Blog #7 metamorphosis: why is Impressionism important in art history?
What challenges did you overcome throughout this inquiry project and how did you overcome them?
When researching for this inquiry project I struggled with choosing what information to use etc. Due to the large popularity of the impressionist era, there are many articles about the era. However, many of them seemed biased of personal quotas of the impressionist paintings as opposed to factual information about the time. Because it was a long time ago, history has the cruel trick to cover facts and make us interpret certain events differently, hence why it was hard to choose what information to use, what resources to trust, etc. In the end, I decided to use factual information from museum websites and archives as they have been double checked my experts and referred to in many other articles. Additionally, most of the articles that I was referring to has the same 3 artists, Claude Monet, Cezanne, and Seurat. It made me wonder whether there were other impressionist, who’s works were lost throughout history, and made me wonder about the information that I was seeing and using. My number one hack in order to over come this challenge was to use resources from museums which actually presenters the art piece they were talking about. For example, to refer to any Van Goghs I would use articles written by the MET museum, which currently has some Van Goghs. This method insured that I was using trustable sources and accurate sources.
How did this inquiry change the way you think?
This inquiry made me change my perspective when looking at art. Many may think of art as just a visual entertainment. However, by delving into the history and the creation behind the art itself, it makes me appreciate art with a newfound passion. This is because most of the history behind art is actually quite dramatic and romantic in a sense, so my view of looking at art has changed quite a lot. In some sense, I like to think that I enjoy art history more then the art itself.
How did this investigation impact your future?
As someone who isn’t too creative, or struggles a lot with writing creatively or drawing, painting, etc. The joining of facts and political culture of this creative field, has allowed me to change in the way I make decisions in the future. Most of the time I am quick to dismiss things creatively, however through the inquiry process and this inquiry question I believe that the choices I will make in the future will have more creative prospects in them.
What impacts will this investigation have on others and/or globally?
I hope that by doings this inquiry project I will help many people who struggle with creative outlets to look at creativity through their own perspectives. Although not everyone can draw like Monet, I hope that the sharing of art history will allow them to feel connected to this vital part of our culture and impact their perspectives as well. In addition, I hope to change many of the perspectives of those in my community through art history as I believe that my blog posts will allow them to learn about politics, history, science, etc through one subject which is art history.