Painting as Light Relief

The reason painting still stays with us is that like music or dancing, painting stimulates emotional and cognitive responses which are needed to feel human. Without feelings and consciousness, we are just a bunch of molecules as the universe. We don’t want to solely understand life in such a mechanical way. It is undeniably true that we like to give meaning to life and express our genuine feelings about it, whether living in a cave 40,000 years ago or living in a technologically advanced world. In this regard, painting is a great way to enrich our life and amplify our feelings. Schopenhauer, a German philosopher, said:

“Life is a futile exercise in which we are all slaves to our will, trapped by our basic insatiable desires for sex, food, and safety. The arts are the only way to relieve us from this monotonous treadmill, as they can offer transcendence, intellectual escape, and a bit of light relief.”