.
What does the word “painting” mean?
One legend tells how a Greek artist named Appelles painted a bunch of grapes in a painting. He left the painting on the terrace, and suddenly birds began to flock to it and peck at the painted grapes.
The legend says that an artist, with the help of paints, can very vividly convey the world that we see around us. The very word “painting” means to write “life”.
A work of art made with any colors is called painting.
The artists work with strokes and smoothly.
In what works of painting do artists depict human feelings.
The problem of this project is the analysis of paintings by painters of the 19th and 20th centuries, in which human feelings are depicted in the flexible and rich language of painting.
The goal of the project is to identify what human feelings are embodied by artists in painting.
The following tasks were identified to achieve this goal:
1. Studying theoretical material about human feelings.
2. Selection of paintings by famous Russian painters for research work.
3. Identification of the characteristic features of works in which human feelings are depicted in the language of painting.
Hypothesis:
Is it possible to depict human feelings on paintings?
Do works of art give an idea of human feelings?
Working methods:
Study of literature;
Analysis of paintings by artists;
A selection of paintings dedicated to a children's theme;
Summarizing the information found.
Project structure: the project consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion, and a list of references. To solve the problems, various sources were used.
Human feelings. Classification of feelings.
It happens in our lives that for some reason we are upset, sad, or grieving. Then we cry, weep, complain, that is, we express our emotions. Stronger emotional states arise in a person when he is angry, enraged, scared “to death.” In this case, the person may lose consciousness, turn very red or pale, and begin to stutter.
Everything we perceive evokes some kind of attitude in us, such as joy, admiration, surprise.
A person’s reaction to pleasant or unpleasant influences from the surrounding world is called emotions.
Emotion is usually reflected on the face, in a person’s facial expressions, in his movements and gait. But emotions are not only manifested externally. With strong emotions, the functioning of the heart and other organs of the body changes. For example, usually the heart of an adult makes 70 beats per minute, and with severe excitement the number of beats can reach 100 or more.
I watched the animals and saw:
How the dog rejoices at the arrival of its owner;
How she growls at a stranger;
How a cat purrs contentedly after a hearty meal or affection;
And how a cat arches its back and makes a menacing appearance if by chance another cat gets into its apartment.
Anger, fear, despondency, curiosity - some animals have all these emotional states. However, people's emotions are much richer and more varied. They are connected with living conditions, a person’s work, and with other people who surround him.
A person can understand his condition, change it himself, and overcome negative emotions. For example, he can suppress anger, irritation, hide hostility, dislike for another person, remain polite and calm when he wants to shout or be rude. Of course, this only works for a strong-willed, strong person who has learned to manage his emotions.
People feel not only what their body cannot live without, or what interferes with it. A person also feels something else: love for loved ones, admiration when meeting something beautiful, surprise when seeing an unfamiliar phenomenon.
The most beautiful human feeling is love - a special relationship between a person and another person, an object of nature, or an activity. This is the desire to constantly be close to the object of love, to delight oneself with communication with him. And most importantly, love motivates a person to do good, to bring joy to the one he loves.
Other feelings are shorter lasting and deeper. They can come and go quickly. For example, a mother bought her son a new book. He was happy because he had long wanted to have such a book. For a long time, without stopping, the boy leafed through and read it. But then the first acquaintance took place, and the feeling of joy passed.
Without feelings and emotions, a person would turn into a kind of robot, who knows neither troubles nor joys, nor satisfaction with work, nor the desire for happiness.
All the feelings that we express can be divided into: positive
Joy
Delight
Satisfaction; negative
Disgust.
Very often we cry. There are different opinions on what tears are: some people believe that this is the most vivid manifestation of a person’s feelings; others are a gift from nature to man, capable of restoring the disturbed balance; still others are a medicine that washes the soul.
According to Victor Hugo: “Tears are the mysterious scales of light and darkness.”
People cry not only for themselves, but more often for other people, for everyone, as if carrying within themselves universal grief, universal disorder.
Negative emotions weaken our body. Anger, discontent, and resentment can lead to illness.
Therefore, it is very important to be able to smile, because it helps to treat people kindly and gain their favor. With the help of a smile you can improve your mood. When a person smiles, special substances enter the blood - hormones that are responsible for a good mood.
