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TEXTRENATE VAN DER ZEEPHOTOGRAPHY©JAVIER PARDINA/STOCKSY UNITEDILLUSTRATIONSARTUR BALYTSKYI/SHUTTERSTOCK.COMWANT TO READ MORE?
‘How Attention Works: Finding Your Way in
a World Full of Distraction’,by Stefan
van der Stigchel
‘Art in Detail: 100 Masterpieces’, by
Susie Hodgeemphasize the masculine, and circles and flowers for
the female. “Let go of all your inhibitions when you look
at art,” Hodge advises. “Because the more you look,
the more you’ll become accustomed to remembering
things well and discovering clues and details.
What’s more, looking at art regularly can help you to be
more observant in daily life.”
Van Zeil has also experienced that. “By focusing on
details, you start noticing more new things in the world
around you, too,” she says. For example, there’s a
funny little chimney she saw in a certain painting.
“Because of that funny chimney, I’ve started noticing
chimneys when I walk through the city, and I had never
noticed them before. You become more receptive when
you look at art and that affects your own world.”LIKE A CHILD
When you’re actually standing in front of a painting,
something happens to you that doesn’t happen when
you’re looking at a picture of the same painting, says
Van Zeil. “You can feel like you’re in the same room
as the people in the painting, or you may have an
emotional response—you may feel consolation or you
may recognize a specific emotion. Or you see details
that make you curious. I think that’s one of the nicest
things about art, that it can make you observant. Our
sight sharpens because we’re looking through the eyesof the artist. And they see much better than we do,
because they must be able to depict everything around
them. The artist notices things that escape us.”
One of the tips Van Zeil gives to novice art viewers is
to pick a theme to look at. During a museum visit, only
pay attention to the animals in the paintings, for
example. Or look for musical instruments, or for things
that might be love symbols. “This helps you to start
looking in a completely different way,” she says. “And
you’ll also compare the animals in one painting with
those in another, which focuses your gaze. You actually
give yourself a kind of art route that way. I do this a lot
with children, but it also works a treat to do it yourself.”
“Young children are really good at looking,” says
Hodge. “They never get tired of looking at flowers,
blades of grass, butterflies and other very
commonplace things. As we get older, we lose our
sense of wonder about the world around us and that’s
actually a great pity. But I think art can teach us to look
through the eyes of a child again.”‘The artist notices things
that escape us’