Museums are magic places. They can take you back into history or forward into an artists imagination in just a few steps. This is the National Gallery of art in washington, d. C. Are many worlds to explore at the National Gallery. You can imagine yourself to be almost awhere. You have centuries to choose from. You can be in any mood. You can be any age. Theres Something Wonderful here for everyone. Im julie harris. I love to come here. Art is always an adventure for me. It makes me see people and places with new eyes. There was no such thing as a Public Art Museum 200 years ago. The only people who could explore art were the people who owned it. Sometimes in the gallery, i imagine that im walking in my own house. Well, in a way, it is mine and yours, too. All of this belongs to all of us. Ive picked some special things to show you. Each has something quite important to tell you. Art just doesnt happen, you see. It isnt created out of nowhere. Art reflects its own time, and it changes with time and taste, just as you and i do. Great artists bring their own ideas and feelings and experiences to art, too, and so do you. If youre like me, you like some things better than others. But before you make up your mind, there are a few things to look for in any work of art. They help you to understand what you see and enjoy it more. This is the National Gallerys newest masterpiece a building, no less, by i. M. Pei a gift from the Andrew Mellon family and foundation. Its like an enormous piece of modern sculpture. It surrounds you with sensations of movement and constant change. Its as multifaceted and full of new ideas as our world is today. And so is this fantastic tapestry, woman. Joan miro created her for this wall. Isnt she stunning . She weighs 22 times more than i do. I dont think you will recognize yourself mirrored in her, but from her head to her feet, she is a perfect reflection of the 20th century. You can see several sides of her head at the same time. Shes made of simple, abstract forms. Shes flat, and her coloring is curious. Joan miro was born in spain in 1893. Before he was even 10 years old, the xray, the wireless telegraph, freuds interpretation of dreams, einsteins theory of relativity had appeared. So how could any artist in our time believe were simply what we appear to be . If we want to see that, we can take a photograph. We have more options than we ever had. Were freer to choose than we ever were. For 20thcentury artists, that freedom means expression. Fantasy. Abstraction. Structure. Imagination. Leonardo da vinci is one of the greatest geniuses of all time. 500 years ago, he painted this portrait of ginevra de benci. She is so real, you can almost feel the softness of her skin. Simply beautiful. Ginevras father was a wealthy and powerful florentine merchant. In their day, everyone especially leonardo was interested in things which were naturalhuman. Ginevras portrait shows that. But it doesnt show why she was so melancholy. Something must have been wrong. Leonardo said that portraits should show the motions of the mind, and you can see how hes emphasized the pallor of ginevras calm, intelligent, sad face. There is a theory. At 16, ginevra had married a widower twice her age. She had no children. She had been ill for some time and was suffering from the breakup of an unhappy love affair. Poor ginevra. I suppose well never be sure, but we do know she was so beautiful and so good that even the ruler Lorenzo De Medici wrote sonnets to her. Ginevra wrote poetry herself. All thats left is one line. I am a tiger. I am a tiger. I see what she means. Its a long way from that classic beauty to this huge, fantastic dancing lady. How did it happen . Lets investigate. This painting is the adoration of the magi. There they are the Three Wise Men of the bible kneeling before the virgin and child on a carpet of flowers as decorative as a medieval tapestry a traditional nativity scene. This magnificent circular painting is a visual detective story. There are all sorts of clues here to show you what happens to art when the world moves from one kind of time to another. It is a colorful bridge between the world of the middle ages and the renaissance world. Two monks painted this in the early 15th century. One was so gentle and devout, he was nicknamed fra angelico angelic brother. The other, fra filippo lippi, had a more worldly temperament. He finally was allowed to withdraw from his order and marry. The worldly and the spiritual in a way, they epitomize the time. Some things seem strange to our 20thcentury eyes, dont they . Why is such a huge peacock perched on the roof of such an oddly shaped stable . Why is everyone crowded, layer on layer, right up to the top of the picture instead of back into it . Its because this picture is full of symbols and techniques of the middle ages. The peacock represented immortality then. The halos were symbols of divinity. That hasnt changed, i guess. The dog meant faithfulness. The church had shaped peoples lives, thoughts, and art for centuries. Artists were just learning how to paint a threedimensional real world with depth and volume. The world was beginning to look like a more interesting place than heaven. People learned from scholars and poets that man had been center stage in ancient times, so thats where he wanted to be again when this wonderful painting was finished. Man is still taking all the curtain