The Skill of Describing
Learning how to describe a work of art (or any image for that matter) is really the first step in coming to understand what a work of art is communicating. Often, simply stating what you see can reveal an enormous amount. But it is a lot harder than it seems — to describe something thoroughly. For an example of how to do this, listen to these Museum of Modern Art’s Visual Descriptions (just click “download mp3 file” – there are several pages of these, beginning with #55). MoMA made these for people who are blind or visually impaired, but they are also for anyone who just wants to look more closely.
Here is my short 3 minute video on this important topic:
