Ways of Seeing

     I thought it was very interesting how Berger explained the idea that we perceive what the artist is depicting in a very different way than the artist. The is painting what he is imagining, and we don't know what he is picturing but we can see what he painted and assume that is what he was imagining. The artist may have even experienced what he was depicting, and we look at the work of art and absorb this experience even though it is not an actual experience.
     It is very interesting how Berger described how words change the meaning of art. The example he gave was a painting of birds flying over corn fields. After looking at that it didn't seem special in any way, but he then told us to turn the page to reveal text. Under the painting, the text read "This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself" and that was extremely powerful since Van Gogh was one of the most talented and well known artists in history. It allowed me to appreciate the art more.