0:06
you might think there was a simple
0:08
answer to this after all we know how to
0:10
say what most things are for like this
0:11
or that and people flock to museums like
0:14
never before so they must have their
0:16
motives but when it comes to Art people
0:19
get strangely afraid to ask too directly
0:21
what it might all be for because well
0:24
everyone except you might know the
0:25
answer already it's perhaps too obvious
0:27
it's perhaps too complicated the result
0:29
is an awkward sign vience and a lot of
0:31
confusion but maybe it shouldn't be that
0:33
hard to say what art is for maybe we can
0:35
have a go of describing certain rather
0:37
clear purposes to Art here's five things
0:40
that art might be able to do for
0:42
us it's an obvious but striking fact
0:45
that the most popular works of art in
0:47
the world show pretty things Happy
0:50
People flowers in Spring blue skies this
0:53
is the top selling postcard in the world
0:55
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
0:56
New York this enthusiasm for prettiness
1:00
worries serious types A lot they Wonder
1:03
have people forgotten what life's really
1:05
like but that seems a misplaced worry we
1:08
need pretty things close to us not
1:10
because we're in danger of forgetting
1:12
the bad stuff but because terrible
1:14
problems weigh so heavily on us that
1:16
were in danger of slipping into Despair
1:18
and depression that's why prettiness
1:20
matters it's an emblem of Hope which is
1:23
an achievement prettiness those flowers
1:25
and blue skies and kids in Meadows is
1:28
Hope bottled and preserved waiting for
1:32
it the world often requires us to put on
1:35
a cheerful facade but beneath the
1:37
surface there's a lot of sadness and
1:39
regret that we can't express from fear
1:41
of seeming weird or a loser one thing
1:44
art can do is reassure us of the
1:45
normality of pain it can be sad with and
1:49
for us some of the world's greatest
1:51
works of art Have Been Loved for their
1:53
capacity to make the pain that's inside
1:55
all of us more publicly visible and
1:57
available like putting on a sad piece of
2:00
music somber works of art don't have to
2:03
depress us rather they can give us the
2:05
welcome feeling that pain is part of the
2:08
human condition art fights the false
2:11
optimism of commercial Society it's
2:14
there to remind us with dignity that
2:16
every good life has extraordinary
2:18
amounts of confusion suffering
2:20
loneliness and distress within it and
2:23
that therefore we should never aggravate
2:25
Sadness by feeling we must be freakish
2:28
simply for experience in it quite a
2:32
lot all of us are a little unbalanced in
2:35
some way we're too intellectual or too
2:38
emotional too masculine or too feminine
2:40
too calm or too excitable the art we
2:43
love is frequently something we're drawn
2:45
to because it compensates us for what we
2:47
lack it counterbalances us when we're
2:50
moved by a work of art it may be because
2:53
it contains concentrated doses of
2:55
qualities we need more of in our lives
2:58
perhaps it's full of the serenity we we
2:59
admire but don't have enough of perhaps
3:02
it's got the tenderness we long for but
3:04
that our jobs and relationships are
3:06
currently lacking or perhaps it's
3:08
suffused with a pain and drama we've had
3:10
to stifle but want to get in touch with
3:13
sometimes a whole society falls in love
3:15
with a certain style in art because it's
3:17
trying to rebalance itself like France
3:20
in the late 18th century that wanted DAV
3:22
as a corrective to its decadence or
3:24
Britain in the 19th century that looked
3:26
to the prer ralyes to counter the
3:31
industrialization the art a country or a
3:33
person calls beautiful gives you vital
3:36
Clues as to what's missing in them it's
3:39
in the power of art to help us be more
3:41
rounded more balanced and more
3:45
sane the media is constantly giving us
3:48
hints about what's glamorous and
3:50
important art also tells us about what's
3:53
glamorous and important but fortunately
3:55
given that you weren't invited again to
3:57
the Oscars this year it usually picks on
3:59
some very different things Al Dura makes
4:02
grass look glamorous John Constable
4:04
draws our attention to the skies van go
4:07
reminds us that oranges are worth paying
4:08
attention to Marcel ducha challenges us
4:11
to look again at the seemingly mundane
4:13
these artists aren't falsely glamorizing
4:15
things that are better ignored they're
4:17
justly teasing out a value that's been
4:19
neglected by a world with a deeply
4:22
distorted and unfair sense of what truly
4:24
matters art returns glamour to its
4:27
rightful place highlighting what's
4:35
appreciating nothing seems further from
4:37
good art than propaganda the sort
4:39
encouraging you to fight or what
4:42
support but one way to think about art
4:45
is that it is a sort of propaganda in
4:47
the sense of a tool that motivates and
4:50
energizes you for a cause only it's
4:52
propaganda on behalf of some of the most
4:54
important and nicest emotions and
4:56
attitudes in the world which it uses its
4:59
skills to make newly appealing and
5:01
accessible it might be propaganda about
5:03
the simple life or about the need to
5:05
broaden one's Horizons or about a more
5:08
playful tender approach to life it's a
5:11
force that stands up for the best sides
5:13
of human nature and gives them a
5:15
platform and an authority in a noisy
5:18
distracted world for too long Arts
5:21
attracted a little too much reverence
5:23
and Mystique for its own good in its
5:26
presence we're like someone meeting a
5:27
very famous person we get stiff and lose
5:30
our spontaneity we should relax around
5:32
it as we already do with music and learn
5:34
to use it for what it's really meant for
5:36
as a constant source of support and
5:38
encouragement for our better
5:42
selves it's the most idiotic thing I've
5:44
ever heard the likes of Russell bran
5:46
coming along and saying something so
5:48
damn ignorant is absolutely spoon