When people smile, they become beautiful. It turns out that 80 percent of success in life depends on the ability to communicate correctly with other people.
People smile in different ways. Pictures can best tell about this diversity of human smiles. It is the artists who manage to capture the beauty and uniqueness of a smile in their paintings. A person usually opens up when he smiles. It helps to better understand the soul. Maybe that’s why artists so often paint smiling people.
Works by Russian painters, whose canvases depict people's feelings.
Love painting, poets!
Only she is the only one given
Souls of changeable signs
Transfer to canvas.
N. Zabolotsky.
The best artists of Russia, each in their own way, felt and embodied human feelings in their works.
I chose the objects of research: famous paintings by Russian painters, the main characters of which are children.
Let us turn to the painting by artist Vasnetsov “Alyonushka.
We all remember the fairy tale about sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka. This fairy tale tells how Ivanushka drank some water from a puddle and became a little goat. The sad fate of Ivanushka - the disobedient and poor Alyonushka.
What moment of the fairy tale is captured by the artist?
A girl sits by a pond on a “hot” stone, hiding from human eyes to cry out her hopeless grief. With his hands clasped around his knees, his head bowed, he looks into the water with hopeless despair. Thoughts, confused, rush through one after another: “How to live? What will happen to my brother? And do I have a brother? »
Sister Alyonushka experiences a deep feeling of grief and sadness.
Nature is beautiful and sad, the artist uses gloomy colors for the picture; the sky is gloomy. The artist took for his painting a sad motive - a complaint about long-suffering, self-sacrifice, the spiritual beauty of a Russian woman, about her bitter fate, more than once told in fairy tales.
Each blade of grass yearns, complains along with the girl, her sadness is shared by thin, wind-baked aspens, and drooping sedge, and the tear-stained sky.
Where could Vasnetsov have seen such nature and did he come up with the face of this Alyonushka?
Not far from Abramtsev, in the village of Akhtyrki, where Vasnetsov lived in the summer, the artist fell in love with an old overgrown pond. Closely fenced in by a dense spruce forest, with delicate aspen trees on the shore, this corner reminded him of the nature of the distant Vyatka region. Here, near the Akhtyrsky pond, the artist conceived his painting - a fairy tale about poor Alyonushka. In the same vicinity, he met a girl who captured his imagination. Almost still a girl, in a cheap sundress, she walked, immersed in some kind of grief. It is this image that is captured in the artist’s painting.
In the painting “Children Running from a Thunderstorm,” the artist Makovsky conveys the feelings of children frightened by a thunderstorm. The artist conveys the child’s fear with paints, gestures, and facial expressions.
The artist successfully snatched a small episode from village life. A village teenage girl and her younger sister found themselves face to face with the raging elements. She caught them suddenly. The children were picking mushrooms in a nearby grove, as evidenced by a tied apron with mushrooms. The storm is approaching, we need to get home in time. The look of the children speaks of the power of the elements. A strong wind tousled her hair, took the scarf from her head, and bent the tops of the grass. Bare feet run along the sagging walkways. And only a bright spot in the background of the picture gives us hope that the children will still have time to run to the nearest shelter. And you and I sympathize and worry with them.
Artist Perov in the painting “Troika. Artisan apprentices carrying water” depicts children with sad faces.
There was a case when, in front of the artist Perov’s eyes, three children were unable to hold a barrel of water - the sleigh was rolling down, the barrel overturned and turned the slope into a solid ice mountain. With numb hands, the children put the barrel back in place and headed back to the ice hole.
The artist didn’t just want to tell people about the hard work of these kids. He wanted to show them at the moment of greatest tension, so that his picture would not speak, but scream about the inhumane attitude towards defenseless children.
In the background of this painting are adults:
One person pushes a sleigh, helps children in their hard work, the feeling of compassion and mercy is depicted by the artist in this image.
Interesting are the paintings by Fedor Pavlovich Reshetnikov on the themes of children’s life, “Arrived for Vacation” and “Deuce Again.”
