essay about contemporary arts

Essay on Contemporary Art

Students are often asked to write an essay on Contemporary Art in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Contemporary Art

What is contemporary art.

Contemporary art is art made today by living artists. It shows what’s going on in the world and often uses new materials and ideas. It’s like a mirror that reflects our society, culture, and technology.

Styles in Contemporary Art

This art is very diverse. Some artists paint, others use computers or recycle things to make sculptures. There are no fixed rules, so artists can try whatever they like to express their thoughts and feelings.

Themes of Contemporary Art

Many contemporary artists talk about important topics like nature, politics, or personal stories. Their work can make us think and feel things about these issues.

Where to Find Contemporary Art

You can see contemporary art in museums, galleries, or even on the streets. Some art is only for looking, while other pieces invite you to touch or walk around them.

Why it Matters

Contemporary art helps us see the world in new ways. It can surprise, confuse, or excite us. It’s a way for artists to share their ideas with us, and for us to see things from a different point of view.

250 Words Essay on Contemporary Art

What is contemporary art.

Contemporary art is the art made today by living artists. It shows what is happening in our world and explores modern ideas, technology, and society. Artists create paintings, sculptures, videos, and other artworks that can surprise or make us think.

Styles and Materials

Artists in contemporary art use all sorts of materials, not just paint or clay. They might use plastic, glass, or even digital tools to make art. There are many different styles too, like abstract, which doesn’t look like anything real, or realistic, which looks very much like real life.

Themes and Messages

A lot of contemporary art talks about important topics like the environment, politics, or people’s rights. Artists want to share their thoughts and sometimes try to make the world a better place through their art.

Where to Find It

You can see contemporary art in museums, galleries, or even on the streets. Some art is made to be outside, like big sculptures in parks or murals on buildings.

Why It Matters

Contemporary art is special because it helps us see the world in new ways. It can make us feel happy, sad, or even confused, but that’s part of what makes it exciting. It’s like a conversation between the artist and us, and everyone can have their own opinion about it.

Contemporary art is all around us, and it’s a fun way to understand the thoughts and feelings of the people who make it. It’s a part of our world that keeps changing, just like we do.

500 Words Essay on Contemporary Art

Contemporary art is the art of today, created by living artists. It reflects the complex issues that shape our diverse, fast-moving world. Through paintings, sculptures, and all sorts of creative works, artists express ideas about society, culture, and technology. This kind of art can look very different from the art made in the past, and it often uses new methods and materials to surprise and engage people who see it.

Styles and Techniques

There are many styles in contemporary art. Some artists paint abstract pictures that don’t look like anything real but are all about colors and feelings. Others make realistic pictures that look like photographs, showing every small detail. Then there are artists who use new technology, like computers and video, to make their art. They might also use unexpected materials, like bits of plastic or old clothes, to create something new and exciting.

Themes in Contemporary Art

Artists today like to make art about things that are happening now. This could be about politics, the environment, or how people live with each other. For example, some artists make art about nature to show how important it is to protect the earth. Others might make art that asks questions about how we use technology and what it means for our future.

You can find contemporary art almost everywhere. Museums and galleries have exhibitions where you can see the latest artworks. Sometimes, art is even shown in public spaces like parks or train stations. This means that everyone can see and think about the art, not just people who go to museums.

Understanding Contemporary Art

Sometimes, looking at contemporary art can be confusing. An artwork might not be pretty or even look like much at all. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good or important. Often, the artist wants to make you think or feel something special. When you see a piece of contemporary art, try to imagine what the artist is trying to say. Think about the colors, shapes, or materials they used. You can also read the title or description, which can give you clues.

Artists and Audiences

Artists today work in a world where they can share their art with people all over the globe. Through the internet, people can see art made far away from where they live. This means that artists can have fans in different countries, and they can learn from each other, too. Audiences are important because they can talk about the art and share their own ideas, making the experience of art richer for everyone.

Contemporary art is all about the here and now. It can be fun, serious, beautiful, or strange. The main thing is to keep an open mind and try to see what the artist is sharing. Whether it’s in a museum or on the street, contemporary art has something to say about the world we live in, and it invites everyone, including school students like you, to join in the conversation.

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Contemporary Art Practices Essay

What is contemporary art.

The exchange of ideas presents one of the brightest features of the humanity that make us different from animals living on our planet. The urgent need of self-expression appeared when human brain was developed enough to create something that he had never seen, and it became an essential condition for future development of different forms of art. Speaking about art, we usually mean a wide range of activities that are aimed at creating new objects. 1 Unlike scientific inventions, the objects of art are not created to extend the knowledge about the world and the laws of nature; instead, they usually help the artist to convey certain message and express his attitude towards many things happening in the world. It is against this background that art is impossible to replace as it presents a way of communication that allows people living in different countries and having different cultural background speak the same language, the one that does not require using words to be understood.

It is interesting that people’s opinion about art tends to be different when it comes to its historical periods. Looking at the paintings, sculptures, and mosaic inlays created many centuries ago, many people seem to be really impressed although these pieces of art are usually connected to the themes that are not currently central in the modern human society. In the past, much attention of an artist was paid to the technique and working out the tiniest details of an object of art. In the last centuries, the people of art were working hard to set the standards that would determine people’s taste. 2 Having taken a look at contemporary art and its peculiarities, one can find out that, to some extent, it presents the very reverse of the classical period in the field of art. 3 Those artists who were working that period were setting standards whereas contemporary art seems to be aimed at abandoning any standards.

Contemporary art is proclaiming the idea that real works of art cannot be created if there are certain rules that have to be followed, and the artist has no chance to develop his talent if he does not feel free from conventionality. Speaking about contemporary art, people usually mean the objects of art and artistic techniques that began to be used in the middle of the twentieth century. Contemporary art may be classified as the field that has no strong connection to the composition rules peculiar for classic art. 4 One of the most distinctive features of contemporary art is its striving for diversity; within its frames, it becomes possible to use all the ways that one can imagine to convey the message. In many cases, the objects of contemporary art present the way to voice the artist’s protest against the significant statements made by political leaders such as decisions to dig up the tomahawk or choosing a new political or economical direction. The objects of art created by our contemporaries tend to reflect the modern society in its true colors.

Besides, it often happens that contemporary artists show numerous diseases of the humanity in an exaggerated way or in a way carrying the depicted problem to the point of absurdity. Taking that into consideration, it is possible to conclude that contemporary art is something more than just creation of objects that look good to the viewer’s eye. 5 On the contrary, it often involves transforming the urgent problems of our society into visual images that are able to make people take notice of things that they usually attach little importance to, and such approach to making people more conscious seems to be an effective tool for struggling with human ignorance. 6 The contemporary art community is full of many famous artists developing their own styles; they are so different that they seem to be united only by their passion to art. 7 Being a part of this community, Ai Weiwei from China and Richard Prince from the United States belong to the number of the artists whose works cause different reactions ranging from excitement to anger.

Ai Weiwei: The Artist Who Confronts Chinese Officials

Ai Weiwei is one of the most famous contemporary artists from China, he works in the fields of painting and architecture. This artist is believed to be one of the most dominant figures in the world of art. At the same time, he is regarded as a man with an ambiguous character. Due to his unwillingness to keep silent if he knows something and believes that is has to become a public knowledge, Ai Weiwei is usually regarded as a notorious person. In spite of his great financial possibilities and his having good friends in the right places, his life is full of fear as his works of art and projects often incur a displeasure of the Chinese officials. He has been a member of many associations of artists such as “The Stars” that was a movement proclaiming the ideas of the importance of individualism and contradicting the canons of Chinese art.

To the members of this art group, the traditional theory of art seemed to be a prison preventing people from free self-expression and developing their talents. Their works contained many details showing the authors’ critical attitude towards Chinese officials holding the reins of power in the end of the twentieth century. Throughout its existence, this art group created many works showing the authors’ dissent from an opinion expressed by the government. One of the most famous works created by the group was a wooden head with closed eyes and a mouth gag that represented the authors’ opinion on a freedom of speech in China. The group arranged two exhibitions and all the works presented there were expressing a growing discontent with the political system in China and the officials’ opinions on human rights and liberty of utterance.

What is more, they seemed to go over the line as their works were presenting a strong statement against traditional Chinese culture. The public response to these exhibitions was quite easy to predict. Despite many negative consequences that these exhibitions caused, the activity of this art group is believed to have paved the way for the revolution in Chinese art. Nowadays, Ai Weiwei is the most famous participant of this art group. Creating his art works, he does not care about the reaction that they may cause, and due to this readiness to trigger a discontent of the government he is not allowed to leave China.

The Most Famous Works by Ai Weiwei and their Meaning

Ai Weiwei has been a member of many art groups but in general, he is known for his individual art works. Besides being an artist, he is a political activist, and he has to pay a high price for his striving for the truth. For instance, he is known for his attempts to investigate the case of Sichuan earthquake that happened eight years ago. As a result, he found out a lot of information that was new for the majority of common people. When he wanted to support a champion of human rights who wanted to unmask the mistakes of the administration of Sichuan, he was beaten up by Chinese police officers. Having taken this into consideration, it is easy to imagine the magnitude of his conflict with Chinese public authorities.

In general, his art touches upon the topic of present political course of China and its consequences. In the end of the twentieth century, Ai Weiwei started using elements of traditional Chinese art in his works. The thing that caused a lot of discontent is that he was not using Chinese motives in order to show his respect for the cultural heritage of his ancestors. Instead, he seemed to be trying to laugh at those people who identify themselves with Chinese traditional culture. This topic is very controversial; that period, his artistic activity verged on cultural violence and insanity. For example, to create one of his art projects, he had to destroy one of the ancient Chinese urns. The photo is called Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn , 1995 (fig.1).

To express his attitude towards the order of preferences concerning art, and distinguish himself from the crowd of other artists, he changed the design of one of the Han dynasty urns by drawing on it a logo of Coca Cola company (fig.2).

Nevertheless, he cannot be regarded as a person who does not have any respect to the traditions of his nation. The distinctive features of Chinese culture were used by him in order to create something new that would bridge the gap between traditional and revolutionary views on art. To show how these two opposite approaches may coexist, he developed a project that presented a great construction consisting of archaicized vases. He is known as a person who tries to use everything material that can be turned into an art object. Thus, trying to look beyond the frame and create something that has no analogues in the world, he constructed an art object consisting of parts of a thousand bicycles (fig.3).

The artist’s choice of the material seems to reflect the facts of life in China, as many people living there prefer to ride a bicycle instead of using public transport. To some extent, this installation can be regarded as a monument to movement that helps people to stay alive and feel better. Worldmap is one of the most unusual art works created by Ai Weiwei. This piece of art consists of two thousand layers of white fabric, and the shape of different continents of the Earth is cut out from this fabric. This very work presents Ai Weiwei’s opinion on present status of his country in the world (fig.4).

During the creation of this object of art, many Chinese volunteers were helping Ai Weiwei. By means of this project, the artist wanted to highlight the way that the world community sees China. The work symbolizes China’s being one of the countries with the cheapest labor force in the spheres of textile industry and fabrication. Political and economic contexts seem to be reflected in Ai Weiwei’s art practices very often; more importantly, he managed to turn himself into a symbol of freedom of speech and a struggle against the regime. Although many people believe him to be a person who is just trying to attract an attention of a society, he definitely belongs to the number of people who contribute into the development of Chinese art.

Richard Prince: An Artist or a Thief?

Richard Prince is one of the most famous members of the contemporary art community of the United States. As a child, Prince lived in United States and in Great Britain. Having graduated from the university, he started working for a publishing company. In the end of 1970s he started his art career. Richard Prince is an artist who feels inspired by postmodern culture, and this fact influenced his decision to depart from the primary rule of any artist that prescribes to value the efforts made by other people. Breaking the law of the honor many times, he has managed to build a successful career and become one of the richest artists of his generation. The phenomenon of Richard Prince and his financial success allows nobody to stay indifferent; there is a variety of opinions concerning his work and the question if he attaches any significance to the notions of honesty and conscience.

Many people could jump to the conclusion that his works are always regarded as obvious violation of intellectual property rights of other photographers and their models; in fact, the art by Richard Prince make the society divide into two large groups. Although the majority of people do not see him as a talented person who tries hard to create something new in order to contribute to the contemporary art in United States, there is a group of people who consider him to be a real artist. According to the opinion expressed by many of his supporters. Richard Prince is just able to think out of the box and make enormous sums of money due to his inventiveness, and it would be a mistake to regard his work as the act of misappropriation.

Continuation Art by Richard Prince: What are the Messages of his Works?

As it is clear from the materials published by certain means of mass media, Richard Prince has managed to garner the support of some of his colleagues who see him not as a man misappropriating other people’s photographs and paintings but as a person who fights against insincerity and the pseudo-values of the society. In their opinion, these values become more and more popular in the United States and then spread all over the world. To all intents and purposes, his supporters claim that his mission is very important as he assails with criticism on modern culture that proclaims consumerism and obsession with a physical appearance.

First of all, Richard Prince is known as an artist who does not create the picture from the very beginning but works with pictures created by other people and adds a few tiny details in order to slightly change them. On the face of this situation, such actions seem to be an act of misappropriation of other people’s intellectual property; in fact, in accordance with the laws of the United States, incorporating any changes involves creating another object of art that becomes a property of this artist. In his work, Richard Prince often touches upon the topics of social trends that are very popular among modern Americans. For example, one of his exhibitions in New York was devoted to the topic of popular social networks. To prepare for the exhibition, he “created” more than thirty printed images that had been posted by different people on their Instagram pages (fig.5).

The thing that is interesting about this situation is that people whose photos were stolen (among them were models and photographers) showed almost no response to the fact that their photos were sold at a very high price, and they were not given any money by Prince. As for him, this way of creating pictures and other objects of art has nothing to do with the real crime and dishonesty; he sees appropriation art as a good way to add something new to the works that already exist, and therefore, to whip other people’s photographs and paintings into shape. What is more, there are people who believe this kind of art to be an essential reaction to the things that are happening in the Internet community. As they believe, with the rise of Internet, people have become more careless in reference to the information concerning their lives that they use on their pages in different social networks. This is why they should not be surprised when other people lay their hands on these pictures, and turn them into the objects of art that are of interest for many art collectors.

There is no doubt that the appropriateness of the methods that he uses and treasures of art of his works present quite a controversial topic. Nevertheless, Richard Prince may be called an artist who is successful at incarnating his own vision of mindset and the range of interests of typical American consumer in his works. Thus, he has used a range of themes that are familiar to many Americans in order to create a few series of images. For instance, he has managed to exploit American art collectors’ passion to westerns and cowboys with help of creating a series of cowboy pictures (fig.6).

To create this photograph series, Richard Prince appropriated a few pictures from an advertisement of Marlboro cigarettes that was popular in the end of the 1970s. It is very important to pay attention to the reaction of the society to this innovative trick; it may sound surprising but the art community found the artist’s solution to be simple and amazing.

This art series was important because it attracted the attention of the society to the issues of singularity of art design and the authorship of art works. What is more, he was using the covers of cheap romance novels to create his pictures. Thus, a series of pictures called “Nurses” appeared (fig.7, fig.8).

For instance, the images of the secondary characters were covered with paint, and the nurses’ facial expressions were changed so that the pictures looked terrifying. These pictures may be regarded as the artist’s vision of women’s image in the society. If we take a look at these pictures, it becomes obvious that the nurses are sexualized; what is more, they are deprived of their personal characters as their faces are covered with medical face masks. According to Prince’s opinion, the same is true for the women living in modern society; it is essential as the ideas of consumer society are so popular that we start consuming people. Due to the meaning that he incorporates into these pictures, they can be regarded as a mirror reflecting the defects of modern society that keeps living in accordance with the pseudo-values.

In the end, it is clear that contemporary art practices allow artists to go beyond creating only beautiful objects; instead, they are able to express their opinion on many social causes and even fight against political regime. Due to that, contemporary art has turned into the tool reflecting the state of the society and encouraging it to change.

Bibliography

Ertug, Gokhan. “The Art of Representation: How Audience-Specific Reputations Affect Success in the Contemporary Art Field.” Academy of Management Journal 59, no.1 (2016): 113-134.

Horowitz, Noah. Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.

McEvilley, Thomas. Capacity: The History, the World, and the Self in Contemporary Art and Criticism . New York: Routledge, 2016.

Osborne, Peter. Anywhere or Not at All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art . London: Verso, 2013.

Shanken, Edward. Contemporary Art and New Media . Oxford: John Wiley , 2016.

Smith, Terry. What is Contemporary Art? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Velthuis, Olav. Talking prices: Symbolic meanings of prices on the market for contemporary art . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.

List of Illustrations

• Ai Weiwei, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995 , Web.
• Ai Weiwei, Han Dynasty Urn with Coca-Cola Logo , 1994, Web.
• Ai Weiwei, Forever , 2012, Web.
• Ai Weiwei, Worldmap , 2006, Web.
• Richard Prince, Untitled , 2015, Web.
• Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) , 1989, Web.
• Richard Prince, Dude Ranch Nurse # 2 , 2002-2003, Web.
• Richard Prince, Mission Nurse , 2002, Web.
• Noah Horowitz, Art of the deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 9.
• Peter Osborne, Anywhere or Not at All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art . (London: Verso, 2013), 6.
• Olav Velthuis, Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art . (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013), 7.
• Gokhan Ertug, “The Art of Representation: How Audience-Specific Reputations Affect Success in the Contemporary Art Field”, Academy of Management Journal 59, no.1 (2016): 113.
• Terry Smith, What is Contemporary Art? (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), 9.
• Edward Shanken, Contemporary Art and New Media . (Oxford: John Wiley , 2016), 448.
• Thomas McEvilley, Capacity: The History, the World, and the Self in Contemporary Art and Criticism . (New York: Routledge, 2016), 9.
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Beyond the Mainstream: Essays on Modern and Contemporary Art

Abstract:  This selection of essays by a prominent art historian, critic and curator of modern art examines the art and artists of the twentieth century who have operated outside the established art world. In a lucid and accessible style, Peter Selz explores modern art as it is reflected, and has had an impact on, the tremendous transformations of politics and culture, both in the United States and in Europe. An authoritative overview of a neglected phenomenon, his essays explore the complex relationship between art at the periphery and art at the putative center, and how marginal art has affected that of the mainstream. Author:  Peter Selz Publication date:  January 28, 1998 Publication type:  Book

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In 1999, a series of commissioned writings on contemporary art, published in  the Foundation's annual grants booklet , was inaugurated. The essays, by renowned arts writers, artists and friends of FCA, deal with a myriad of topics relevant to contemporary art, from questions on the nature of performance art to global climate change.

2018 commissioned essay author and 2012 grantee Kate Millett in her studio, New York, NY, 2000. Photo by Bettina Flitner.

2017 commissioned essay author and 1997 grantee Neil Greenberg in Solo for Lost and Found, at Danspace Project, New York, 2016. Photo by Ian Douglas.

2012 commissioned essay author and 1999 grantee Stephen Petronio, from the premiere of Beauty and the Brut, at The Joyce Theater, New York, 2008. Photo by Sarah Silver.

Modern and Contemporary Art

The Modern and Contemporary Art department at The Met is devoted to the study, collection and exhibition of art from 1890 to the present. An era marked by seismic cultural, social and political shifts across the globe, artistic responses to these changes have shaped multiple modernities and diverse contemporary practices. The department is committed to foregrounding the interconnected and richly variegated narratives and experiences that inform the art of this period from around the world.

Historically focused on the art of Western Europe and North America, since 2012 Modern and Contemporary Art has greatly expanded and diversified its collections, especially through works by women and artists of color, with particular emphasis on acquisitions from Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and African diasporas. Today, its holdings span a range of media, including paintings, sculpture, works on paper, design, decorative arts, and time-based media. The department presents rotating selections from its dynamic collections in its galleries and special projects throughout the museum.

Department History

The Met established its Department of Contemporary Arts in 1967 under Henry Geldzahler, who along with co-curator Lowery Stokes Sims refocused the museum’s commitment to living artists. Initially confined to American painting and sculpture, the department’s collections grew in the 1970s to include art from Europe and later decorative arts and design. Twentieth-century art found a permanent home at The Met with the opening of the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing in 1987. The department, since renamed, has critically expanded the scope of its holdings and extended the spaces of its operation. From 2016 to 2020 it mounted innovative exhibitions at The Met Breuer and today continues to foreground the work of modern and contemporary artists from across the globe.

Highlights from the Collection

The department’s holdings have been formed through strategic acquisitions as well as generous gifts and bequests, including major private collections from the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection. Particularly strong in modern design as well as French and American modernism, the department’s collection has expanded and diversified in recent years to more broadly acknowledge global perspectives (such as art from Hungary and Iran) and practices (such as those of Julio Le Parc and Mrinalini Mukherjee). Today, its robust holdings in painting, sculpture, and works on paper have been augmented by substantial and growing collections of international decorative arts and design, installation art, and time-based media.

See highlights of modern and contemporary art in the department's collection.

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Contemporary artists, like many artists that preceded them, may acknowledge and find inspiration in art works from previous time periods in both subject matter and formal elements. Sometimes this inspiration takes the form of appropriation . Artist John Baldessari "borrowed" an image from 1505 of a stag beetle by the German artist Albrecht Dürer and made it his own. Using modern-day materials (ink-jet printing mounted on a fiberglass panel), Baldessari juxtaposed the original image with a piece of sculpture in the form of a giant steel pin. By inserting the steel pin into the canvas, Baldessari combines mediums in a very modern way.

In the 1960s, artists began to turn to the medium of video to redefine fine art. Through video art, many artists have challenged preconceived notions of art as high priced, high-brow, and only decipherable by elite members of society. Video art is not necessarily a type of art that individuals would want to own, but rather an experience. Continuing the trend of redefining earlier ideas and ideals about art, some contemporary video artists are seeking to do away with the notion of art as a commodity. Artists turning to video have used the art form as a tool for change, a medium for ideas. Some video art openly acknowledges the power of the medium of television and the Internet, thus opening the doors of the art world to the masses.

Such artists seek to elevate the process of creating art and move beyond the notion that art should only be valued as an aesthetically pleasing product. Video art exemplifies this, for the viewer watches the work as it is actually being made; they watch as the process unfolds. Video installation pieces combine video with sound, music, and/or other interactive components. In Nicole Cohen's Please Be Seated , viewers are asked to be active participants. Using innovative video technologies, participants can sit on replicas of 18th-century French chairs and watch television screens in which they are virtually inserted in historic recreations of 18th-century French spaces. While traditional works of art are in galleries with signs that say "Do not touch," Cohen invites you to physically participate. In this way, the viewer becomes part of the work of art.

Robert Irwin is another artist who sought to involve the viewer, as seen in his garden at the Getty Center. In the Central Garden, which Irwin has playfully termed "a sculpture in the form of a garden aspiring to be art," viewers can experience a maze-like configuration of plants, stones, and water. Here visitors get completely immersed in the sensation of being within the work of art. The sense of smell, touch, and sound are juxtaposed with the colors and textures of the garden. All of the foliage and materials of the garden were selected to accentuate the interplay of light, color, and reflection. A statement by Irwin, "Always changing, never twice the same," is carved into the plaza floor, reminding visitors of the ever-changing nature of this living work of art. In this way, Irwin subverts the idea that a work of art should be paint on a canvas. Rather, nature can be art. By creating a garden specifically designed for the Getty Center, Irwin engages in site-specific art. Many contemporary artists who create site-specific works move art out of museums and galleries and into communities to address socially significant issues and/or raise social consciousness. In the case of Irwin's garden and Martin Puryear's That Profile (also on view at the Getty Center), works of art are commissioned by museums to enhance and incorporate their surrounding environments. That Profile , stationed on the plaza at the foot of the stairs leading to the Museum, mimics the grid-like patterns of the Getty Center building itself. Weighing 7,500 pounds, That Profile is massive. However the work's graceful and curving lines have a "light and airy" quality that capitalizes on the surrounding mountains and ocean views visible from the Getty's plaza. Questions such as "What is art?" and "What is the function of art?" are relatively new. Creating art that defies viewers' expectations and artistic conventions is a distinctly modern concept. However, artists of all eras are products of their relative cultures and time periods. Contemporary artists are in a position to express themselves and respond to social issues in a way that artists of the past were not able to. When experiencing contemporary art at the Getty Center, viewers use different criteria for judging works of art than criteria used in the past. Instead of asking, "Do I like how this looks?" viewers might ask, "Do I like the idea this artist presents?" Having an open mind goes a long way towards understanding, and even appreciating, the art of our own era.

For the Classroom

What is Contemporary Art — Definition, Artists, and Examples

• Art Styles Explained
• Art History Timeline
• Renaissance
• Neoclassicism
• Naturalism vs Realism
• Romanticism
• Art Nouveau
• Kinetic Art
• Post Impressionism
• Primitivism
• Abstract Expressionism
• Avant Garde
• Conceptual Art
• Constructivism Art
• Expressionism
• Harlem Renaissance
• Magical Realism
• Suprematism
• Contemporary Art
• Installation Art
• Photorealism
• Performance Art

C ontemporary art is often defined as “art of the current day.” But is that all contemporary art is? Or is it something more? We’re going to explore the world of contemporary art by looking at some examples from prominent contemporary artists around the world. By the end, you’ll know what contemporary art is, and what makes it unique.

TYPES OF ART STYLES

Art styles explained & art history timeline.

• Avant-Garde
• Post-Impressionism

Contemporary Art Meaning

How do you define contemporary art.

Contemporary art is uniquely modern – which makes it the perfect medium to learn about on the internet. It can be difficult to connect to the art of the ancient and classical eras (especially when galleries aren’t in the immediate vicinity) because they’re so far disconnected from our current reality.

So, before we jump into our contemporary art definition, check out this short video on “how to learn about contemporary art” from The Art Assignment by PBS Digital Studios. For more, check out our  index of art styles covering more specific and noteworthy movements.

Contemporary Art Styles  •  How to Learn About Contemporary Art

Now that we know how to learn about contemporary art, let’s formally outline a contemporary art definition.

CONTEMPORARY ART DEFINITION

What is contemporary art.

Contemporary art is art that’s made in the current era. What is the current era you ask? Well, art critics offer differing opinions. Some say contemporary art encompasses all art created after World War II; others suggest it encompasses all art created after the 1970s. My suggestion is this: think of contemporary art as all art created within the length of an average living lifespan. So, about 70 years from the current day.

What Makes Something Contemporary Art?

Modern art vs. contemporary art.

