Ways of Seeing

“To touch something is to situate oneself in relation to it.”

"Discuss how CONTEXT has a effect on our understanding, our perception of art, of MEANING."


For such a thin book, I feel I have many reflections/responses. Though there were a few arguments that I did not agree with one hundred percent, there were many "eye opening" details throughout it. For example, what struck me as really interesting was the "way" in which we look at things. It is hard to admit, as a person, that when we look at things, we do not always keep an objective eye. When it comes to art, I like to consider myself objective and seeing what is meant to be seen. However, on pages 25-27, Berger reeled home this argument for me. On page 25 there are two pictures. When I look at the picture on the top of the page I do not focus on one person in particular. I take note of all the different people and how they are connected. However, when the bottom picture is only zoomed in on the woman, it looks like a portrait. I then took note of all the detail and beauty that I was missing before. Therefore, when I looked back at the top photo, how I looked at the photo was changed. On page 27 Berger discusses how knowing that a particular painting was Van Gogh's last before he died. Therefore, as the text says, the painting is somehow changed in my mind (though I don't know exactly how it was changed or why, it just was). This particular section was interesting for me because I realized how much our personal opinions, thoughts, and knowledge really affect how we look at something. This fact changes the thought of art for me, in general. Art goes from a picture or sculpture or whatever, to something that we have meaning and a "relationship" with (based on our personal experiences and past).

The argument continued and really stuck out to me on page 51 when Berger discusses a mirror in the naked-woman painting. Because the woman was holing a mirror in picture, it could have been depicted in a number of different ways, for vanity reasons of the woman or because the artist wanted the woman to see herself as a "sight" (51). By simply just changing this particular fact or the way we think about the picture, it can change how we see the painting.
Throughout the entire book, a reoccurring thought kept going through my head. I kept thinking about how we as humans desire to making meaning out of things. When we see a painting or a piece of art we are constantly trying to make meaning and sense of it in our heads. In chapter 4 (with the pictures) there is one particular picture (page 81) that really stands out. I realized that I flipped through the other paintings more quickly because they seemed more obvious or the meaning was not hidden. However, on page 81 the picture of the man through me for a loop because I could not figure out exactly what the picture was. Was it a mirror? But no it couldn't have been because it was the back of the man's head again. I just thought to myself about how much we as humans want to make sense and understand the meaning of art. This took me back to my first paragraph when I commented on the "way" we see things. This brings me back to Berger's point as well that “To touch something is to situate oneself in relation to it.” When it comes to art we are constantly trying to put ourselves in relation with it and we bring our personal experiences to the art, whether we mean to or not.

The final chapter in the book was extremely interesting as well. When Berger discussed publicity and advertisement I saw an overlap with points that had been made earlier in the book. For example, on page 152 the advertisement was very interesting. It was a picture of a woman looking out the window, holding a towel. Out the window the man was looking inside. This was an advertisement for a bath soap. However, earlier in the book, Berger discussed how in much of art the woman is the one that is waiting to be directed and the power was in the man's hand. Though this ad. was for a bath soap, it truly coincided with this idea. The man was looking through the window and his presence was based on his power and his control, making the woman his object. Though I do not necessarily agree with this way of thinking, it is interesting to see an argument or way of thinking about art actually put to use when it comes to advertisement. Again, the book just brings up a change in the way I may look at art, or things in general. It is very striking to me to think about how we think or view things, rather than just simply thinking or viewing them.