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Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher most active during the middle 1800s.  His work set about to examine whether reason could answer any questions about the world and his primary target of concentration was on man’s motivations, which he referred to as the “will.”  His studies led him to conclude that man’s basic physical, emotional, and sexual desires can never be fulfilled and that abstaining from trying to fulfill these desires was the best possible course of action.  He consequently greatly supported art as a way of being able to escape an oppressive servitude to the will as it allowed an artist the means to stop lusting after the earthly desires they were feeling and to enter a realm of purely mental satisfaction.

Schopenhauer believed that the will was not something to be indulged for failed attempts to fulfill the will only led to sorrow in man.  If man succeeded in fulfilling the will, they were only led on to either boredom or new desires.  An endless cycle would be started that would leave man being unsatisfied for the majority of his life.    Art could, however, save everyone by providing a place of escape.  Salvation could be attained through aesthetic experiences.

Schopenhauer was responsible himself for the eventual movement of the Symbolists.  Art was accomplished for art’s sake, therefore rejecting the idea that good art was something, which could be capitalized on.  Through Schopenhauer’s beliefs, art was something, which could remove much of the pain and sorrow from the world, as it was something, which could remain elevated over it all.

Martin Heidegger was a famous German philosopher from the early to mid 20th Century.  His philosophical views were largely based on investigating not what it mean to be a being, but what being in itself means.  He believed that all of the questions which philosophy had attempted to answer over the preceding 2,000 years were about all the beings which could be found in the world, but that no one had bothered to question what “being” itself implicated.  Heidegger believed that philosophy got started on the wrong foot and as a result, most of the discoveries made in philosophy were erroneous.

His views on art took the approach that a work of art not only defined the way that a culture understands art, but it actually creates that same truth to a degree.  The truth, which a work of art represents, will actually become the way that a society will understand that truth.  Furthermore, at any time that an artist introduces a new work of art into society, the entire definition of truth behind the meaning of existence is slightly changed.

Heidegger believed that both artworks and the artist could not exist without each other.  While artworks would not exist without an artist, it was the work itself, which made one into an artist.  At the same time, art itself was something, which is separate from both artworks and artists.  The concept of art is something, which needed to be understood to appreciate artworks, but without artworks, the concept of art did not exist.  Heidegger fully explained that his beliefs were a paradox, which could not be appropriately answered, but that his responsibility was in describing the riddle.

“Life is full of dead spots. Art gives it life”

This quote was said by Irwin Edman, a 20th century philosopher. He mentioned that artists have a way of making life come alive and have been able to do so through time. Art history is full of icons of every type and nature. They can come in the form of images of Christ or the Virgin Mary or even an icon like “Campbells Tomato Soup Cans” by Andy Warhol. Icons let us connect with culture, nature, our own humanity, our inner self, and our religion.

When an artist gives meaning to a symbol or an image (an icon) then it acquires a certain value to society and to history and mankind.  To an artist the icons he takes on represent a part of himself or of the world he lives in, just as Jesus was a part of the world El Greco lived in and “Campbells Soup” was an icon of the world of Andy Warhol. What makes an icon up to a society depends on the societies beliefs, their tradition, and what they find value in, and these will differ depending on age group and on country.

Life takes you through many ups and downs, and all of us learn from the lows and enjoy the highs, but most of us don’t know how to express these emotions. But artists have a knack for being able to express their emotions through their paintings. You can tell when an artist has suffered in his life, when he experiences sheer joy, even what things he likes and dislikes. Some artists even transpose their very political or religious views in their art. You can tell, because the work becomes passionate, and the subjects, composition and poses are personal.

When artists are parents, their work becomes even more passionate, especially for those artists that either work in figure drawing, portrait work, or anything that has to do with emotions, as you can tell from the above portrait.

In this case the artist (Don Gray) has created a portrait of his adult son at work. In the painting he expresses the love, the regret of having him grown, his passion and his own. In each brush stroke you can visualize his reminiscing about years gone by, and yet loving the now, adult relationship he has with his son.

He also expresses his dedication, concentration, and love for his work through this painting, while at the same time you see a regret for the child that has grown into the man.

Today Art collecting has become very popular, but do people know what they are doing when they are collecting art? Most people have no idea how to start collecting art, and usually start by buying something someone recommended, whether they like it or not. Some art critics and artists have started teaching others the Art of collecting. The objective of these classes is to really have people understand what art is, but to “THEM” and not what art they should collect because society tells them to collect that particular style, Artist, or type of art.

As many critics and artists will tell you, the most frequent question they get is “How to become a collector?” the truth is, that you can’t just start buying paintings from famous painters and consider yourself a collector. People begin collecting art for many different reasons, and some do it without even realizing that they are collecting, but the first thing you should do is just “Relax” stand back, and let yourself observe art, when you have observed it enough you will understand, “how to become a collector?” No one expresses this idea better than Edward Goldman who makes his way among the art and artists.