A lot of people logically think contemporary art and modern art are the same thing – but that isn’t the case. 

Contemporary art is art produced during “our time,” which is usually cited as 1970 to the current day.

Modern art refers to art produced between the 1860s to the 1970s. Modern art was significant because it represented a global shift from realism to abstractionism.

The paintings, drawings, sculptures, and architectural works produced during this era were largely more experimental than their predecessors.

For more on the difference between contemporary art and modern art, check out this quick video from the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Contemporary Art Time Period  •  smART Talk: Modern Art vs Contemporary Art by San Antonio Museum of Art

Now that we’ve reviewed the difference between contemporary art and modern art, let’s take a look at some contemporary art examples.

Contemporary Artistic Movements

Contemporary art examples.

One of the associative features of contemporary art is a focus on social injustice. We see this theme addressed in contemporary art all over the world; let’s take a look at a few examples.

SUNFLOWER SEEDS 

Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei is one of the most famous works of contemporary art. The piece was an art installation at the Tate Modern’s Turbine in Hall in London from 2010 to 2011.

Famous Contemporary Art  •  Sunflower Seeds by Ai Weiwei at Tate Modern, Photo by Lennart Press/AP

Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most lauded contemporary artists; working in a variety of forms, including photography, videography, sculpting, and installations. The millions of porcelain sunflower seeds were hand-crafted for the installation by workers in China.

Weiwei proposed the installation by saying, “[In] the times I grew up, it was a common place symbol for The People, the sunflower faces the trajectory of the red sun, so must the masses feel towards their leadership. Handfuls were carried in pockets, to be consumed on all occasions both casual and formal. So much more than a snack, it was the minimal ingredient that constituted the most essential needs and desires. Their empty shells were the ephemeral traces of social activity. The least common denominator for human satisfaction. I wonder what would have happened without them?” via Tate Modern .

GIRL WITH BALLOON

Girl with Balloon by Banksy is an iconic piece of contemporary art. Banksy has become a household over the past couple decades in large part due to his anonymity – but he’s a daring contemporary artist as well.

Contemporary Painting  •  Gilr With Balloon by Banksy

A lot of people, both in and out of the art world, dislike Banksy’s works. Some art critics consider his works “obvious” and “juvenile” because they’re often too easy to interpret. And obviously, there’s a contingency of people who bemoan having to clean up his graffiti. 

Still, there’s no denying that Banksy has had an enormous influence on contemporary art. In 2018, a painted version of Girl with Balloon was sold at auction for a record £1,042,000, but immediately after the gable hit, it was shredded to pieces. Check out the moment Love in the Bin was created below.

What is Contemporary Art?  •  Banksy Artworks Shredded by Inside Edition

Some art critics and appraisers have speculated that the shredding of the painting increased its value. Banksy is a contemporary artist who’s known for being anti-authoritarian – so it makes sense that a work that symbolized his anti-authoritatian perspective would be more valuable than one that did not. Perhaps more importantly, Love in the Bin was a spectacle – and spectacle always attracts eyes and dollars.

PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF DEATH IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE LIVING

Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Hirst is a famous piece of contemporary art by an artist many consider to be a preeminent master 0f the recent era.

Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The work was originally commissioned in 1991 – but it’s been updated since then. The killing and subsequent showcasing of the shark has been met with criticism from some groups, including animal-rights activists and art scholars. Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living raises points about zoo-like spectacle and artistic culpability; still it’s hard to refute the installation is an important piece of contemporary art.

Contemporary Genre Examples

The next era of contemporary art.

Remember: contemporary art is simply the art of our time. As the world veers more and more in a digital direction, art has begun to take new forms. 

The emergence of blockchain technology has opened new opportunities for digital artists to take ownership of their work. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) allow artists to list their creations on digital marketplaces through a digital ledger. Here’s a video on NFTs and digital art from The Wall Street Journal.

Types of Contemporary Art  •  NFTs Are Fueling a Boom in Digital Art by The Wall Street Journal

Whether or not NFTs have staying power in the world of contemporary art remains to be seen – but it’s certainly exciting to see art take new forms.

Explore More Styles and Movements

This was just one of many fascinating segments of art history. There are many eras, styles, artists, and movements to discover. Let's continue our study by choosing the next stop on your way to becoming an art aficionado. Below you can visit our  Art Styles Index , our  Art History Timeline , or choose an individual movement.

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Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists

Challenges, Practices, and Complexities

• Christopher Wiley 0 ,

Department of Music and Media, University of Surrey, Guilford, UK

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Department of Music, City, University of London, London, UK

• Represents an original and substantial contribution to the field of writing about contemporary creative art and artists, a thriving yet largely untapped field for multi-disciplinary discourse
• Considers the writing of contemporary creative art and artists from a wide range of perspectives within and across the arts, nurturing dialogue between these different disciplines
• Responds to timely questions such as the validity of creative practice as research and its equitability with more traditional humanities-oriented output

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About this book

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

Front matter, general introduction.

• Christopher Wiley, Ian Pace

Critical Perspectives

The artist is present: scandal and the academic study of the living artist.

• Lorraine York

From Vocational Calling to Career Construction: Late-Career Authors and Critical Self-reflection

The purpose of the written element in composition phds.

• Christopher Leedham, Martin Scheuregger

Ethnographic Approaches to the Study of Western Art Music: Questions of Context, Realism, Evidence, Description and Analysis

When ethnography becomes hagiography: uncritical musical perspectives, case studies across the arts, writing catastrophe: howard barker’s theatre.

• Andy W. Smith

Writing the Contemporary Ballerina: Sylvie Guillem, Misty Copeland and Lessons in Biography

Amend the arena: on adrian piper’s work.

• Vered Engelhard

Writing About Contemporary Composers: Memory and Irony in The Apollonian Clockwork

• Joel M. Baldwin

Artfrom: Researching the Canon Through Publications of Art and Design

• Miriam Cabell, Phoebe Stubbs

Art Considered on Its Own Terms

Occlusionary tactics.

• Joanne ‘Bob’ Whalley
• Richard Birchall

MusicArt: Creating Dialogues Across the Arts

• Annie Yim, in conversation with Christopher Wiley

Back Matter

Researching and writing about contemporary art and artists present unique challenges for scholars, students, professional critics and creative practitioners alike. This collection of essays from across the arts disciplines—music, literature, dance, theatre and the visual arts—explores the challenges and complexities raised by engaging in researching and writing on living or recently deceased subjects and their output. Different sections explore critical perspectives and case studies in relation to innovative, distinctive or otherwise leading work, as well as offering innovative modes of discourse such as a visual essay and a music composition. Subjects addressed include recent scandals of Canadian literary celebrity, late-career output, the written element of music composition PhDs, and the boundaries between ethnography and hagiography, with case studies ranging from Howard Barker to Adrian Piper to Sylvie Guillem and Misty Copeland.

• Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Artists
• Theory of Biography
• Life Writing
• Creative Practice

Christopher Wiley

Christopher Wiley is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Surrey, UK. He is the author of many journal articles and book chapters, and the co-editor of forthcoming volumes including Writing About Contemporary Musicians (2020), Transnational Perspectives on Artists’ Lives (2020), Women’s Suffrage in Word, Image, Music and Drama (2021), and The Routledge Companion to Autoethnography and Self-Reflexivity in Music Studies (2021).

Ian Pace is Senior Lecturer in Music at City, University of London, UK, and an internationally renowned pianist specialising in new music. He published a monograph on Michael Finnissy’s The History of Photography in Sound (2013) alongside a recording of the work, and he is co-editor of the volumes Uncommon Ground: The Music of Michael Finnissy (1988), Critical Perspectives on Michael Finnissy (2019), Writing about Contemporary Musicians (2020), and RethinkingContemporary Musicology (2020). He has also published articles in many journals, recorded 40 CDs, and given over 250 world premieres.

Book Title : Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists

Book Subtitle : Challenges, Practices, and Complexities

Editors : Christopher Wiley, Ian Pace

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39233-8

Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan Cham

eBook Packages : Literature, Cultural and Media Studies , Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-030-39232-1 Published: 28 June 2020

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-030-39235-2 Published: 28 June 2021

eBook ISBN : 978-3-030-39233-8 Published: 27 June 2020

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XVI, 281

Number of Illustrations : 25 b/w illustrations, 11 illustrations in colour

Topics : Arts , Research Skills

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Getting started: an introduction to teaching with contemporary art.

• Contemporary Art in Context

In this section

• Contemporary Approaches to Teaching
• Starting the Conversation
• Using Art21 Resources in the Classroom

What is Contemporary Art?

Art21 defines contemporary art as the work of artists who are living in the twenty-first century. Contemporary art mirrors contemporary culture and society, offering teachers, students, and general audiences a rich resource through which to consider current ideas and rethink the familiar. The work of contemporary artists is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition. Diverse and eclectic, contemporary art is distinguished by the very lack of a uniform organizing principle, ideology, or -ism. In a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world, contemporary artists give voice to the varied and changing cultural landscape of identities, values, and beliefs.

Audiences play an active role in the process of constructing meaning about works of art. Some artists say that the viewer contributes to or even completes the artwork by offering his or her personal reflections, experiences, opinions, and interpretations. One of the cornerstones of Art21’s philosophy is to allow artists to present their work in their own words and to encourage viewers to consider, react, and respond to visual art.

Curiosity, openness, and dialogue are the most important tools for engaging with works of art. Instead of questioning whether an artwork is good or bad, the study of contemporary art requires an open-ended methodology and an inquiry-based approach. Asking questions that ignite discussion and stimulate debate is an important first step toward appreciating and interpreting works of art that can defy expectation, may provoke strong responses, or contradict personal beliefs or societal values.

We believe:

• Bringing contemporary art into schools and communities enables educators to promote curiosity, encourage dialogue, and initiate debate about the world and the issues that affect our lives.
• Art21 artists serve as creative role models, who can inspire people of all ages to consider how ideas are developed, articulated, and realized in the contemporary world, offering educators opportunities to support diverse learning styles.
• Contemporary artists address both current events and historical ideas. These references help educators and students make connections across their curriculum and support interdisciplinary thinking
• As artists continue to explore and employ new technologies and media, the work they create encourages media literacy in an increasingly media-saturated society.
• Art21 enables students to understand that contemporary art is part of a cultural dialogue that concerns larger frameworks, such as ideas about beauty, personal and cultural identity, family, community, and nationality.

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What's the Difference Between Modern and Contemporary Art?

Asking the elusive question.

By Google Arts & Culture

Landscape with Church (Landscape with Red Spots I) (1913) by Wassily Kandinsky Museum Folkwang

Modern, contemporary. Contemporary, modern. These terms are often used interchangeably. So is there actually any difference between them? And if so, why? One answer is simple: time. Modern art came before contemporary art. Most art historians and critics put the beginning of modern art in the West at around the 1860s, continuing up to the 1960s. Whereas, contemporary art means art made in the present day. But it can be hard to define what the ‘present day’ really means. Is that art made by living artists? Art made in our lifetimes? Or is it artists making work that references or engages with the culture of the present day? Perhaps even artwork made in a way that defines what the ‘present day’ is? So, the start date of contemporary art is, perhaps paradoxically, most often set back in the 1960s and 70s.

Musée d'Orsay, accrochage salle Van gogh (2012) by Musée d'Orsay, display in the Van Gogh room Musée d’Orsay, Paris

But as well as time difference, there are also other differences—in method, medium, and approach. And when we talk about modern and contemporary art, we’re also talking about lots of different movements and forms, from Post-Impressionism, to Dada, to Pop Art, to Installation Art.

Luncheon on the Grass (1863) by Edouard Manet Musée d’Orsay, Paris

So first let’s take a look at modern art . When we see Monet printed on tea towels and Cézanne on the cover of biscuit tins, it can be hard to imagine how radical and shocking this style of painting was in its day. Modern art and ‘modernism’ was a radical departure from the kinds of art that had gone before; its rejection of traditional perspective and subject matter was especially innovative.

Many art historians say that Édouard Manet was the first ‘modern’ artist—specifically his painting from 1863, Luncheon on the Grass . This is because the piece didn’t try to portray the scene in a way that looked ‘real’ and three dimensional. Manet’s figures look like they sit on top of one another; the woman bathing in a stream almost seems to be hovering over the other characters, as though she could fall off her perch and land in their laps at any moment. Manet was also criticized for the lack of shading between the light and dark areas of the picture and for the 'lowly' subject matter of his painting.

Window Opening on Nice (1928) by DUFY, Raoul Shimane Art Museum

This movement away from attempts to accurately represent the outside world ushered in a new era of art, which encompassed Impressionism , Post-Impressionism , Japonism , Fauvism , Cubism , Futurism , and Expressionism .

So how did we get from here, to contemporary art, with its piles of bricks and $10,000 'non-visible' artworks ? A kind of mini-turning point in the transition between modern and contemporary art came with the movement known as ' abstract expressionism ’, as this ushered in a movement away from the content of the picture, and towards a focus on the process of making the artwork itself. Take Jackson Pollock; his artworks were as much about the act of dripping paint and moving around the canvas, cigarette in mouth , as it was about the finished product per se. This movement was a small stepping stone on the road towards what we now think of as contemporary art.