The subject of the artist’s paintings is taken as if from life. Fyodor Pavlovich had a daughter, Lyuba. It is precisely with this that the series of works “Again “Deuce”” and “Arrived on Vacation” is associated. This is the era of her school years. Naturally, it’s not her in the picture. It can be assumed that she herself, as a character of a poor student, would refuse to pose. Having decided to paint a picture, the artist came to class, where one boy attracted his attention. He was called to the blackboard, but he didn’t even pick up the book: he stood at the blackboard, his eyes downcast, he twirled the chalk in his hands, and didn’t know what to do with this task. It's clear that a deuce is coming! The artist tried to imagine what awaits the boy when he comes home. This is how the idea for the painting was born. The artist even offered to pose for this boy Seryozha, but he refused.
The artist created two different paintings, two different images. In the center is a teenage boy. In the painting “Deuce Again” the boy has a downcast gaze and flaming cheeks. The boy bowed his head, he was ashamed, and now he would cry.
The painting “Arrived for the Holidays” conveys an atmosphere of joy: a New Year tree, a festively laid table. A boy, a cadet at the Suvorov Military School, salutes his grandfather, an old warrior. A joyful smile lights up the boy’s face, his eyes sparkle.
Surikov’s painting “The Capture of a Snowy Town” gives an idea of the scale of the celebration of Maslenitsa, a favorite holiday among the people.
The artist shows not only the breadth of the holiday, but also the breadth of the Russian soul. All the characters in the picture are full of health and beauty. The coloring of the picture is based on bright, pure colors flashing in the clothes of the crowd, sashes, and patterned scarves.
We see a riot of colors and folk fun.
The game “Capture of the Snow Town” remains from ancient times in memory of the conquest of Siberia by Ermak. “The town” was an echo of an entire era when Russian settlers had to defend themselves from “foreign tribes.”
People have cheerful and perky faces. In the painting the artist depicts:
The rapid movement of a heated rider on a rearing horse, making his way to the town and breaking the snow wall;
Line up the defenders of the town, armed with twigs, brooms, rattles;
The faces of the winners glowing with joy and joy.
What stands out in the picture is a peasant boy in a coat, belted with a sash. His face with a gentle blush seems to be enveloped in frosty fresh air. Using the example of this hero, we can observe the boy’s joy from participating in a common game, fun, and happiness.
In the painting “Horsewoman” by Karl Pavlovich Bryullov, he depicts a young beauty. The girl reined in her horse in front of the veranda of the house, dogs and a little girl ran out to meet her, looking at the rider with admiration and adoration.
The portrait seems to be filled with movement and sounds: dogs bark, it seems that you can still hear the echo of the patter of children’s feet in the echoing corridors. The horse is hot, but the rider herself sits motionless, as if on a pedestal, on his broad back. With great skill, Bryullov paints the rider’s fluttering emerald gauze scarf against the backdrop of the dark greenery of the park (green on green). The portrait is imbued with a joyful feeling of admiration for the festive richness and diversity of life.
It seems that the image of motherhood in the painting by Petrov-Vodkin arose under the influence of ancient Russian painting, which addressed eternal themes: love, motherhood, peace and harmony. The painting “1918 in Petrograd” depicts a woman on a balcony, above a crowded and cold Petrograd street. She, in a white headscarf, is probably a worker. Her child is in her arms. The people below dive into the arched blue, hurrying, as if restless, along the dim pavement.
And the woman who personifies life is calm and quiet. She must preserve and protect the child. She seems to pour her strength into the hand of a little man.
The painting looks very much like an icon. The heroine has a surprisingly spiritual face, not even a face, but a face. We cannot take our eyes off this image of eternal femininity, from a face full of mysterious depth, purity and spirituality. The image of a simple Russian woman rises to the image of Madonna.
Conclusion.
Having analyzed the data we obtained as a result of studying the paintings of famous Russian painters, we came to the conclusion:
Famous Russian artists Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky, Fyodor Pavlovich Reshetnikov, Karl Pavlovich Bryullov, Vasily Ivanovich Surikov, Petrov-Vodkin were able to express human feelings in painting;
It is difficult to draw a clear conclusion and structure all these works.
Each story is a kind of book about the life of a person and society as a whole.
Let us note the features of the paintings in which the tragic sound is felt:
Alyonushka in Vasnetsov’s painting experiences a deep feeling of grief and sadness.
