This weekend, I got hooked on videos and podcasts about better understanding music and paintings. Regarding music – I highly recommend the Arzamas podcast https://arzamas.academy/radio/announcements/classical-music. It requires a subscription, but I haven’t regretted a single minute. True, I’ve nearly listened to everything they have; I accidentally subscribed for a year instead of a month – be sure to read the labels on buttons carefully)
About paintings: A fresh ‘masterwatch’ by Nerdwriter about “the most terrible masterpiece by Van Gogh” – the expressionist painting “Night in café”. When you start to look closely at the combination of colors and objects in it, you realize how powerfully the artist has conveyed a creepy and depressive state, and Nerdwriter (as always) skillfully explains the mechanisms of how this painting impacts the viewer. Even if you’re not at all familiar with painting, watching such videos is a pure pleasure: youtu.be/nKNAZr0QJzs
I also suggest a few more Nerdwriter videos decoding great paintings:
t.me/mustwatch/120 (“The Death of Socrates” – a classic story, a classic painting by Jacques-Louis David, and a deep analysis of how to properly perceive it)
youtu.be/WKRKrpz09Fk (“The Family of Philip IV” by Velázquez – a painting many consider the greatest in history due to its numerous meanings and references embedded in a simple family portrait)
youtu.be/7j5pUtRcNX4 (“Nighthawks” by Hopper – one of the most influential American paintings in history, grim and depressive)
youtu.be/Iu2L7oA9QRg (what does the cigarette on the self-portrait by Edvard Munch, better known for his “The Scream”, mean?)
youtu.be/_HGW1DQO1xQ (how to understand Picasso’s paintings)
youtu.be/5E8f64yj1Jk (why “The Night Watch” is the greatest masterpiece by Rembrandt)
youtu.be/g15-lvmIrcg (the most horrifying painting by Francisco Goya)
youtu.be/z68CQkD7mz4 (the subtle features of “The Bathers” by Cezanne, and why Picasso said “Cezanne is a father to us all”)
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 