Jackson Pollock by Hans Namuth Sound and Music

Wirtschaftswert Speisekuchen (1977/1977) by Joseph Beuys MUSEION

The sea-change came in the 1960s and 70s, with a revolution in the way we make, and think about, art. Much modernist art, including abstract expressionism, took itself very seriously, privileging the 'genius' of the artist. Pop art , minimalism , conceptual art , and performance art, however, turned this on its head, making artwork that looked at modernism's preconceptions about art with a wry smirk. Instead of beauty and form, artists were often now more interested in the concept behind the artwork, so art now took on lots of different forms—video, performance, installation—and often lived outside of galleries or traditional art spaces altogether.

Will Britain get through this recession (1992/1993) by Gillian Wearing British Council

An important part of contemporary art isn’t held in the brushstrokes of paint, or the marble of a sculpture; it isn’t even in the artwork at all, rather, it’s the viewer's impression of the artwork. Contemporary artworks often focus on the effect on, and experience of, an artwork’s viewer. To many critics and art theorists, we make the artwork what it is. In some cases, the artwork is only made up of the people who experience it, as with many performance and social action projects.

Jeremy Deller, Valerie's Snack Bar (2008) Hayward Gallery

A question that so often gets leveled at contemporary art is usually something along the lines of, “but is it art though?’ or, “my four-year-old could do that”. But, funnily enough, this shows that contemporary artists are doing their jobs properly. How? Because a lot of contemporary art is interrogating our conception of ‘aesthetics’. Aesthetics is the philosophical enquiry into what makes something art. So when we look at a pile of bricks, or a urinal in an art gallery, the artists are actually trying to make us question whether or not their work is art, and if it is, what makes it so.

Tomorrow (2013) UCCA Center for Contemporary Art

Contemporary art is often an experiment in pushing boundaries and asking questions about what art is and can be. So when you say, ‘is it art though?’, that’s exactly the kind of question the artist wants you to ask. Learn more about: - Modern art

Museum Folkwang

Phyllis tate: a quiet maverick, sound and music, henri matisse 1869-1954: a retrospective exhibition, hayward gallery, folk archive, british council, from station to the renovated musée d'orsay, musée d’orsay, paris, scenes in and around kyoto, shimane art museum, collecting for tomorrow, new directions: li ming, ucca center for contemporary art, vincent van gogh up close, northern innovation and the british music collection, anthony caro, fashion utopias: international fashion showcase 2016, collection of shimane art museum, museion #10yearson, peter wayne lewis & frederick j. brown.

Tate Papers ISSN 1753-9854

Contemporary Art and the Role of Interpretation

Helen Charman and Michaela Ross

Recent research indicates that the taught curriculum in art and design secondary school education pays scant attention to meaning-making in visual art. This paper explores possibilities for teaching interpretation through a report on an action-research project based on Tate Modern's Summer Institute for Teachers, held in 2002. In doing so, it argues for the value and necessity of interpretation as a taught skill.

A personal approach

Looking at the object, considering the wider context, future prospects for interpretation and the art and design curriculum.

Fig.1 Participants in Tate Modern’s Summer Institute mapping connections between works shown in the History, Memory, Society suite, 2002 © Helen Charman

The eclectic and inclusive nature of art making today poses a number of challenges for teachers who wish to extend their art curriculum in schools to encompass contemporary visual art. These range from practical concerns such as the availability of resources, multimedia training and appropriate classroom/studio space, to subject-related questions about meaning-making and the value of contemporary visual art in contributing to the art curriculum and to pupils’ lives. This paper argues that in order to support teachers in expanding their curricula, it is necessary to teach the skills of interpretation to pupils. It explores the particular challenges posed by the process of interpretation in contemporary visual art as evidenced through an action research project undertaken at Tate Modern’s Summer Institute for Teachers in 2002. For the purposes of the paper, the field of contemporary visual art is seen, in the words of Linda Weintraub, as one from which, ‘No topic, no medium, no process, no intention, no professional protocols, and no aesthetic principles are exempt.’ 1 To this we would add that the work of contemporary visual artists is as much defined by their ideas as by their media. As such, being able to engage with these ideas is as important as knowing how to manipulate media. While debates around the value and character of interpretation are familiar to the language and practice of contemporary art, and the disciplines of art history and art criticism, they are yet to find a place in the school art and design curriculum.

The Schools Programme at Tate Modern is premised on the belief that there is an intimate relationship between interpreting art and making art. The displays from Tate’s collection offer pupils hundreds of ideas made manifest through material means. If pupils are to have a meaningful encounter with these works they need to know how to look at and interpret them in order to engage with these ideas. 2 New research by the National Foundation for Educational Research, commissioned by the Arts Council of England and Tate, suggests that ‘it may be appropriate to reconsider the balance between developing art skills … and the distinct opportunities for intellectual challenge afforded by the study of art’. 3 It seems, however, that scant attention is paid to interpretation as a fundamental component within pupils’ visual arts education. Instead, classroom practice in visual art takes as its dominant vocabulary the formal language of art making – of line, shape and colour – in which the teaching of practical skills dominates. Teaching practical skills, particularly those gained through experimenting with a range of different media, is integral to visual arts education, especially when working with contemporary visual art with its infinite variety of materials and processes. However, there needs to be a concomitant regard to the vocabulary of interpretation, exploration and expression of idea. Artists are inveterate cultural borrowers who harvest ideas from the whole realm of human experience. A visual artist encountering a work of art will look to see if there is anything of use for their own practice, be it in terms of process, idea, material or tendency. Those pupils who are in the formative stages of their identity as artists should also be able to make use of the content, as well as the form of contemporary visual art in order to enrich their own art work. And for those pupils who do not become artists, the skill of interpretation is equally necessary as a tool to negotiate our world of visual complexity and richness.

Philosophical arguments can also be made for the importance of interpretation more broadly in pupils’ lives. At the beginning of his essay ‘Fact, Explanation and Expertise’ philosopher Alasdair Macintyre tackles the problem of a world without interpretation, the experience of which could only be recounted through literal sensory description: this is what I see; this is what I feel, touch, taste; this is what I hear. 4 A world in which the stars would be but many small light patches against a dark surface. If all our experience were to be characterised exclusively as sensory data (which Macintyre acknowledges is a type of description useful for a variety of special purposes), then we would be confronted by a world which is ‘a world of textures, shapes, smells, sensations, sounds and nothing more’. Crucially, such a world ‘invites no questions and gives no grounds for furnishing any answers.’ This is the crux of the issue. Pupils may be well rehearsed in the skills of describing the world visually – particularly through the hegemonic discipline of representational drawing and painting in the classroom, that is, in the manipulation of culturally specific visual codes and conventions, but they also need to learn how to ask questions of art works. Without the questions there is no possibility of any answers. Without an awareness of art as a source of ideas and meaning, often in and of itself, then it is difficult to extend pupils’ own art practice beyond the painstaking representation of cheese-plants, crushed cans and trainers and the appropriation and application of images and surfaces from visual examples. 5

If interpreting art is integral to making art, then the question of how to teach interpretation needs to be addressed. We suggest that the skills of interpretation can be taught effectively by introducing and instilling a disposition for looking at visual art. Such a disposition has thinking, rather than making, at its centre. Approaching the process of interpretation with a toolkit of thinking skills is particularly useful with regard to contemporary visual art, in which meanings can be contradictory, multiple and are certainly open-ended and unstable. In the light of such open-endedness, teaching the skills of interpretation benefits from a structured approach and method. Even if the art work is interpreted as meaning both A and Not-A, or A, B and C, so long as the process of arriving at these interpretations is rigorous, pupils can have confidence in them. The notion that works of contemporary visual art can have multiple interpretations which are created by the viewer is the alternative to the traditional approach to understanding an art work which emphasises the transmission of meaning from teacher to pupil. In this alternative model, the pupil participates in culture through dialogue and the construction of meaning from a range of propositions which between them inform a process of critical engagement. The NFER research would suggest that while the theoretical context of postmodernism, in which the world is given meaning through local, personal narratives rather than one grand, master narrative, is by no means new or controversial, the extent to which it informs the thinking behind teaching art and design in the classroom is debatable.

The Summer Institute at Tate Modern aims to provide teachers with an opportunity to develop confidence in working with modern and contemporary art as a teaching and learning resource. This is achieved through sharing and developing strategies and skills for interpreting modern and contemporary art. The week long course enables teachers to join a community of enquiry, reflecting and debating the histories, theories and practices which inform modern and contemporary art. Accredited routes for progression are offered through Tate Modern’s partnership with Goldsmiths School of Education MA in Culture, Language and Identity, for which we have developed a one term module on contemporary art and pedagogy.

In 2002 a group of fourteen teachers took part in the Summer Institute, six of whom taught at primary and junior level and eight at secondary/sixth form colleges. They included an NQT (Newly Qualified Teacher), two Art Co-ordinators at primary level and three Heads of Department at secondary level, with the majority of the cohort at mid-career stage and working in mainstream education. One teacher was working in a school for children with Special Educational Needs, and one was approaching the end of her teaching career, with over thirty years of experience.

The dominant aims (those which were shared by three or more teachers) of participating in the course were stated as:

• Developing confidence through building up knowledge and understanding of concepts and ideas in contemporary art
• Finding new ways of engaging pupils with modern and contemporary art
• Being part of a network of teachers, and learning from the group interactions
• Invigorating a personal relationship with modern and contemporary art
• Putting contemporary art in context

Additional aims included:

• Exploring possibilities for cross-curricular work at primary level
• Enabling pupils to question more their work and the work of others

These aims were met through a loose but nevertheless methodological approach to looking at art. This method did not place a stranglehold on what is an essentially creative act of making meaning. Rather, it offered a way of scaffolding what can otherwise seem an amorphous process with no clear way in. The Ways of Looking method adopted from Tate Liverpool and used in Tate Modern’s Schools Programme provides a basis for creating interpretations of art works through four distinct frameworks: A Personal Response, Looking at the Subject, Looking at the Object and Looking at the Context. 6 Each framework sets out a series of questions that give depth and breadth to the act of looking. The plural structures of interpretation offered by the four frameworks create plural outcomes, manifest as multiple interpretations of art works. Using the frameworks with teachers in the action-research project from the Summer Institute enabled us to identify some of the difficulties encountered in the process of interpreting contemporary visual art, and suggest some activity-based strategies for overcoming them, which could be adapted and adopted for use with pupils.

We selected action-research as our mode of enquiry because its principles of collaboration and learning through doing are central to our approach to teaching and learning in the gallery. Action-research turns all the people involved in a project into researchers, based on the belief that people learn best, and are more willing and able to apply research findings, through doing the research themselves. 7 This mode of enquiry also enabled the initiating researchers to occupy different roles within the group appropriate to the work we were engaged in. These ranged from ‘planner leader’ (planning for the week’s course and introducing each day’s activities), to ‘catalyzer facilitator’ (initiating activities using the Ways of Looking frameworks in the galleries) to ‘listener observer’ (during lively debates opened up by the frameworks) to ‘synthesizer reporter’ (drawing together key ideas and revisiting experiences through a plenary discussion). 8 A further key aspect of action research, which made it the most appropriate research method for this project, is that as initiating researchers we were not required to remain objective (or attempt to do so). On the contrary, we needed openly to acknowledge our bias to other participants, a process supported by the first Ways of Looking framework, A Personal Approach.

Throughout the week teacher-researchers were asked to keep a Looking Log. In using the term Looking Log we deliberately moved away from the notion of a ‘sketchbook’ which is redolent of a dominant approach to enquiry through formal examination of the art work, towards the notion of a research journal which would support the holistic approach of action-research in allowing for several different methods rather than a single method of collecting and analysing data. In the Summer Institute these methods included an entry and exit questionnaire asking teacher-researchers about their expectations for the project and giving an indication of the distance travelled by them throughout the week; a seminar situation at the start of each day in which key texts (set as homework from the night before) were discussed; talks and presentations by visiting speakers, and the gallery sessions themselves in which the Ways of Looking frameworks were extended and enriched by a range of activities. The combination of these methods meant that by the end of the week the Looking Logs offered a rich source of data about approaches to interpretation, data in which there is a coherence between text and image as part of the same process of enquiry and problem-solving. The case studies referred to below for each of the Ways of Looking are based on and where appropriate supported by evidence from these Looking Logs.

The biggest stumbling block in reading artworks was having confidence in the concept of multiple interpretations. At the beginning of the week the group exhibited an enthusiasm to identify a single authoritative voice to deliver what was considered the definitive meaning of a work. Most often this ‘true’ voice was taken to be the artist’s intention. If this strategy failed, another authoritative voice was substituted, most commonly that of the art historian. For example, a reading early on (before the process of learning new habits of looking had begun) of Interior with a Picture , 1985-6, by Patrick Caulfield, concentrated on a commentary about one aspect of the painting by an art historian. By focusing narrowly on the picture within a picture (the carefully copied still life Meal by Candlelight by seventeenth-century German artist Gottfried von Wedig), the desire to extrapolate this one authoritative voice in order to create meaning for the work prevented any consideration of the rest of the painting and a reading of the still life as one element of an overall schema. This resulted in a overly focused reading that did not consider how this one component of the painting functioned in relation to the rest of the work.