The hero of the painting by the artist Reshetnikov is about to cry with shame for having received a bad grade again.
Frightened children run away from a thunderstorm in Makovsky's painting.
The artist depicts the feeling of compassion and mercy in the image of an adult helping children
The back of the passing passerby is indifference to the backbreaking child labor, the fate of the little person.
Other paintings are full of strength, optimism, and beauty:
Surikov’s painting “The Capture of a Snowy Town” gives an idea of the scale of the celebration of Maslenitsa, a favorite holiday among the people.
The faces of the winners glowing with joy and joy.
The film “Arrived for Vacation” conveys an atmosphere of joy
The portrait “Horsewoman” is imbued with a joyful feeling of admiration for the festive richness and diversity of life.
The woman depicted by the artist Petrov is calm and quiet. She must preserve and protect the child. She seems to pour her strength into the hand of a little man.
The painting looks very much like an icon. The heroine has a surprisingly spiritual face, not even a face, but a face.
Painting is one of the areas of aesthetics. Painting and poetry are closely related; painting is poetry in verse. At the same time, poets are often called artists, since poems convey human feelings
The best artists of Russia, each in their own way, embodied human feelings in their works.
This section was created for those who really lack emotions in everyday life. Every day there are so many different things to do and trips, planned meetings that sometimes there is simply not enough time for simple human communication. But it is clear that the emotional basis, the perception of the world through the sensory sphere is an important condition for a fulfilling life. It is extremely difficult to do without this, so it is recommended to reconsider priorities and lifestyle; everyone should strive for this. And all this is real thanks to the paintings.
We have specially collected oil paintings in which emotions are extremely expressive. Everything is unrealistically bright, pouring out onto a person directly from the canvas. It is recommended to look at the emotions depicted in the paintings with your heart. Just look at the burning passion or boundless tenderness, sometimes bitter loneliness! Pictures of emotions give you a chance to experience feelings that you cannot experience in reality. It is recommended to look for several small oil canvases at once, this way you will get an emotional exhibition that will take its rightful place in the house. In those rare moments when you are free, you will be able to devote yourself to relaxation, plunge into the world of feelings, since emotions in the paintings of artists of the past and present are masterfully executed.
Human thoughts do not always have a verbal and business background, and not demonstrating emotionally what is now inside is extremely difficult. Why excessive secrecy? What could be better than a real smile or sincere tears? Pay attention to the pictures with people's emotions, these pictures show concentrated or relaxed features, delight and fear, fun. Just as faces on canvases convey feelings, so paintings of people’s emotions provoke a certain reaction.
Sometimes they say that emotions are written on a person’s face. Strong emotions are difficult to hide; they can be read in the eyes, often in a smile, as well as in the sad folds around the lips, even in the blush on the cheeks and unexpected pallor. Fear and grief, joy, envy, hatred and love...
Human emotions easily move feelings and are the seed from which something beautiful emerges. A colossal selection of paintings gives you a chance to show what is inside you. Fill your living space with manifestations of human emotions represented on canvas. This is the only way to emphasize your own individuality, help you look into your soul, by decorating your surroundings with paintings where people do not hide their emotions, but are ready to share them with artists and the whole world.
Let your guests learn more through the prism of emotions and feelings depicted in the artists’ paintings, thus achieving mutual understanding. It is possible to purchase a painting not only with a specific subject, but also in any size from the works presented or by individual order. In addition, you can recommend buying paintings to relatives and friends, so you will act as their navigator in the world of artistic interior design!
In recent years, “emotions” have been given great importance in our country: it is no coincidence that today almost every organization employs a professional psychologist, and regularly seeking psychological help for many people is becoming a natural norm of life. Let's not lag behind this practice: let's figure out in this article what kind of connection exists between paintings, as works of art, and human emotions.
First, let's define the concepts. So, emotions are experiences that have a very strong impact on the human mind and body. At the same time, the experience of any person suggests that emotions can influence all aspects of a person’s existence, which, in principle, is wonderful. After all, it’s no secret that people who are deprived of any emotions, as a rule, are under constant treatment in psychiatric clinics.
