Capire l’arte

Dedicated to all art lovers, the volumes in this series offer a first-rate introduction to the ideas, characters and works that have most influenced the way we see the world.

The book offers a clear and concise overview of the basic elements common to all visual arts and helps the reader to think carefully, inquiringly and critically in front of a work of art, providing a solid foundation for the simple pleasure of enjoyment but also for further understanding.

Using a hundred images from around the world, Janetta Rebold Benton teaches how to reevaluate one’s experience of looking at art, learning to move beyond “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like,” toward an understanding of “why I like it,” offering herself as a valuable tool for students, exhibition and museum visitors, and enthusiasts.

The book in the first four chapters focuses on: how to look at art, how to read a work from our own experience, describes in the third chapter the main materials used and the most popular art techniques, and then addresses in the fourth chapter the major theme of the meaning of art. The fifth and final chapter focuses on the parable of six special artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol.

BY
Janetta Rebold Benton – American art historian, professor of art history at Pace University in New York City. She is the author of several publications, in the field of medieval art.