Art - a beginning

My quick summary of western art

Prehistoric art had cavemen draw animals and people hunting. Food was the central theme! Then humans tried to mimic reality. They created paints, oils and media that helped them capture reality. With the invention of photograph (camera), I guess it was no longer a big deal to capture reality the way it was. So people began experimenting with reality. With impressionism, post-impressionism, pointillism, the technique that was used to represent reality gained importance. Each technique gave reality a unique appearance. Then they began distorting reality. There was fauvism and expressionism, often considered the movements that gave birth to modern art. It was about emotions rather than capturing any form of physical reality. Then I think all hell broke loose with cubism! Now is when it gets really interesting. The ego became the central theme. "I" see reality this way and do not care about what you think of it. Then there was conceptual art, and its ideas. Some beautiful and some mad! (See Duchamp's fountain!) Surrealism is another madness I have been very curious about.

Opinion
Art, to me (someone who couldn't appreciate a thing about it until recently), is a curiosity! I now want to look closely at paintings, noticing things I previously didn't care to. There is nothing profound about what you or anybody sees, and everything you see is just as you see it.

If you share your experience with someone and find that they reciprocate the same feeling or thought, you might feel thrilled. Or it might just thrill you to look from another person's perspective. Or you might want to read about it. Each of it could give you pleasure. But art is about exploration. Exploring the unknown. There are no rules. No prejudices. No judgments. If it is about this, then it ceases to remain art. If you don't appreciate something, that's just it. You don't have to. You hate it, it is okay. Perhaps that is just what the artist had intended! Or it wasn't. But who cares!

The artist is not obliged to give you what you want to see. You don't have to feel obliged to say what he or others want to hear. In the disconnect between the artist and the audience, the painting is the only connect. So the next time you see a painting that makes you turn away, turn away. Or if it makes you curious, just look again. Just once more. Talk to the painting. Converse with the artist through the painting....
I hate it... I want to run away... I think the artist was on LSD... I think he had turtles run over at random... Frightening... The red hues disturb me ... The trees seem to be moving... I can feel the wind... I can hear her tears... She looks ugly... Endearing... Dark... Beautiful... Sad... Or just say nothing... Think... Think anything..Feel... Feel anything... Or just nothing.

A quip

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Fish.