Moreover, scientists note that each emotion can affect a person in a special way. Therefore, it is no coincidence that every person strives to surround himself with the most positive emotions and, if possible, completely get rid of the negative aspects of our life. In order for a person’s life to blossom with bright colors, there is art, which in our difficult times is given great importance as a magnificent emotional “outlet”.Imagine that a person, tired and irritated after a hard day at work, sits heavily at home in his favorite chair and for a few minutes immerses himself in the contemplation of his favorite oil painting, which is located on the wall opposite. Experience shows that the negative emotions accumulated by a person during the day can recede and disappear in the most surprising way. Thus, a pleasant summer landscape or a delightful still life with roses can give its owner in just a few minutes a feeling of serene joy and fill a person with new inner strength.
But this is provided that the paintings of the artists that are in the house belong to the category of “your” paintings. And in order for, for example, oil painting to give you only positive emotions, you need to understand two main psychological aspects. First of all, when looking at an oil painting, you should imagine what feelings guided the artist at the time of painting the canvas, and what emotional message he wants to convey to people with his work. It's not always easy, but with enough experience it always works out well.
Secondly, you need to understand what emotional state you experience when communicating with this picture. Moreover, you need to approach your self-analysis quite “corrosively” and, as psychologists say, try to “dig” into yourself. Let's give an example: imagine that in the picture we see a wonderful rural landscape with shocks of fresh hay and a horse in the background.
Most likely, many people will simply look at such an oil painting and that’s it. But for a person who, perhaps, spent his entire childhood with his grandmother in the village, where it was so good and carefree that even after 30 or 40 years, the sight of freshly cut hay will fill his soul with something light and airy and return his thoughts to the happiest time of my life.
Please note that everyone will have their own emotions in this regard, and they will be based on past experience, associations and their own emotional basis for perceiving the world. It is also worth noting that when creating paintings, a large role in their emotional perception is given to symbols and the chosen color scheme. So, everyone knows that, for example, the color red promotes emotional arousal, while the color green calms the human psyche.
As you can see, artists’ paintings are capable of generating a wide variety of emotions in a person. We wish you to find paintings that will influence you in the most positive way, and then use their amazing ability to give you joy and satisfaction in life.
Irina Alekseeva
Psychophysiology of painting:
why impressionist paintings awaken emotions in us
Text: Maria Smirnova / Illustration: Pierre Auguste Renoir
In the mass consciousness, the scientific - or rationalistic - type of thinking is usually opposed to creative. In fact, science and art are much more closely connected than it seems at first glance. For example, the effect that the works of impressionist artists produce on a person can be explained not only in art historical terms, but also in the context of the main categories of systemic psychophysiology. How to do this, Yuri Alexandrov, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of the Laboratory of Psychophysiology named after V.B., told T&P. Shvyrkova Institute of Psychology RAS.
“The artist depicted for us // A deep swoon of lilacs // And sonorous steps of colors // He laid them on the canvas like scabs // He understood the thickness of the oil, - // His baked summer // Warmed up with a lilac brain, // Expanded into stuffiness” - this is how he described the creative method of impressionism in 1932, Osip Mandelstam, in the very first couplet of a poem dedicated to Claude Monet’s painting “Lilacs in the Sun,” very accurately noted how exactly the painting of the impressionists differs from the painting of their predecessors. The impressionist artist does not simply depict a lilac branch, but strives to convey the impression that it makes on him.
One of the key goals of impressionism was to move away from the detailed photographic nature of realism. It was assumed that by eliminating photography, painters would be able to introduce experience, the subjectivity of reflection, into the picture. Not to add from scratch, of course, but to add. Photography is also partly subjective: where to point the lens, what particular moment to capture - the photographer decides.
Claude Monet. "Lilac in the Sun"
Looking at the paintings of the Impressionists, you can’t help but wonder: how did the artists manage to put so much emotion into their work? Although, perhaps, it would be more correct to ask what exactly happens to a person and his inner, subjective world when he looks at the paintings of Monet, Renoir, Degas? How were the Impressionists able to display their emotions so vividly that they were effectively conveyed to the observer? What happens in the subjective world of the observer when encountering impressionist painting? To answer these questions, you need to understand how the subjective world works, and to do this, find out how it is formed and what place emotions occupy in it.
