We conclude the week with an interview with “The 1000 most beautiful paintings of all time”, after having interviewed the guys from Finestre sull’Arte and Claudia from Art’e. Like the previous two, this Facebook page also starts from a personal love for art and the desire to share one’s passions with others.
MILAN – ” The 1000 most beautiful paintings of all time”Was born from the intuition of Siegfried, a great lover of art and music who three years ago founded this page followed today by over 340,000 fans. We also asked him what he thinks of the current Italian artistic situation and what can be the solutions to improve it. And Siegfried, in the last line, told us that: «When the passion for art is triggered, it burns by itself. It is up to us to try to light the flame ». Here and here you can read our last two interviews. The 1000 most beautiful paintings of all time. A community of nearly 341,000 people. When and how this project was bornThe page was born in November 2011. The initial idea, after having followed blogs and painting forums for years, was to gather and organize my favorite works and in general the most significant ones in the history of painting. Since then the idea has expanded and has gone through several phases. The proposed works have become over 10,000, not only paintings in the strict sense but also frescoes, drawings up to sculptures and architectural works. Over time I have been joined by other people, all great fans and today there is a small but active editorial team behind the page. Everyone brings their own contributions according to taste, sensitivity and personal preparation. The project was born “social” and then also becomes a website. So, what is the role of technology in the dissemination and promotion of artIt’s true, about two years ago the Facebook page also became a site, millequadri.itwhich unfortunately has stopped publishing for some months. It was a natural outlet to create a blog, on social media and tossed about by the choices of the platform. Every now and then Facebook changes the functionality or layout of the page and we managers are forced to chase, to adapt to updates. Furthermore, Facebook’s policy is increasingly oriented towards paying for the promotion of posts, something that an amateur and non-commercial page like ours cannot support. Basically we have over 340,000 fans but it’s like we have 30,000. Only 10% of fans are actually reached by posts. To reach them all you have to pay. Apart from this, Facebook remains a formidable platform, and the viral capacity in spreading news, also concerning the world of art, is impressive.To date, it is only the big names in art that attract crowds of visitors at the entrance to galleries or museums. Why
Solutions and Advice Vermeer’s example is a fitting one. On that occasion the organization of the Linea d’Ombra exhibitionand managed to turn the girl with the pearl earring into a star. Her arrival in Italy caused the outcry of a movie or music star. Why certain artists gather crowds in museums and others do not remain a partial mystery to me. It is probable that some artists have made more inroads than others in the collective imagination; for emotional reasons (the “crazy” Van Gogh for example) but also for immediacy and pleasantness (the impressionists in general). The experience on our Facebook page tells us that most of the Italian public responds to art above all on an emotional level which is a legitimate approach but I don’t think it can be the only one. A greater education in art is certainly needed in order to be able to appreciate it on several levels.What is, to date, the real situation of art in ItalyOn the level of the public, what was said above is valid. The feeling is that we do not deserve an invaluable artistic heritage like the one preserved in Italy. We definitely need to raise our knowledge of the subject by acting at every level. Social networks are fine but the fundamental action must start from school. Also good initiatives such as free museums on the first Sunday of the month (decree in force since July 2014). On an artistic level, the feeling is that we are a province of the empire. Some time ago a desperate young painter wrote to us, he wanted to leave Italy and asked us for advice, whether it was better to emigrate to the United States, Australia or China. He didn’t want to go to Paris, Berlin or London but just to the other side of the world. It seems significant to me. Young people and art: what is the relationship
In your opinion, what could be the most suitable tools and initiatives to bring these two worlds closer?
In particular, what role do magazines, blogs and communities in the sector play?Today’s young people have very powerful tools like the web that previous generations (like mine) could not imagine. Personally, I became passionate about painting, avidly leafing through a small number of art books. Now with the web all the museums and galleries of the world are accessible. But what I think also applies to music. As a great fan, as a boy I collected records, the classic 33 rpm, but they were maybe 100 or 200 in all, bought and sweaty, one by one. Now a kid can have free access to the complete discography of any artist. It is an opportunity but you run the risk of getting lost and enjoying the infinity of material and information accessible from the web. Our page is also followed by young people, this is demonstrated by the satisfaction of our SOS maturity column (for three years before the exams in June we have been launching an SOS aimed at students in panic about their exam papers). Another way to approach them are the quizzes, polls and votes we offer. However, they are forms of entertainment that can open a breach. When the passion for art is triggered, it burns by itself. It is up to us to try to light the flame. It’s hard, but it’s a challenge!11 July 2014
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