Before watching this I knew that I had an inherent bias when viewing art due to my own personal experiences. I knew that it was the same for others as well. There are so many factors that go into my bias and the way I interpret things, however, what I did not think of was the idea that school and society has indoctrinated us with the idea that "art is beautiful" or false mystification of art. As long as I remember, I have thought of art as beautiful. I also found the way we view gender as interesting. Near the end of the video, there was a painting by Caravaggio shown to children who interpreted them directly. They tried to immediately understand what was going on in the painting. I wonder if the false mystification I hold has significantly impacted the way I interpret paintings. When I visited the Met a few years ago, I just thought the old paintings were beautiful and did not try to think of what was happening in the picture or connect it to myself because I placed it on a high pedestal, somewhere above me, so I could not relate it to myself. But isn't art made for an audience to connect to?
I also never noticed how much music influenced the way I thought of paintings. Music is so subtle but makes such a difference in how we perceive art. I read webtoons online and some of them have original music to go with it. It has substantial impact on how I am feeling and how it impacts my perception of the plot, characters and their motives.
Additionally, whenever we see paintings it is never in the way of the original because it is a different size, and may not be soundless and still. It made me recall when I saw the Starry Night in person. It was a crowded Sunday at the MoMA and there was a humongous crowd dying to just catch a glimpse it. Besides the texture and the light falling on it that looked magical, it looked just like what I had seen in all of those reproductions through my life. Besides the mystification due to the fact that it was the original and the sheer value of it, I remember that I was simply overwhelmed by the crowd fighting to catch a glimpse that I had just left. It was amazing but was it amazing because I personally found it amazing or because I was told by society of its value and told to find it amazing?