Looking at 20th Century Art through the Eyes of a Physicist

Physicist and art collector Walter Lewin (MIT) shares his personal insights into major works of art from the first quarter of the 20th century.

Lewin begins by providing a framework to understand pioneering art, by dispelling the myth of “beauty” in the artwork. An excerpt follows:

“At the turn of the century we’ve reached a point that beauty is no longer an issue. Now you may find some of these works beautiful, but the intention of the artists that you’ve just seen, was definitely not to paint something that was beautiful. They wanted to introduce a new way of looking at the world, and they did that in different ways. The reason why you may now find many of these works beautiful is that their new way of seeing—their new way of looking at the world which they invented has become your world—your way of seeing. Our ideas of beauty evolve. What is plain ugly a hundred years ago can now be beautiful.


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Absolutely great!!!!

20th Century Art Part 1

This is a good summary and revision of art movements in the first half of the 20th century.

20th Century Art Part 1

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