Art as Love
Art has been a primary part of human expression since the beginning of time, and love is one of its most recurrent themes. We can see this in several paintings, novels, and many more artworks entirely dedicated to love.
Van Gogh once said, “There’s nothing more artistic than to love people.” This is only one of the many ways love has impacted the artistic world. In the following article, we’re going to learn more about how love has inspired thousands of artists who gifted us the most beautiful works of art.
Is Art a Form of Love?
An artist and a lover are more similar than you think. Lovers have the burning need to express their love towards their significant other, while artists feel the same about creating art. Both rely on expression to satisfy this need, and sometimes, an artist can also be a lover.
That’s when art love is created. Many artists rely on their muses to make the most remarkable pieces of their careers. These muses are the ones who inspire them and keep them creating new works of art.
This can be as simple as a musician writing a love song to their lover or a designer crafting a dress for the most beautiful woman in their town. Even Leonardo Da Vinci needed his muse to paint the Monalisa, and Dali needed to meet Gala to create the exuberant work we know.
Many people have debated this theme for centuries because not everyone agrees that art should be seen as a form of love. Some artists opt to see it through a more meticulous eye and understand all the technicalities of art. They see it as a job, or perhaps even a science, but those limiting beliefs prevent art from giving us its full potential.
Art must indeed have an objective side in which artists dedicate themselves to learning the proper techniques and becoming masters of their fields, but if we strip art from feelings, it defeats its purpose of making us feel something.
Therefore, only the true lovers can express their feelings through art, as only people who feel intensely have what it takes to create art that makes other people feel as intensely as them.
How Can I Express My Love Through Art?
There are several ways to express your love for your significant other through art. One of them is using them as inspiration for your work. You can use your feelings to paint the most incredible portrait your eyes have seen or write a fantastic poem for them to cherish forever.
However, if you don’t consider yourself an artist and you’re not too confident in your skills, you can still rely on the existing art to show your loved ones how much you appreciate them. You can hire musicians to dedicate their favorite songs to them or share one of your favorite books with them. You could even take them on a museum date and admire all the fantastic artworks on your romantic evening.
Why Is Art Considered a Human Expression?
In order for art to exist, there must be someone to do it. It comes from artists who represent their thoughts, desires, and emotions in compositions of beauty. Moreover, it is a personal experience of our deepest desires being expressed.
All art pieces are meant to express something. They are communication mediums that teach us how the artist sees the world. It was created because sometimes words aren’t enough to say everything we feel, but every feeling is meant to be expressed somehow. Therefore, we can conclude that art is an extremely meaningful part of human expression.
Love in Art
We can find several representations of love in the most famous pieces of art history. The following paintings have been studied for years after they were painted and have inspired hundreds of artists worldwide. All of them were created due to the powerful feeling of love.
Gustav Klimt, The Kiss (1907)
This painting consists of two figures entirely blended in front of a beautiful golden background. The external figure is meant to represent the male, characterized by black and gray squares, while the female figure is represented by flowers.
Through these golden visuals, Klimt managed to properly balance the sensual and loving hints hidden in the couple’s kiss, perfectly portraying all aspects of passionate and romantic love.
Antonio Canova, Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss (1793)
This beautiful story of Greek mythology was marvelously portrayed by Canova back in 1793. His painting shows how Psyche lies unconscious on top of a rock, and Cupid stands tall with his wings next to her, ready to kiss her back to life.
Frida Kahlo, Self-portrait as a Tehuana (1943)
Love was a recurring theme in Frida Khalo’s paintings. She painted this self-portrait right after divorcing Diego Rivera, which is why this painting is also known as “Diego in My Thoughts” and “Thinking of Diego.”
We are all familiar with this kind of obsessive love that comes after a breakup, and we can appreciate how even Frida Khalo struggles with love and how she’s unable to stop thinking about him.
Bottom Line
Love is one of the most human feelings, and David Kracov knows how to portray that through beautiful color compositions and fantastic paintings. If you want to learn more about his art, please check out the rest of our page.
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