Pictures Show Emotion Better than Words

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Pictures Show Emotion Better than Words

In Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, an image is defined as “a vivid or graphic representation or description.” However, a painting can be so much more than this. In Mitchell Stephens’ essay, “‘By Means of the Visible’: A Pictures Worth,” Erasmus is quoted as saying, “Painting is much more eloquent than speech, and often penetrates more deeply into one’s heart” (473). Two online paintings that are examples of this are Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh, and The Scream by Edvard Munch. Both paintings are very well known and both evoke strong but different emotions. Paintings like these have been described with words over and over again, but they can only be fully experienced by seeing the paintings themselves. Words alone are just not sufficient enough to bring out the emotions that these works of art can, and that is why, based only on ability to evoke emotions, paintings are stronger than words.

Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night is a beautiful example of how pictures do what words cannot do. This painting depicts a night sky with huge swirling stars overlooking a small town. Someone who sees this can take any number of things from it. Some people see that the stars represent the presence of God looking over the people in the small town. Other people see chaos, like the sky is falling or the world is coming to an end. Still other people take the starry night sky just as an over exaggerated look at what the night sky looks like. No matter how one looks at it, any person can take something different from it. Moreover, words usually only have one meaning, while pictures can be taken differently by each person that views them. However, some view this as a ...

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...a multitude of other possibilities, pictures have the ability to truly show any emotion, and, in the words of Erasmus, “penetrate more deeply into one’s heart” (Stephens 473).

Works Cited

“Image.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 10th ed. 2002

Munch, Edvard. The Scream. 6 Oct. 2002 http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/NV--1_1822_9718/PD--10005915/SZ--3/posters.htm

Selena. Dir. Gregory Nava. Perf. Jennifer Lopez, Jon Seda, and Edward James Olmos. Warner Home Video, Sept. 23, 1997.

Stephens, Mitchell. ““By Mean of the Visible”: A Pictures Worth”. .” The Presence of Others. 3rd Edition. Eds. Andrea Lunsford and John Ruszkiewicz. Boston: Bedford, 2000. 473-486

Van Gogh, Vincent. Starry Night. June 1889. Museum of Mod. Art, New York. 6 Oct. 2002 http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/NV1_12717_12718_12719/PD--10073644/SZ--3/posters.htm

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