What's at De Bottom of art?

After yesterday TED talk I hadn't enough so I went for a second dosis of De Bottom.
I first look at his on-line shop "A school of life" where anyone can buy merchandising, books on psychology DIY or access to courses to teach you to be happy. Then, I found this video


One of the very few freee resources on his web) with a sermon elaborating on the idea of art as a therapy.
I could only stand it for 12 minutes. The guy has study history, but quite obviously he is not an artist or someone who studies art. Actually afer these 12 minutes I start doubting he has any idea about art whatsoever. Just some examples from those first 12 mintues.

First he says that art is a way to remember the reality. False. He confuses art with photography. Art does not show the reality. It shows how the artist perceives the reality, which is biased by the artist own experiences. This bias can add to the work something which is not observable in the basic perception. Something that might resonate in our brains. That's why a portrait can capture much more than a photograph, or a poem more than a description. Anyway, de Bottom here justifies his statement by showing a picture of clouds painted by Constable, as if Constable had painted that picture while he was looking at the clouds outside (note, artist have always made sketch from the nature, but until the late 19th century the real picture was always finished indoors in a studio. And considereing British whether in UK probably more than anywhere else).

He then complaints that there is no explanation in the museums about the meaning of modern art, just a technical description. Obviously, this guy has never read a book or a critic on modern art. They are ALL about the concept, that's why so much modern art is called "conceptual art" (As an aside, among "conceptual artist" usually the longer the explanation about the conception of the work, the lower the artist skills as an artisan). In most cases, these explanations are just a bunch of nonsense written by critics who need to justify their salaries or by the artist who need to justify the price of their "work". Personally I'm grateful museums only put a technical description of the pictures. Otherwise they would not have enouth space. If anyone wants an example of what I'm saying, look in Google for any critic on Tapies works.

Next de Bottom continues saying that for art critics anything which is beautiful is bad. Who said that!? Where did he get that from? Dario's poetry is just about beauty. The English Pre-raphaelites or Vermeer are all about beauty (Ok, I don't like the Pre-raphalites much, but I adore Vermeer). Mozart's music is pure beauty, even the one he wrote after his daughther died!!


At that point I decided to stop watching the video. Have beter things to do, e.g., writting this post. In summary, the more I read about De Bottom, the more I'm convinced this guy is just a wannabe guru trying to make money out of the most vulnerables by promising them "redemption" via the art if they follow him (and buy his stuff, or go to his courses, of course). A "smoke seller"





OK, you would say, but what's is your take on this? Well, for me art does not need to reflect suffering, or beauty, or anything. It might have a purpose,or it might not. In the old days, art was something done according to some rules. The artist was first of all an artisan, something which the Bauhaus tried (unsuccesfully) to recover. But nowadays, art is whatever the artist says is art and the publicum is ready to accept as such. Still, I think that good art is the one that carries part of the artist soul. A part which might resonate within us. Great artists are those who can connect with many. Bad artists are those who need a lot of explanation for their work.

Now, watching art can help us to be happier? For those of us who love it, it obviously produces pleasure. By showing us reflected on others, it can also help us to understand ourselves better . If art is something you grew up with, watching can provides a comfortable feeling of belonginness. But can watching art provide us a meaning for life? Can art redeem us? I'm not sure.

By the way, I don't really know why I've written this post in English. I guess that it's because de Bottom video is in English so I started in English even without realising it. I'll do my best it doesn't happen again :)