The desire of the group for an authoritative voice to deliver the meaning of an art work is not unique. One of the texts discussed by the group was a chapter from The Methodologies of Art by Laurie Schneider Adams. In it, the writer refers to a commentary in Jacques Derrida’s The Truth in Painting on two responses to Van Gogh’s painting Shoes , 1886 (Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam). 9

The interpretations are those of the philosopher Martin Heidegger and the art historian Meyer Shapiro. Heidegger uses the painting as a starting point for an elaborate evocation of the peasant woman who wears these shoes, locating her within a particular landscape and imagining her ‘uncomplaining’ in the face of difficulties. This kind of poetic and imaginative reading can be compelling and, in the gallery, is justified as a purely personal response (‘this is what it means to me’), but not as an interpretation. Derrida notes that Heidegger is actually using the painting to support a particular ideology. In turn, Shapiro uncovers Heidegger’s ‘error’ by stating that the shoes actually belonged to the artist and were city shoes not country shoes. His reading is that the shoes are a ‘sacred relic’ with biographical significance. In practice he substitutes one ‘truth’ for another: as Schneider states, it becomes a struggle over who ‘control[s] the truth of the shoes’.

The group discussed how this game of substituting one authority for another is equally problematic in the gallery as it treats the art work as if it were a problem that had a single solution. Derrida challenges both interpretations: what if the shoes are not even a pair? At first this seems like an absurd line of questioning but it is in fact rooted in a close observation of the painting. The more we look, the more doubt enters into our mind. When this most common-sense assumption is challenged, Heidegger and Shapiro’s claims for the ‘truth’ of the painting become untenable. Derrida uses various strategies in his onslaught on our most basic assumptions. This was not a comfortable experience for the group, who found his constantly shifting frames of reference and wordplay intensely destabilising. Moments of coherence occurred in the text but there was always the possibility that the frame of reference would shift again and our certainties would once more be undermined.

The most useful aspect of this commentary for the action–research project was that it revealed the underlying dangers in two common responses to looking at art and making what seems like a reasonable interpretation: getting carried away by a personal response or filling in the gaps and substituting one authority for another. The personal response is a vital part of any reading of a work of art, but it must be tempered by the discipline of looking with both depth and breadth and the courage to challenge even our most basic assumption about a work. It also introduced the notion of instability into the experience of interpretation, which was a recurring feature of the project. Many of the initial interpretations given by teacher researchers at the start of the Summer Institute shared this need for recourse to a ‘comfort blanket’ of authority or expertise, which seemed to demonstrate a lack of confidence in developing open-ended interpretations based on participants’ own experience of looking at the work.

One might argue that the issue of authority is particularly pertinent to art teachers. There is an expectation that they should occupy the position of subject expert within the classroom (even if, as has been argued in debates around the perceived ‘deprofessionalisation’ of teaching, this position has been eroded somewhat since the formalization of curriculum in 1988 and subsequent Orders). Art and design pupils have a potentially limitless number of artists and art works, and an extremely wide range of media and techniques with which they can work, there being no ‘set texts’ in terms of artist, time period or media for critical analysis. But teachers do not need to be an authority on all potential meanings of art works they and their pupils encounter. Rather, they need the skills to support their pupils in critically engaging with these art works, enabling them to unlock ideas which may then feed into their own art practice.

Each day of the summer school took one of the four Ways of Looking frameworks and tested and expanded it through a mix of gallery-based activities and discussion of excerpts from set texts. 10 Visiting artist Emma Kay, art historian and curator Kathy Battista and Jane Burton, Curator of Interpretation at Tate Modern, offered additional perspectives on the process of interpretation through discussions of their professional practices. While the four Ways of Looking frameworks inflected with and informed each other throughout the week as a dialectic process, participants continually had recourse to their personal response, the framework taken as the starting point for looking at a work of contemporary visual art.

Taking the personal approach as the first framework for looking is a principle located within constructivist learning theory which posits that the construction of meaning depends on the prior knowledge, values and beliefs of the viewer, who finds points of connection and reference between these aspects of themselves and the art work. 11 It is essential to differentiate between an initial response to and an interpretation of an art work. They are not the same thing. Responses are informed by the ‘connotational baggage’ brought by a viewer to an art work. 12 This baggage is personal and multifarious. It is about the connections a viewer brings to their reading from their experience of the world. While on the one hand personal responses can provide fertile ground for exploration, if treated unreflexively they can stymie interpretation as the art work is submerged beneath the poetry of personal association, reaching a discursive dead end. An interpretation of an art work is constituted through a process of looking which takes into account a range of perspectives for thinking about the work beyond the personal.

Thus, the process of developing interpretations was achieved through expanding on personal responses and building up new habits of looking at art through a programme of activity centred teaching in the gallery. All of the activities were designed to foster a community of enquiry, in which discussion and debate were integral and each person’s ideas were equally significant. The following examples take each of the frameworks for looking and demonstrate how an activity for each was used to give looking, and consequently the process of interpretation, more depth and breadth.

Fig.2 A response by Alison Mawle to Pacific 2000, by Yukinori Yanagi (Tate)

This activity invited teacher researchers to reflect on and extend their immediate responses to a work. After a short period of looking (one minute) at Anslem Kiefier Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom , 2000, the group wrote down their initial responses to the work in a stream of consciousness format: ‘Loss of innocence, hope, once vibrant, now withered, consumed by brutality. The battle for power – nature or mankind? A flickering flame.’ 13

After sharing and discussing some of these poetic responses by way of an ice-breaker activity, the group paired up and each pair chose another work in the Landscape /Matter/ Environment display. One person was allotted the role of interviewer, the other interviewee. The interviewer’s task was to support the interviewee in extending their personal responses to the work through questioning the cause and effect of specific responses, and to provide a more objective view of the interviewee’s pathways of enquiry which were mapped diagrammatically into the Looking Logs. This reflexive critique of an initial personal response aimed to uncover some of the biases and assumptions upon which readings of art works were made. Creating interpretations requires a measure of self-awareness in that the viewer’s personal history, gender, social class, race and ethnicity will inform a reading of an art work. Diagrammatically mapping the process of enquiry demonstrates how fertile a personal response to an art work can be when treated reflexively. On reflection, the links and associations offered by personal responses can offer new vistas for exploring the art work and be as revealing about the viewer as about the work itself.

In teacher-researcher Ali Mawle’s mapping of her personal responses to Pacific by Yuki Yagonari we can trace a movement of thought from imagination to metaphor to a very specific set of knowledge that she brings to the work which if treated unreflexively would close down an interpretation of the work. In answer to the question ‘What does the work remind you of?’ she starts by noting a visual similarity between the cracks in the flags and river tributaries. Already this response is literally located in a specific world view – an aerial one. This prompts a layering of associations – she relates the river tributaries to cracks in concrete, which in turn become metaphorical cracks in notions of republics and nationhood. Thinking about the realm of politics leads her to make a very specific response to the work which is articulated as ‘Germany – invasion spread out then stopped.’ The specificity of this halts the process of layering associations. A consideration of her emotional responses to the work records feelings of fascination about the ideas in the piece and its method of production. Thinking about the processes involved in making the work leads her to wonder what the seemingly random paths of the ants might represent – which in turn invokes thoughts of rationality and chance. In the plenary session the teacher-researcher spoke of how intrigued and surprised she was by this process of tracking her responses. Her diagram references particular world views and knowledge brought into play by the art work, for example a political language of republics, nationhood, invasion, force and power and a philosophical language of belief systems, of free will, reason and chance. It indicates the non-linear quality of responses to the art work, in which ideas are fluid and iterative.

Reflecting on the activity in a plenary session, the following key observations were recorded by the group:

• Personal responses reveal belief structures. Reflecting on a personal response enables us to consider what informs that personal response.
• The dialectical approach enabled a layering of responses in which associations and links were found to be fruitful methods of broadening responses.

The dialectical approach provided checks and balances on personal responses, enabling the interviewee to stay focused on the art work. Questions for further exploration which were noted for further consideration the following day included:

• What do we need to know to develop meanings?
• How can multiple personal responses be linked and refined?

Looking at the subject

In the fast-moving world of contemporary visual art it can sometimes seem that the only constant is change. This makes keeping up with subject knowledge something of a challenge. Or does it? Teaching pupils the skills of interpretation in such a precedent-defying discipline as contemporary visual art poses the question of the status of knowledge. The anti-traditional nature of contemporary visual art means that there is no accompanying stable or substantive body of knowledge, but rather a plethora of theoretical and critical texts which ebb and flow around and within the art. What kinds, and how much, subject knowledge is useful in the process of interpretation is therefore a key question.

Finding a way into an art work which has meaning for pupils does not necessarily tally with knowing everything there is to say about an artwork. An activity in the Nude/Action/Body display highlighted how applying a priori knowledge about an artwork, artist or movement can sometimes act as a block to active and focused looking. Teacher-researchers were invited to curate a route of between three and five works through the galleries using the Looking at the Subject framework as a way of making links between the works. The selected works could demonstrate how artists had expanded or problematized the overall theme of the display. However, it is fair to say that the resulting routes were muddled; rather than making arguments for connections based on what could be seen, links were made through referencing a priori chunks of knowledge about the artists or the art works. The routes were not a set of interpretations but instead a collective, disjunctive effort of rehearsed information which was not based on visual evidence. The collective nature of enquiry which this activity was designed to foster presupposes that each person’s ideas and knowledge are equally significant as potential resources for creating interpretations, but these ideas need to be tested against the art work itself. This makes possible the contradictions between many viewpoints and a single viewpoint, which is where dialogue starts. A priori knowledge can limit the way we look by tripping us up into making false connections and leading to a discursive dead-end rather than coming to a place of open ended-ness. Using the Ways of Looking at the Subject framework the group revisited their connections between the selected works and refined them to a handful of key ideas backed up by visual evidence.

This activity suggested that useful subject knowledge about the field of contemporary visual arts is as much to do with an attitude of questioning (paralleled in the making of contemporary visual art) and focused looking, as it is concerned with the detail of individual artists, movements and tendencies or with the art object itself (when such an object exists).

In considering the artwork within the framework for enquiry which focused on its objecthood, we commenced with a brainstorm about the variety of ways contemporary art conveys meaning through its material and formal qualities. Working in the Still Life/Object/Real Life display, the group each chose one work to respond to purely in terms of its formal qualities, recording responses in their Looking Logs. There was a lot of discussion about sketchbook work as a creative act of translation – it was not about ‘copying’. Activities which make it difficult to recreate the chosen work pushed the teachers to focus on one aspect of the art work, extrapolate and develop it. This led to a focus on the decisions behind formal qualities in the work. Deliberately limiting options (only using collaged gummed paper, reducing a work to five lines, etc.) makes it clear that the activity is not only an act of recording but an interpretation – the teacher is forced to make quite dramatic choices within the constraints of the exercise. It allows them to avoid the pressure of feeling they have to demonstrate skill (once again this is about avoiding the temptation to fall back on a position of authority). In feedback the value of the individuality of the responses was emphasised – a sketchbook equivalent of the multiple readings idea.

The examples from the Looking Logs suggest the importance of allowing time for a purely physical response to an art work based on its objecthood. As evidenced in the analysis of Robert Morris ’s mirrored cubes sculpture called Untitled , 1965–76 (T01532), this physical response to an art work can be in itself a way of knowing a work – as one teacher researcher put it ‘the less I think the more I know’. 14 But alongside a phenomenological engagement, additional ways of knowing the work start to occur, in this case through a consideration of links and associations generated through being with the work. Questions are posed and thus the discussion opens out. At the centre of this diagrammatic enquiry into the hard-edged mirror cubes is a circle: interpretation as an infinite process.

At the centre of this diagrammatic enquiry into the hard-edged mirror cubes is a circle: interpretation as an infinite process.

Fig.3 Looking at the Object A response by Sancha Briffa to Robert Morris’s Untitled 1965–76 (Tate)

In the second example, Cornelia Parker ’s Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View , 1991 ( T06949 ) is interpreted through a collage which extrapolates the strong formal dynamics of the work and the careful placement of objects in what initially seems a random, chaotic arrangement (fig.3). In choosing to use a gallery map as her material, the teacher-researcher also makes a witty connection between the way the art work explodes and reassembles the world in a metaphorical microcosm and the way that the process of creating plural interpretations can also involve an explosion of ‘safe’, that is, finite ways of knowing the world. Just as the gallery map has been ripped up and remade in an exploratory fashion, so too in making interpretations nothing is certain except the precariousness of meaning.

Fig.4 Looking at the Object A response by Connie Flyn to Cold Dark Matter, An Exploded View by Cornelia Parker (Tate)

Having first noted what could be seen, these responses were then extended by discussion of the associations arising from the material properties of the object. The group moved to the Soviet Graphics room in the History/Memory/Society display in order to explore the relationship between formal characteristics of a chosen art work and its meaning. Despite the inaccessibility of the Russian poster text, meaning could still be construed through reading the formal qualities of the works – design decisions about point of view, font size and choice of graphics, the formal relationship between word and image. Despite the culturally contingent nature of even the most basic elements of the poster’s design, this activity demonstrated how interpretation took place because the group recognised the cultural framework within which the posters were designed.

Responding to the works in collage, the group used newspaper print to create new interpretations of a poster of their choice. Through doing so they connected the ‘what’ of the work – what do I see in front of me? with the ‘how’ of the work – how has the artist used their materials and the formal language of image making to convey meaning? Learning took place through the experience of re-making the art work, a visual process of interpretation.