“Our subjective world is formed through interactions with the external environment,” says Yuri Iosifovich. - These interactions begin in the womb and continue throughout life. The traces of such interactions, stored in memory, are the systems formed in the process, or elements of the subjective world - models of the relationship of the individual with the environment. If a person needs to repeat an interaction, the corresponding model is activated, that is, retrieved from memory. Newly formed models do not replace those formed earlier, at previous stages of life, but are added to them. Thus, an individual's memory can be compared to geological layers. One of the most famous Russian psychologists, Lev Vygotsky, considered extremely fruitful the idea that the structure of behavior in some respects resembles the geological structure of the earth's crust. Memory can also be compared to the annual rings of a tree, only each ring here is a trace not of the past year, but of new learning. The more we learn, the more rings we remember.
The memory of the earliest interactions lasts a lifetime and influences an individual’s behavior, feelings, and decision-making. At the same time, he often cannot express in words, or, as experts say, “declare” the presence of memory material, tell himself or others about that episode of his life before birth or in early childhood, thanks to which this model system appeared. Apparently, such an impossibility refers to a completely normal phenomenon, which is called “infantile amnesia” - forgetting the events of childhood.”
Edgar Degas. "Rehearsal", 1873
However, there are exceptions: some people can reproduce memories of the earliest events in their lives. The famous work of the founder of Russian neuropsychology, Alexander Luria, “A Little Book of Great Memory,” describes the case of Solomon Shereshevsky, an owner of phenomenal memory and a professional mnemonist. Shereshevsky recalls: “I perceived my mother like this: before I began to recognize her, “this is good.” There is no shape, no face, there is something that bends and will make you feel good...<…>- it’s a cloud, then it’s pleasant...”
And here is how Andrei Bely reproduces his early sensations, dating back to the age of just over two years, in the book “At the Turn of Two Centuries”: “Imagine your consciousness<…>somewhat relaxed<…>, but not extinguished at all; I<…>experiencing the objective reality of the room<…>like a fish living in an aquarium placed in a room; imagine this fish as a self-aware child, and you will understand that reality is presented to him as if through thick water.” Thus, in the early stages of development, the world is perceived by a person not in detail, but in a blurry, vague, emotional way.
“The fact is that the formation of new systems in the process of individual development allows us to relate more and more differentiatedly to the environment, to build our behavior taking into account an increasing number of details,” explains Yuri Iosifovich. - For example, while in the womb, the fetus ensures the flow of maternal blood and, therefore, nutrients and oxygen to the placenta, making a wide variety of movements. After birth, for the same general “metabolic” goal, it becomes necessary to perform specialized movements: breathing in order to receive oxygen, performing sucking movements, grasping the mother’s breast nipple (or pacifier) in order to receive food. Then it turns out that, in addition to milk, you can get, for example, juice from a spoon, and for this you need to make drinking movements, grabbing the spoon with your mouth. Then it turns out that you can also eat solid food that needs to be chewed. You can also eat from a cup or plate. Using different devices, different foods, making different types of movements and focusing on the different properties of this food, determined visually, olfactorily, tactilely, and by taste. Subsequently, a person discovers that food can be obtained not only at home, but also at school, in a cafe, on the street, at a party, and receiving it includes a number of specific preparatory actions and taking into account many factors: for example, whether you have free money , and there are empty seats in the cafe.
“Impressionist paintings, devoid of photographic, realistic precision, turn to evolutionarily more ancient systems that form early in individual development”
It is important to note the following here: experiments recording the activity of individual brain cells - neurons - show that when we carry out relatively complex food-procuring behavior (for example, eating in a cafe), we activate not only those highly differentiated “food” systems that were formed during the first visits to catering outlets, but also - at the same time - those that were formed in the previous, including the earliest stages of development.
If at the first stages of development an individual (both human and animal) splits the world roughly (into objects and phenomena that are pleasant and unpleasant, those that one wants to get closer to, or those that one wants to avoid), then over time it turns out that the pleasant and the unpleasant are varied, as are the ways of relating to it. The relationship with the environment at a minimal level of differentiation is described by a number of researchers in terms of “emotions” or “emotion-like perceptions.” In connection with these ideas, many authors, starting with Charles Darwin, noted that emotions, including their facial manifestations, arise already at the earliest stages of development, already in the fetus. And of course, they are present in infants, including those born prematurely.”
