Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
VOCABULARY
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder –isa saying used to express the fact that not all people have the same opinion about what is beautiful, especially when it comes to art. Many of us love going to art galleries to while away a few hours and marvel at the masterpieces hanging on the walls. While feasting our eyes on the paintings we should consider the artists, many of whom lived in poverty not knowing where the next meal was coming from – while today their paintings sell for millions.
Take Van Gogh, for example, who only sold one painting in his lifetime and suffered from great poverty, loneliness and depression. He is believed to have shot himself in the wheat field that he so loved to paint, aged 37. His works now fetch a fortune at many auctions, as do those of Paul Gauguin, who was not appreciated until after his death. He could never have imagined that his painting of two Tahitian girls, Nafea Faa Ipoipo, or "When Will You Marry?" – would sell for almost $300 million. Only last year, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, Salvador Mundi, became the most expensive painting ever sold at an auction when it sold for $400 million.
Then there is the other type of art, the sort that is not so pleasant to the eye and we have to decide what the artist is trying to express. Now I am certainly no expert on this subject but I just have to laugh when listening to people discussing a painting, that looks as though a six-year-old could have done it by putting a blob of paint in the middle of a canvas. I once went to an exhibition, here in Salzburg, where the artist had just taken a pencil and done a squiggle on the paper, like a naughty child drawing on the wall, and then put the squiggles into a frame. These drawings were quite expensive and I just couldn't imagine anyone buying them: But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Just when you think that the world of art can’t get any crazier, a pig, that has been christened Pigcasso, has been selling her signed canvasses to fans around the world for €2,000 a piece. Pigcasso, and her sister Rosie, were rescued from a slaughter house, in South Africa, by Joanne Lefson. Ms Lefson, who is an animal welfare campaigner, brought the pigs back to her farm sanctuary.
The sanctuary was under construction and Pigcasso took a shine to one of the workmen’s paintbrushes and kept putting them in her mouth. Ms Lefson provided some canvas and paints and the rest is history. The 21month-old pig produces her works of art by gripping the brush between her teeth and laying the acrylic paint on the canvas. The results are so impressive that she has already sold 44 paintings and last month launched her own exhibition, "Oink", on Cape Town’s Victoria and Albert waterfront. Pigcasso’s exhibition, featuring all her artwork, will open in London next month, before it moves on to Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam.
Pigcasso’s first painting was sold to a lawyer from New York, who was visiting the farm, and word spread fast. Her masterpiece, entitled Brexit, features the colours of the British flag and has sold to a Dutch collector for nearly €2,000. Pigcasso signs each canvas by dipping her snout in a mixture of beetroot juice and acrylic paint. Ms Lefson says that Pigcasso gets her inspiration from the beautiful scenery around her and when they take trips to Table Mountain or the beach, she soon puts up her easel. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more difficult as the artist is already 1.80 metres and weighs 450 kilograms.
However, Pigcasso’s paintings, which provide money for the sanctuary, are becoming so popular that she could become the next Francis Bacon ... beauty is in the eye of the beholder – schön ist, was gefällt to while away one’s time – seine Zeit vertrödeln to feast one’s eyes on sth. – seine Augen an etw. weiden poverty – Armut to suffer – leiden loneliness – Einsamkeit to fetch a fortune – ein Vemögen einbringen appreciated – gewürdigt pleasant – erfreulich, wohltuend to express – ausdrücken a blob of paint – ein Farbklecks squiggle – Schnörkel naughty child – schlimmes Kind frame – Rahmen drawings – Zeichnungen to christen – taufen canvas – Leinwandgemälde a piece – pro Stück slaughter house – Schlachthof to take a shine to sth. – an etw. Gefallen finden paintbrush – Pinsel to grip – packen results – Ergebnisse to launch – eröffnen lawyer – Anwalt word spread – etw. sprach sich herum Dutch collector – holländischer Sammler to dip – eintauchen snout – Schweinerüssel beetroot juice – Rote-Rüben-Saft acrylic paint – Acrylfarbe scenery – Landschaft easel – Staffelei Francis Bacon – britischer Maler 1909-1992 bacon – englischer Frühstücksspeck