Fig.5 Looking at the Object A response (no name given) to a poster in the Soviet Graphics display at Tate Modern

This activity was followed immediately by a return to contemporary art works such as Rebecca Horn’s Concert for Anarchy , 1990 ( T07517 ), in which the artist had a very different intention, that is, cultivating an ambiguity of response. This led to a discussion of the difference between ‘art’ and ‘propoganda’ and the importance and difficulty of trying to imagine the artist’s intentions. We also talked about which kind of art the group preferred – the art they felt communicated simple positions clearly or the more ambiguous approach offered by for example the Kiefer and Horn work – dealing with similar themes but with completely different intentions. The collage activity, book-ended by looking at the works by Anselm Kiefer and Rebecca Horn , worked as a way of exploring ideas about intention and the desire for (and impossibility) of a universal language.

The Looking Log examples demonstrate the investment of time and thought the group brought to developing new and personalised ways of recording information. The group was working against the ‘norm’, that is, recording the process rather than the outcomes of interrogating the artwork. We experimented with diagrammatic forms of recording responses (for example, exploring the hang in a particular room) or more linear, flow-chart approaches when we were thinking about the stages of individual looking (looking deeper, looking again). Throughout, we asked the teacher-researchers to draw on areas of their own expertise to create a personal shorthand for recording their experiences. As pupils are already very familiar with the formal language of image making, these kinds of activity can offer a good introduction to critical analysis and the process of creating interpretations.

The final framework for looking at contemporary visual art took Doris Salcedo ’s Untitled , 1998 as the focus for exploring how the wider context of a work can be integral to its meaning. Untitled is an old-fashioned wardrobe which has been filled with concrete, into which a domestic wooden chair has been buried. The group engaged initially with the work through stream of consciousness writings in which its material properties were uppermost, evidenced through a parity of responses and moments of coalescence. ‘What is this? Boarded up Lion, Witch, Wardrobe – dream shut off, cold, frustrated household object. An abject object. Got hinges but it can’t open. Wood looking out of cement – stuck, lodged, uncomfortable, tight.’ 15

Responses to this piece were striking in their sense of mutuality. They were both generic (notions of the domestic sphere being violated or made mute, resonances of past lives and generations) and culturally located (multiple references to C.S. Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe , a dream world that cannot be accessed, the imaginings of childhood frustrated).

When these readings were expanded through additional information about the artist and her social/political context, the discussion moved on from metaphorical associations of the materiality of the object to real-world connections between political oppression and the artist’s choice of material. For example, some of the teacher-researchers were aware of the tactic used by the Colombian mafia to weight their victims with concrete blocks in order to ensure that their drowned bodies could not be found, that they were forever ‘disappeared’. Thus, the introduction of contextual information about this piece gave the teacher-researchers the confidence to draw on and make connections with their own knowledge in a focused, relevant way.

Salcedo’s work comes out of a specific political context, and as such its placement next to the Soviet Graphics room offered another important context for discussion; the way the art work is curated in the gallery space and how this affects readings of the work. Both the Soviet Graphics and the Salcedo works were interpreted as having a particular meaning arising from a particular political context, of which the artists would want the viewer to be aware. In exploring context as a way of looking at an art work, the question arose of where to introduce contextual information. The group decided that this depends on how clearly information is communicated by the work. Even if we do not know the specific language or political context of an art work, what can we get from it purely by looking? A combination of personal responses, extended to encompass process, material and context leads to an understanding of interpretation as a combination of events, an alchemy of ingredients which creates not one single reading, but a constellation of related readings.

In looking at all the art works discussion constantly shifted between different frameworks for looking: the personal, the subject, the object and contexts for the work. A process of dialectical enquiry took place, based on deep and broad looking which afforded new insights into the work. In contrast to the beginning of the week, where the method of interpretation was to impose a single, authoritative voice on a work, and claim this as the truth of the piece, strategies for developing meanings were now multi-faceted and the group was comfortable with the concept of multiple, open-ended interpretation. Artistic intention was still considered as one of several factors that contributed to interpretation, but was not the ultimate arbiter of authority. Instead, meaning arose through a collective, discursive process of enquiry, in which personal responses were continually mediated by other frameworks for looking. Interpretation took place through an attitude of questioning in which the art work was approached from a range of perspectives which inflected with and informed each other. In doing so hypotheses about the work were tested, and some disregarded, as the iterative nature of interpretation meant that new possibilities for expanded readings were always present.

Understanding interpretation as a dialectical critique of the art work through discussion seems to be fundamental to the process of teaching interpretation skills. Art works are phenomena which are conceptualised in dialogue as well as in visual language, and as such dialogue is necessary to understand the relationships between art works and their contexts.

Within the context of the art curriculum, redressing the balance between teaching the skills of making art and teaching the skills of interpreting art is a risky business. At its heart is a destablising of traditional responses to art works and an ability to be comfortable with uncertainty. There is also the fear of exposing oneself, be it teacher or pupil, through making explicit a personal response to an art work in open discussion. The role of the teacher in this needs further attention, but it is our belief that the uniqueness of the art and design teacher in teaching a subject in which pupils enjoy a large degree of autonomy should lend itself well to teaching interpretation as a skill, with teachers developing their role as facilitators of dialogue, fostering reflective analysis and moderating discussions.

It was not the purpose of the action-research project in the Summer Institute to offer any conclusions about ways forward for integrating interpretation and contemporary visual art within the curriculum. Rather, through critical reflection on the course we hoped to demonstrate the usefulness of a structured approach in teaching the skills of interpretation with particular reference to contemporary visual art. If the art curriculum can foster an attitude of enquiry and reflection which teaches pupils the habit of giving looking depth and breadth, then the process of expanding it to encompass today’s visual art will be much enabled. But this is predicated on an acceptance in the classroom of the value of shifting contexts for interpretation in which there is no final point of stasis, and an understanding that meanings shift depending on the nature of the viewer, location, time and circumstances. Within an outcome-focused, formalist art curriculum this instability can either be viewed as a difficult concept to take on board, or as a liberating and explosive force for teaching and learning. The experience of the action research project was summarised by one teacher-researcher as allowing her to ‘break out of a trap of limited knowledge and confidence. I’ve gained a tremendous range of strategies and now value a range of responses to what I see and still want to know more’. 16 Arguably, and based on the findings of the NFER/ACE/Tate research, this trap of limited knowledge and confidence informs art and design education in schools to a worrying extent. Tate aims to play a role in enabling teachers to break out of this trap through creating programmes and partnerships for teachers and trainee teachers, commissioning and contributing to educational research and strategically, and working with policy makers and educationalists to raise awareness of the importance of meaning-making as a critical component of the art and design curriculum.

Ways of Looking frameworks (pdf 121k) from Tate Modern Teachers’ Kit  2002.

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Esther Perel on What the Other Woman Knows

The relationship expert reads one of the most controversial modern love essays ever published..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From “The New York Times,” I’m Anna Martin. This is “Modern Love.” Today, I’m talking to the most famous couples therapist in the world, Esther Perel. Esther’s books, “Mating in Captivity” and “State of Affairs,” have forced so many of us, myself included, to rethink our assumptions about love. Like maybe it’s unrealistic to expect the passion and fire we feel at the beginning of a relationship to last forever. And when one partner cheats on the other, what if it could actually bring the couple closer, instead of tearing them apart?

On her podcast, “Where Should We Begin,” Esther lets us eavesdrop on sessions with real couples. People come to her with impossible problems, and she somehow guides them to a breakthrough. She gives them hope. When I listen to Esther’s podcast, I feel like I’m getting a free therapy session, so I wasn’t surprised in the slightest when she told me that people come up to her in public all the time and ask her deeply personal questions.

The grocery store is one place, but airplanes is even better.

Oh, no, Esther. If I were you, I’d be really scared to fly.

[LAUGHS]: They’re suspended in the air, and they tell you lots of things. And it is often about, can trust be repaired when it’s been broken? Can you bring a spark back when it’s gone? Can you rekindle desire when it’s been dormant for so long? What do you do when you’re angry at yourself for having stayed when you think you should have left? Or what do you do when you’re angry at yourself when you’ve left and now you think you should have stayed?

You’re like, I’m just at the grocery store, man. I need to check out.

Clearly, people are struggling so much to be happy in long-term relationships that they’re cornering this woman basically everywhere she goes. And these things people ask Esther about, they’re exactly the kinds of high-stakes, make-or-break questions that come up in the essay she chose for our show today. It’s called “What Sleeping with Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity,” by Karin Jones.

Karin’s essay was one of the most controversial pieces ever published in the history of the “Modern Love” column. But when it comes to talking about sex and relationships, nothing is too taboo for Esther.

Esther Perel, welcome to “Modern Love.”

It’s a pleasure to be here.

So you’re going to read Karin Jones’s “Modern Love” essay. We’re going to talk all about infidelity. But before we get into that, I learned something about you that I need to know more about. You are fluent in nine languages. And you conduct therapy in seven of them? Is that true?

Yes. So I grew up in Belgium, in the Flemish part of Belgium, and I was educated in Flemish for 12 years. But we also spoke French and German and Polish and Yiddish at home.

So we had five languages in the house. And then I studied Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, and English. That comes to nine.

Would you ever do one more just to bring it to a solid 10?

I always wanted to study Arabic.

OK, in your free time, in your ample free time.

Are there certain languages that have better vocabulary for talking about the nuances of love and relationships than others?

That is a very difficult question to answer because my love language, the language in which I learned poetry, songs, novels, et cetera, was primarily French. And so, of course, I would say French. But that may be because I was inducted in it, rather than the language itself. What I can say is that certain cultures are more fluent in the language of feelings, love, relationships, and desire and sexuality than maybe English or Anglo cultures that are more pragmatic, more practical.

I think in therapy, sometimes, I find that there is certain cultures that allow me to speak differently about death, differently about the relationship of the individual to the collective. What I will say is this. In a therapy session, if a person tells me something and it needs to be said in his own language, I will ask them to translate it and to say it in their mother tongue, because you hear instantly the difference, the tone, the timber, the tremble.

And I know it. It’s like, I don’t even have to understand what they’re saying. I know that there is an authenticity and a truth to it that is very different. Sometimes, afterwards, I say, what did you say? But sometimes, I don’t even need to. I know when they say, “I feel alone,” “I ache for you,” “I miss you,” “where have you gone,” “I can’t forget you.” You don’t really need to understand the words to understand the effect.

Esther, the “Modern Love” essay you’re going to read for us today tackles a topic that I bet is very hard to talk about in almost any language. It’s called “What Sleeping with Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity” by Karin Jones. The author Karin is recently divorced, and she becomes the other woman to several men.

When I read that title, I kind of expect this story is going to be about all the sex she’s having or the secrets or how they’re hiding it. But you’ve worked with so many couples who are in the throes of dealing with cheating. So what does the word “infidelity” signal to you?

I wrote a book about infidelity. So I will say that one of my attempts in writing this book was to translate in writing the complexity of this experience that can be so shattering, that can fracture a family and an entire legacy. It needs more than just good, bad, victim, perpetrator, villain, saint. That there’s too much happening and for too many people that are involved to try to reduce it.

Infidelity is often about a lot of things, but sex. It’s about betrayal. It’s about violation of trust. It’s about lying. It’s about duplicity. It’s about deception. And sex is a piece of this, but that is not necessarily the only thing.

Oof. Esther, I am so excited to hear you read this. Whenever you’re ready.

OK. “What Sleeping with Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity” by Karin Jones.

“I’m not sure it’s possible to justify my liaison with married men, but what I learned from having them warrants discussion. Not between the wives and me, though I would be interested to hear their side. No, this discussion should happen between wives and husbands annually, the way we inspect the tire tread on the family car to avoid accidents.

A few years ago, while living in London, I dated married men for companionship while I processed the grief of being newly divorced.

When I created a profile on Tinder and on OkCupid saying I was looking for no strings attached encounters, plenty of single men messaged me, and I got together with several of them. But many married men messaged me, too.

After being married for 23 years, I wanted sex, but not a relationship. This is dicey because you can’t always control emotional attachments when body chemicals mix. But with the married man, I guess that the fact that they had wives, children, and mortgages would keep them from going overboard with their affections. And I was right. They didn’t get overly attached, and neither did I. We were safe bets for each other.

I was careful about the men I met. I wanted to make sure they had no interest in leaving their wives or otherwise threatening all they had built together. In a couple of cases, the men I met were married to women who had become disabled and could no longer be sexual, but the husbands remained devoted to them.

All told, I communicated with maybe a dozen men during that time in my life. I had sex with fewer than half. Others, I texted or talked with, which sometimes felt nearly as intimate. Before I met each man, I would ask, why are you doing this? I wanted assurance that all he desired was sex. What surprised me was that these husbands weren’t looking to have more sex. They were looking to have any sex.

I met one man whose wife had implicitly consented to her husband having a lover because she was no longer interested in sex at all. They both, to some degree, got what they needed without having to give up what they wanted. But the other husbands I met would have preferred to be having sex with their wives, and for whatever reason, that wasn’t happening.

I know what it feels like to go off sex, and I know what it’s like to want more than my partner. It’s also a tall order to have sex with the same person for more years than our ancestors ever hoped to live. Then, at menopause, a woman’s hormones suddenly drop, and her desire can wane. At 49, I was just about there myself and terrified of losing my desire for sex. Men don’t have this drastic change, so we have an imbalance, an elephant-sized problem so burdensome and shameful, we can scarcely muster the strength to talk about it.