Naturally, emotions also exist in an adult who comes to a museum to look at Monet’s “Water Lilies” and instead of looking for details - as he most likely would have done standing in front of a Bosch canvas, or admiring the skillfully created balance of color and shadow, what usually happens when looking at Rembrandt’s paintings, or trying to mentally list the names of all the fruits lying in a vase, which he would most likely do if he saw an allegorical portrait by Arcimboldo, is given over to the will of the senses.
Claude Monet. From the series “Water lilies”, 1917–1919
It is interesting, by the way, that, almost a century ahead of the publication of this material, Mandelstam in the above poem also used gastronomic images, as if connecting with a dotted line the paintings of the Impressionists with the process of eating: “And the shadow, the shadow is becoming more purple, // Whistle or the whip goes out like a match. // You’ll say: the cooks are in the kitchen // Cooking fat pigeons.” The last couplet, on the one hand, sharply reduces the poet’s sublime, inspired tone: the mysterious purple shadow is replaced by prosaic fat doves. On the other hand, it becomes an attempt to give a voice either to the characters in Monet’s painting, or to the invisible interlocutor of the lyrical hero of the poem. And finally, with the third, it appeals to the emotions of the reader-viewer: the idea of fatty, heavy food evokes disgust and a desire to avoid eating it. In the same way, impressionist artists appeal to the viewer's emotions - quite rarely, however, depicting disgusting objects and phenomena.
Emotions, according to Yuri Iosifovich, to a greater extent characterize the activation, extraction from memory of precisely those systems that are formed at the earliest stages of individual development, corresponding to a rather rough, indetailed fragmentation of the world and our interaction with it: good - bad, sad - happy, I want to get closer, I want to avoid. Consciousness is more associated with the activation of more differentiated systems that relate us to the world of details and provide a huge variety of behavior patterns that directly depend on these details. I understand what is good and want to get closer, but how to do this? I understand that it’s bad and I want to avoid it, but how? Figuratively speaking, the activation of “old” systems helps us choose the right action from a collection of approaches and avoidances, and the activation of “new” systems gives the answer to the question “how?” - what method of approach or avoidance should be chosen in this particular case, taking into account certain circumstances.
A fleeting scene, snatched by Monet’s eye from everyday life, as if separated from the viewer by a veil of foggy haze, and it is this that emotionally involves and refers us to the earliest ideas about the world order
“Not only sound streams, but also images can be decomposed into frequencies - high and low,” continues Yuri Iosifovich. - Moreover, when we talk about images, the increase in the representation of higher frequencies in the frequency description of the picture corresponds to an increase in the detail of the image. Well, that's to simplify it. There are experiments in which participants are shown images - such as photographs - using high-pass or low-pass filters. That is, as if alternately subtracting these frequencies from the image. It turned out that if we subtract higher frequencies, details, the experiment participants cannot say who this person is or identify him, but they can say what emotion his facial expressions express. Conversely, if low frequencies are subtracted, participants can identify the person, but cannot make a judgment about what emotions he is currently experiencing.
In these experiments, the researchers analyzed participants' brain activity while viewing images, and it turned out that low frequencies are associated with quick, crude, emotional evaluation of images, which is provided by the activity of evolutionarily old brain structures: they are formed in the early stages of individual development - at the same time as low differentiated systems. High frequencies characterizing the details of the image are associated with a slow discrete analysis of the visual picture, provided by the activity of evolutionarily newer structures that form at later stages of individual development. That is, at those stages when more differentiated systems are formed.
Mandelstam ends his poem with the stanza: “A swing is visible, // Veils are not painted, // And in this gloomy collapse // A bumblebee is already in charge.” Details - swings, veils - are insignificant for the creative method of impressionism, and the faces of the women depicted in Monet’s painting “Lilacs in the Sun” are blurred and unclear. We can say nothing about their age or their social status, which would play an important role when analyzing a painting by, say, Vermeer. A fleeting scene, snatched by Monet’s eye from everyday life, seems to be separated from the viewer by a veil of foggy haze, and it is this haze that emotionally involves us in what is happening in the picture and refers to the earliest ideas about the world order.