If you read the work of Esther Perel, the author of the book ‘State of Affairs,’ you’ll learn that for many wives, sex outside of marriage is their way of breaking free from being the responsible spouses and mothers they have to be at home. Married sex for them often feels obligatory. An affair is adventure. Meanwhile, the husbands I spent time with would have been fine with obligatory sex. For them, adventure was not the main reason for their adultery.

The first time I saw my favorite married man pick up his pint of beer, the sleeve of his well-tailored suit pulled back from his wrist to reveal a geometric kaleidoscope of tattoos. He was clean shaven and well-mannered with a little rebel yell underneath. The night I saw the full canvas of his tattoo masterpiece, we drank prosecco, listened to ‘80s music, and, yes, had sex.

We also talked. I asked him, what if you said to your wife, look, I love you and the kids, but I need sex in my life? Can I just have the occasional fling or a casual affair? He sighed. If I asked her that kind of question, it would kill her, he said. So you don’t want to hurt her, but you lie to her instead? Personally, I’d rather know, I said.

It’s not necessarily a lie if you don’t confess the truth. It’s kind of to stay silent, he said. I’m just saying I couldn’t do that. I don’t want to be afraid of talking honestly about my sex life with the man I’m married to, and that includes being able to at least raise the subject of sex outside of marriage, I said. Good luck with that, he said.

I never convinced any husband that he can be honest about what he was doing, but they were mostly good-natured about it, like a patient father responding to a child who keeps asking why, why, why. Maybe I was being too pragmatic about the issues that are loaded with guilt, resentment, and fear. After all, it’s far easier to talk theoretically about marriage than to navigate it.

But my attitude is that if my spouse were to need something I couldn’t give him, I wouldn’t keep him from getting it elsewhere, as long as he did so in a way that didn’t endanger our family. I suppose I would hope his needs would involve fishing trips or beers with friends, but sex is basic.

Physical intimacy with other human beings is essential to our health and well-being. So how do we deny such a need to the one that we care about most? If our primary relationship nourishes and stabilizes us, but lacks intimacy, we shouldn’t have to destroy our marriage to get that intimacy somewhere else. Should we?

I didn’t have a full-on affair with the tattooed husband. We slept together maybe four times over a few years. More often, we talked on the phone. After our second night together, though, I could tell this was about more than sex for him. He was desperate for affection. He said he wanted to be close to his wife, but couldn’t because they were unable to get past their fundamental disconnect — lack of sex. That led to a lack of closeness, which made sex even less likely, and then turned into resentment and blame.

I’m not saying the answer is non-monogamy. That can be rife with risks and unintended entanglements. I believe the answer is honesty and dialogue, no matter how frightening. Lack of sex in marriage is common, and it shouldn’t lead to shame and silence. By the same token, an affair doesn’t have to lead to the end of a marriage. What if an affair, or ideally, simply, the urge to have one, can be the beginning of a necessary conversation about sex and intimacy?

What these husbands couldn’t do was have the difficult discussion with their wives that would force them to tackle the issues at the root of their cheating. They tried to convince me that they were being kind by keeping their affairs secret. They seemed to have convinced themselves. But deception and lying are ultimately corrosive, not kind.

In the end, I had to wonder if what these men couldn’t face was something else altogether — hearing why their wives no longer wanted to have sex with them. It’s much easier after all to set up an account on Tinder.”

Thanks so much for that reading, Esther. You know, it’s so funny because Karin Jones directly quotes you in her piece. And I feel like that is the first time ever we’ve had someone read an essay where they’re directly quoted.

Did anything jump out at you as you were reading?

What jumps out is she tackles a lot of different things — the subject of what is sexual aliveness, what is it that people actually lose when they stop being sexual with their partner, and how that loss of intimacy makes the sex even more complicated. She talked about the loss, the longing that this man has. I’ve often said that at the heart of affairs, you find duplicity and cheating and betrayal, but you also find longing and loss for the life that one had, for the parts of oneself that have been denied.

When we come back, I talk to Esther about the harsh criticism this essay got and why Esther thinks Karin Jones deserves more credit. Stay with us.

So Esther, this essay by Karin Jones was kind of a lightning rod when it was published. A ton of people were very critical of the author, saying she was sleeping with these men, but then also having conversations with them where she was like, it’s very wrong of you not to tell your wife what you’re up to. Why do you think this essay got so much backlash?

I think that the reaction to stories of infidelity are often intense. It’s a subject for which people are very quickly dogmatic because they have experienced the effects of it.

When I am in an audience, like if I was to ask, have you been affected by the experience of infidelity in your life, either because one of your parents was unfaithful or because you yourself had a child of an illicit affair, or because you had a friend on whose shoulder somebody weeping, or you had a confidant of someone who is in a complete bliss of an affair, or because you are the third person in the triangle, and about 80 percent of the people will raise their hand.

Wow. I mean, 80 percent sounds like a surprisingly large number, but when you explain it like that with different tendrils of an affair that affect everyone around the affair, not just the people in it, it makes total sense.

And it raises intense feelings in people. Karin Jones, she may have gotten the range of it, but you will hear more loudly the ones who say, you are a homewrecker, which, by the way, does not exist in the masculine.

Right, right.

The homewrecker is always a woman because the woman is the one who says yes, and therefore, if the woman hadn’t said yes, then he wouldn’t be able to do it. And then he would not be wrecking his family.

Yeah, there’s no other man either, by the way. It’s always the other woman.

Huh, there’s no other man.

Not in any of nine languages you speak.

No, because there’s never been another man who necessarily was willing to live in the shadow of a woman for his entire life.

That is so fascinating.

Her lover, [INAUDIBLE] you know her lover, but the other woman usually means that she lives in the shadow. She doesn’t just have a secret. She is the secret. That is the hardest thing about it. When people are writing to her, you can ask yourself, are they looking from the perspective of what it meant for her, or are they looking from the perspective of what it did to me, or to us?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of the criticism directed at Karin Jones, it seems, is coming from that perspective of saying, look what she did. Look at the harm she caused. Look at the pain she caused.

Which it is. Which it is.

Right, not discounting that, but it is interesting because her piece is so much about meaning making, right? That’s the whole conceit of her essay, is mining these experiences for meaning, and yet, people came with criticism. I wonder if this is like a kind of unfair question, but I wonder if there is an ethical way to be the other person. Is there a responsible way to do it without participating in hurt?

That depends. That depends. If you think the whole thing is unethical and is an egregious betrayal of trust and violation, then you will say no. I think the responsibility lies on the person who goes out, not on the lover.

Here’s what many people often say, is like, if you had asked me or if you had told me, but you made a decision without me. You made a decision about our marriage that did not involve me at all. And fair point. Of course, they know for a fact, too, that if they had been asked, they would have said no. But there is the things that you say after, and there is the things that you say before.

So, ultimately, I feel like I hear you agreeing with Karin Jones here that there are really important conversations that need to be happening between these husbands and their wives that actually don’t even have that much to do with Karin. Can you tell me more about that?

The conversation that Karin Jones would like these men to have with their wives is the conversations that take place in my book “Mating in Captivity,” because “Mating in Captivity” explored the dilemmas of desire inside relationships and why do people cease wanting. And could they want what they already have? And why does good sex fade, even in couples who still love each other as much as ever? And why do kids often deliver a fatal erotic blow?

What happens when they don’t have this conversation and they go elsewhere — and it’s not just a conversation about monogamy. It’s really a conversation of, what does sex mean to you? What do you want to experience in sex? Is it a place for connection?

Is it a place for transcendence, for spiritual union, to be naughty, to finally not be a good citizen, to be playful, to be taken care of, to surrender, to be safely dominant? What parts of you do you connect with through sexuality, rather than how often do we have sex, and we never have sex, and why don’t we do it more. So, that is a very different conversation.

But as Karin points to in her essay, and as you certainly point to in your book, those conversations are so difficult to have, even though this is the person we’re supposed to be the closest to. Why is that?

Because we grow up learning to be silent about sex and never talk about it. And then suddenly, we are expected to talk about it with the person we lov. Or in other words, sex is dirty, but save it for the one you love. It’s like we have very little practice talking about it.

We don’t get any of it in schools. Certainly, most families don’t talk about it either. And when we talk about sexuality, we talk about the dangers and the diseases and the dysfunctions. We don’t talk about intimacy. We don’t actually mix the word “sexuality” and “relationships” as one whole.

Yeah, and I mean, if we don’t talk about intimacy or the lack of it with a partner, that can, in some cases, lead to people going outside the marriage to find that intimacy they’re lacking in it. I’m thinking about Karin’s favorite married man, the one with all the tattoos. He says, it’s not necessarily a lie if you don’t confess the truth. It’s kinder to stay silent. In your experience working with couples, is he right? Is that true?

This is a very cultural question.

Because you live in a society here that believes in the moral cure of truth. But there are many societies for whom truth and honesty are not measured by the confession, but they are measured by what it will be like for the other person to walk with this on the street, meaning that they will consider the confession often as cruelty.

That, so what? So now you’ve got it off your chest. So now you’re less guilty, and now I have to live with this? Why don’t you just keep this to yourself, kind of thing. This is very cultural because in the United States, that is not the common view.

The common view is that the confession is the best state, even if you’re going to wreck the other person’s life for the next five years to come, which — and I am left with a question mark. But when I answer this question, I ask people about their own cultural codes as well. I do not impose mine. And mine fluctuates depending on the context. I think these questions are highly contextual, more than dogmatic.

We’ve talked about how there’s so many unsaid things between a couple that can lead to distance and infidelity. If a couple is feeling themselves drifting apart from each other emotionally, sexually, both, what are some things you could encourage them to do that might help?

Hmm. I like to coach people to do letter writing. Sometimes I make one person turn their back, and I make the other person write a letter on the back of the other person.

Oh, physically on the back?

Yes, but it’s a fake. You’re writing — you’re pretending to write, but you’re writing on the back. But that way, you don’t see the person.

Interesting.

Hi, Anna. This is something that I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a long time. And I give them the prompt. We never talk much about sexuality between us. For some reason, I decided a long time ago that you wouldn’t want to. But maybe it was I who didn’t know how to. And basically, they write these whole letters, in which they end up telling each other much of what they have never spoken.

I love that. What a kind and beautiful and compassionate way of easing into a conversation you’ve been afraid of having. Esther Perel, thank you so much for that idea. And thank you for talking with me today.

Thank you for having me.

Esther Perel is on tour in the US right now. Her show is called An Evening with Esther Perel, The Future of Relationships, Love, and Desire. Check her website for more details and to buy tickets. She told me she’s going to create an erotic experience in these theaters, so you do not want to miss that.

“Modern Love” is produced by Julia Botero, Chrstina Djossa, Reva Goldberg, Davis Land, and Emily Lange. It’s edited by our executive producer Jen Poyant and Davis Land. The “Modern Love” theme music is by Dan Powell. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Pat McCusker, Rowan Niemisto, Carole Sabouraud, and Diane Wong.

This episode was mixed by Daniel Ramirez. Our show was recorded by Maddy Masiello. Digital production by Mahima Chablani and Nell Gallogly. The “Modern Love” column is edited by Daniel Jones. Miya Lee is the editor of “Modern Love” projects. I’m Anna Martin. Thanks for listening.

• April 10, 2024   •   29:18 Esther Perel on What the Other Woman Knows
• April 3, 2024   •   27:31 The Second Best Way to Get Divorced, According to Maya Hawke
• March 27, 2024   •   32:38 How to Be Real With Your Kids
• March 20, 2024   •   32:14 Why Samin Nosrat Is Now ‘Fully YOLO’
• March 13, 2024   •   32:32 Brittany Howard Sings Through the Pangs of New Love
• March 6, 2024   •   33:21 Novelist Celeste Ng on the Big Power of Little Things
• February 28, 2024   •   37:46 Three Powerful Lessons About Love
• February 23, 2024   •   33:45 Modern Love at the Movies: Our Favorite Oscar-Worthy Love Stories
• February 21, 2024   •   25:21 A Politics Reporter Walks Into a Singles Mixer
• February 14, 2024   •   28:39 Un-Marry Me!
• December 6, 2023   •   29:18 I Married My Subway Crush
• November 29, 2023   •   34:56 Our 34-Year Age Gap Didn’t Matter, Until It Did

Hosted by Anna Martin

Produced by Julia Botero ,  Christina Djossa ,  Reva Goldberg and Emily Lang

Edited by Jen Poyant and Davis Land

Engineered by Daniel Ramirez

Original music by Pat McCusker ,  Marion Lozano ,  Carole Sabouraud ,  Rowan Niemisto ,  Diane Wong and Dan Powell

Listen and follow Modern Love Apple Podcasts | Spotify

‘at the heart of affairs, you find duplicity and cheating and betrayal, but you also find longing and loss for the life that one had, for the parts of oneself that have been denied’.

Over the last two decades, Esther Perel has become a world-famous couples therapist by persistently advocating frank conversations about infidelity, sex and intimacy. Today, Perel reads one of the most provocative Modern Love essays ever published: “ What Sleeping With Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity ,” by Karin Jones.

In her 2018 essay, Jones wrote about her experience seeking out no-strings-attached flings with married men after her divorce. What she found, to her surprise, was how much the men missed having sex with their own wives, and how afraid they were to tell them.

Jones faced a heavy backlash after the essay was published. Perel reflects on why conversations around infidelity are still so difficult and why she thinks Jones deserves more credit.

Esther Perel is on tour in the U.S. Her show is called “An Evening With Esther Perel: The Future of Relationships, Love & Desire.” Check her website for more details.

Links to transcripts of episodes generally appear on these pages within a week.

Modern Love is hosted by Anna Martin and produced by Julia Botero, Reva Goldberg, Emily Lang and Christina Djossa. The show is edited by Davis Land and Jen Poyant, our executive producer. The show is mixed by Daniel Ramirez and recorded by Maddy Masiello. It features original music by Pat McCusker, Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Carole Sabouraud, Rowan Niemisto and Diane Wong. Our theme music is by Dan Powell.

Special thanks to Larissa Anderson, Kate LoPresti, Lisa Tobin, Daniel Jones, Miya Lee, Mahima Chablani, Nell Gallogly, Jeffrey Miranda, Isabella Anderson, Reyna Desai, Renan Borelli, Nina Lassam and Julia Simon.

Thoughts? Email us at [email protected] . Want more from Modern Love ? Read past stories . Watch the TV series and sign up for the newsletter . We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, “ Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption ” and “ Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less .”

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17 Top Tourist Attractions in Moscow

The capital of Russia is an incredible place to explore. Visitors to Moscow come away spellbound at all the amazing sights, impressed at the sheer size and grandeur of the city. Lying at the heart of Moscow, the Red Square and the Kremlin are just two of the must-see tourist attractions; they are the historical, political and spiritual heart of the city – and indeed Russia itself.

A fascinating city to wander around, stunning cathedrals, churches, and palaces lie side-by-side with bleak grey monuments and remains from the Soviet state. In addition to its plethora of historical and cultural tourist attractions, Moscow is home to world-class museums, theaters and art galleries.

Renowned for its performing arts, fantastic ballets and amazing circus acts, catching a show while in Moscow is a must. The wealth of brilliant restaurants, trendy bars, and lively nightlife means there is something for everyone to enjoy.

See also: Where to Stay in Moscow

17. Tsaritsyno Palace

Once the summer residence of Catherine the Great, the stunning Tsaritsyno Palace is now a museum-reserve. The architecture is magnificent and there is a lovely park surrounding it for visitors to explore.

Located in the south of Moscow, the palace was commissioned in 1775 and recent renovations mean its lavish interior looks better than ever before with its elegant halls and beautiful staircases.

The exhibits on display look at the life of the empress as well as the history of Tsaritsyno itself. The huge palace grounds are also home to some other delightful buildings with the elegant opera house and wonderful brickwork of the Small Palace being particularly impressive to gaze upon.

Starting out in 1935 as the ‘All-Union Agricultural Exhibition’, VDNKh has slowly morphed over the years into the fascinating open-air museum of today. Remarkably, over 400 buildings can now be found within its confines.

The huge park complex has numerous pavilions representing former Soviet republics on show, such as those of Armenia and Turkmenistan and the distinctive architecture of each of the buildings is always interesting to gaze upon. In addition to this there is the fascinating Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics which is dedicated to space exploration and the fun Moskvarium aquarium even offers you the chance to swim with dolphins.

With lots of eateries scattered about and numerous entertainment options such as horse-riding and zip-lining, there is something for everyone to enjoy; the Friendship of Nations fountain truly is wonderful.

15. Kremlin Armoury

One of the oldest museums in the city, the Kremlin Armoury has a wealth of treasures; highlights include the ornate Grand Siberian Railway egg, the historic Cap of Monomakh and the stunning Imperial Crown of Russia which often has a crowd of tourists around it, jostling to take a photo.

Once the royal armory, there are loads of fascinating objects on display. Perusing the many sabers, jewelry, armor and more is as interesting as it is educational and entertaining and the swords are so finely crafted that you’ll almost wish you could pick up one and wield if yourself.

Established in 1851, the museum is situated in the Moscow Kremlin.

14. GUM Department Store

Standing for ‘Main Universal Store’ in Russian, GUM is stunning. Its wonderful skylights and beautiful facades mean it doesn’t look out of place alongside its illustrious neighbors on Red Square.

With over 200 shops, boutiques and upmarket eateries inside, it is a shopaholic’s heaven and concerned partners will be glad to find more affordable options alongside luxury brands such as Dior and Prada.

The main department store in the city, GUM was opened in 1893. The stunning architecture makes it well worth a visit even if shopping isn’t your thing.

13. Moscow Metro

It’s not often that public transport looks like a work of art. So many stops on the Moscow Metro will astound visitors with their beauty and elegance.

Decked in marble and with frescoes covering the walls, the stations are amazing to gaze upon and are part of one of the longest metro systems in the world, with the first stations opened in 1935.

Using the metro is the quickest and easiest way to get around Moscow and braving the crowds of commuters is well worth it for the beauty all around you.

12. Arbat Street

An elegant yet lively street, Arbat is full of impressive architecture and was once a popular place to live for aristocrats, artists, and academics.

A historic place, it is down Arbat Street that Napoleon’s troops are said to have headed on their way to capture the Kremlin.

Nowadays, there are many cafes, restaurants, and shops, as well as various monuments and statues to former residents such as Alexander Pushkin who was reputed to be a lover of the Russian Empress due to his massive influence in court.

11. Novodevichy Convent

Drenched in history, the Novodevichy Convent is located in a striking building that was once a fortress. This captivating place is well worth visiting when in Moscow.

Founded in 1524, the convent houses four cathedrals; Smolensk Cathedral is the undoubted highlight due to its delightful 16th-century frescoes.

Wandering around the grounds is like stepping back in time. The Novodevichy Cemetery is where many famous leaders of the Soviet Union are buried, such as Yeltsin and Khrushchev.

10. Pushkin Museum

Despite its name, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts actually has no connection at all to the famous poet other than that it was named in his honor after his death. A delight to visit, its extensive collection focuses on European art with masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, and van Gogh all featuring.

Sculptures, graphic art, paintings and more can be found in its beautiful galleries; various sections look at themes and epochs such as the Renaissance, the Dutch Golden Age, and Byzantine art.

Among the many highlights are the clownish characters which can be found in Cezanne’s Fastnacht (Mardi Gras) and the twirling ballerinas who look so elegant in Degas’ Blue Dancers. Picasso’s Young acrobat on a Ball is also well worth checking out for its interesting use of shapes and colors.

9. Christ The Savior Cathedral

This gorgeous Russian Orthodox cathedral is located on the banks of the Moskva River, just a stone’s throw away from the Kremlin.

The church as it stands today was consecrated in 2000, as the original church that stood here was destroyed on the command of Josef Stalin in 1931 due to the anti-religious campaign.

With its delightful golden dome, spires and dazzling white facades, the Christ the Savior Cathedral is stunning. The interior is just as captivating to wander around, with its beautifully tiled floors and impressive altar.

8. Lenin Mausoleum

Opened to the public in 1924, Lenin’s Mausoleum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Moscow. The red granite structure is located at the heart of the city in Red Square.

Lenin’s embalmed body lies in a glass sarcophagus; it is a somewhat eerie experience walking past the former leader of the Soviet Union but is well worth doing as you understandably can’t do it anywhere else in the world.

After visiting the mausoleum, head to the Kremlin wall right next to it for more graves of important communist figures such as Stalin and Brezhnev.

7. Tretyakov Gallery

Home to the most extensive and impressive collection of Russian fine art in the world, the State Tretyakov Gallery is definitely worth visiting when in Moscow for the wealth of amazing art pieces that it has on display.

Having started out as the private art collection of the Tretyakov brothers, there are now over 130,000 exhibits. Highlights include the iconic Theotokos of Vladimir which you will almost certainly recognise despite probably not knowing the name and Rublev’s Trinity which is considered to be one of highest achievements in Russian art.

An absolute must for art lovers, the State Tretyakov Gallery will delight visitors with all that is has to offer.

6. Kolomenskoye

Once a royal estate, Kolomenskoye is now a museum-reserve and lies a few kilometers outside of the city center. A captivating place to visit, there is a plethora of history on show and the site overlooks the Moskva River.

Consisting of four historical sites, there are extensive gardens for visitors to explore, as well as loads of interesting old buildings, the former village of Kolomenskoye itself and the impressive Palace of the Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich – once considered the Eighth Wonder of the World by contemporaries.

Among the many stunning sights, it is the brilliantly white Ascension Church that is the undoubted highlight – dating back to 1532.

5. Gorky Park

Lying alongside the Moskva River, the huge Gorky Park is a lovely place to visit. Its extensive gardens are home to numerous cultural institutions and visitors should definitely check out the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and while the eclectic exhibits may not always feature such incredible sights as a balloon-covered rider on a zebra; they certainly always succeed in pushing back the boundaries of art.

Pop-up exhibitions and festivals can be found from time to time in the park itself and there is an open-air theatre and numerous eateries alongside a plethora of leisure activities.

Whether it’s cycling, table tennis or yoga that you are after or beach volleyball and rowing, Gorky Park certainly has it. In winter, there is a huge ice rink for visitors to enjoy.

4. Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre is the main theater in the country. The amazing opera and ballet performances it has put on over the centuries go a long way in explaining Russia’s rich history of performing arts.

While the Bolshoi Ballet Company was established in 1776, the theater itself was opened in 1825. The glittering, six-tier auditorium is lavishly and decadently decorated; it is a fitting setting for the world-class performances that take place on its stage.

Spending a night watching a performance of such classics as The Nutcracker or Swan Lake at the Bolshoi Theatre is sure to be a memorable experience and the beauty all around you only adds to the sense of occasion.

3. Moscow Kremlin

This famously fortified complex is remarkably home to five palaces and four cathedrals and is the historic, political and spiritual center of the city. The Kremlin serves as the residence for the country’s president. It has been used as a fort, and this fact is made clear by its sheer size. The Kremlin’s outer walls were built in the late 1400s.

Under Ivan III, better known as Ivan the Great, the Kremlin became the center of a unified Russian state, and was extensively remodeled. Three of the Kremlin’s cathedrals date to his reign that lasted from 1462-1505. The Deposition Church and the Palace of Facets were also constructed during this time. The Ivan the Great Bell Tower was built in 1508. It is the tallest tower at the Kremlin with a height of 266 feet (81 meters).

Joseph Stalin removed many of the relics from the tsarist regimes. However, the Tsar Bell, the world’s largest bell, and the Tsar Cannon, the largest bombard by caliber in the world, are among the remaining items from that era. The Kremlin Armory is one of Moscow’s oldest museums as it was established more than 200 years ago. Its diamond collection is impressive.

The Kremlin’s gardens – Taynitsky, Grand Kremlin Public and Alexander – are beautiful. The Kremlin has also served as the religious center of the country, and there is a tremendous number of preserved churches and cathedrals here. The collections contained within the museums include more than 60,000 historical, cultural and artistic monuments. Those who enjoy the performing arts will want to consider attending a ballet or concert at the State Kremlin Palace. Completed in 1961, it is the only modern building in the Kremlin.

2. Red Square

Lying at the heart of Moscow, Red Square is the most important and impressive square in the city. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions due to its wealth of historical sights and cultural landmarks.

Drenched in history, the huge square is home to incredible sights such as the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Lenin’s Mausoleum, among others. Consequently, it is not to be missed when in Moscow as it really is home to the city’s most stunning monuments.

It is here that many important moments in Russian history took place; the former marketplace has hosted everything from Tsar’s coronations and public ceremonies to rock concerts and Soviet military parades. Wandering around the massive square is a humbling experience and undoubtedly one of the highlights the city has to offer.

1. Saint Basil’s Cathedral

Located in the impressive Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral is gorgeous; its delightful spires appear as if out of a fairytale. The most recognizable building in the country, the cathedral is very much a symbol of Russia. No visit to Moscow is complete without having taken in its unique and distinctive features.

Ivan the Terrible ordered the cathedral’s construction in the mid-16th century, and legend holds that Ivan put out the architect’s eyes so that he would be unable to build another cathedral more glorious than St. Basil’s. Designed to resemble the shape of a bonfire in full flame, the architecture is not only unique to the period in which it was built but to any subsequent period. For various reasons, both Napoleon and Stalin wanted to destroy the cathedral but fortunately did not succeed.

Known for its various colors, shapes and geometric patterns, St. Basil’s Cathedral houses nine different chapels that are all connected by a winding labyrinth of corridors and stairways. On the lower floor, St. Basil’s Chapel contains a silver casket bearing the body of St. Basil the Blessed.

Throughout the cathedral are many beautiful murals, frescoes, wooden icons and other art works and artifacts. Outside the cathedral is a lovely garden with the bronze Monument to Minin and Pozharsky, who rallied an all-volunteer Russian army against Polish invaders during a period of the late 16th century known as the Times of Troubles.

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Podolsk's most famous sight - the Our Lady of the Sign Church - is actually located just outside the city in Dubrovitsy and any visit to Podolsk should include a trip here. The city itself also has several sights worth seeing and both destinations can be visited as a day trip from Moscow .

Top recommendations in Podolsk

Go to Dubrovitsy to see the stunning and intricate Our Lady of the Sign Church.

Podolye Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

Visit the Podolye Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve and see the house where Lenin's relatives once lived as well as examples of early 19th century architecture.

Podolsk Cadets Monument

Have a walk around Podolsk to look at the impressive Soviet-style Podolsk Cadets Monument and visit the Regional Museum located in the former Ivanoskoe Estate.

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