calls. Artists bring their own ideas, feelings, and experiences to art, too. They see differently from you and me sometimes. Some see far ahead, and it takes us time to catch up. How uptodate are your eyes . This picture outraged people when they first saw it in paris in 1864. Edouard manets dead toreador. Do you see anything scandalous about it . It seems hard to believe now that the public and leaders of the french art world were horrified by the subject matter, terribly upset by the flat shapes and strong color contrasts. They were so critical that when manet took the picture back, he cut it into three pieces. This is one of them. People felt the same about manets old musician. They just werent ady to accept manets realism. They didnt want to see shabby people like these. They were used to sleek pictures of heroes from history or mythology. Artists painted that way, or else, in paris. It was more important to manet to paint what he saw around him, even though people ridiculed him. His conviction that art and artists should be free makes him a crucial figure in modern art. Manet said Something Interesting long ago. People living 100 years from now will be happy. Their vision will be so much more highly developed than ours. They will see so much more clearly. How good a prophet was he . Lavender mist. Jackson pollock painted it in new york in 1950. He was a legend by the time he died just a few years later in an automobile accident. Some of you still may not be sure what to make of it. Thats understandable. It is totally abstract. There is not one form in it we can recognize. Pollock was as controversial as manet when he began to paint this way, but it didnt take as long for people to realize how good he was. He opened up a new world of possibilities for painters. He used a revolutionary technique. For centuries, western artists have propped their canvases up on easels or against walls. Not pollock. He dripped, flung, or swirled paint onto a sheet of canvas laid on the floor. He would move around and around the canvas, paint can in one hand, leaning far over it, sometimes even stepping on it, applying the paint with both ends of the brush his whole body painted. He must have been marvelous to watch. You can see what fabulous control pollock had. There is no accident, he said. Look at the patterns of line and color. Theyre all carefully planned and balanced. The white lines are thin. The black lines are heavy. Pollock forces your eyes to keep moving. Theres Tremendous Energy and variety here and such delicate colors. Pollock gave some advice once to people who asked him how to look at his painting and all modern art, like beasts of the sea by henri matisse. Try to receive what the painting has to offer, he said. It should be enjoyed just as music is enjoyed. You may like it, or you may not. At least give it a chance. Joshua johnston painted these little boys in 1807. He was an extraordinary artist. Johnston was the first important black artist in the united states. He was born about 1770, and we think he had been a slave. Johnstons painting is naive in comparison with pollocks and manets, but hes a wonderful painter, too. We think he purchased his freedom with portraits like this. Johnston developed a distinctive style. This is characteristic. If i know something about the artists themselves, i think it makes looking more fun. In the 17th century, the dutch were prosperous and powerful and pleased with themselves. They loved pictures of themselves and still lifes like this vase of flowers. Lets take a closer look. Sometimes we hurry past things we know witht really seeing them. You can miss a lot in a museum that way. This is so realistic. There is even a tiny reflection of a window in the vase. But look some more. Do you really think in a spotless dutch house youd find a snail, a lizard, and a spider crawling around together on a marble table top . And why did the artist put in the same vase flowers which couldnt possibly have been in bloom at the same time . What was he getting at . This painting is full of symbols the dutch found so interesting. To them, the caterpillar and the butterfly signified death and rebirth. The flowers meant that we would all fade and die eventually. Do you see now why i wanted you not to rush . Im always surprised at what i find in any painting if i take the time. These people certainly seem to have found Something Interesting. Im tempted now to introduce this next painting by saying jaws of 1778. This is watson and the shark by John Singleton copley, a great early american artist. What a subject for a painter. Hes organized it so we feel were in the front seat at the movie. In the foreground, the monster returns for a Second Attack on the struggling boy, watson. Then up, up, in a desperate diagonal of horrified sailors to the man with the life line watson has missed. Then down sharply on the other side of the pyramid with the boat hook that may not kill the shark in time. Will watson be devoured or saved . Copley broke the rules of his day by using a story about ordinary men, but everyone loved it. They knew there was a happy ending. Watson was rescued and lived to become lord mayor of london. Its miraculous to me how artists can capture a single moment forever on a simple piece of canvas with a few paints and brushes. They make me feel im sharing that moment in the lives of people in these pictures. Long after ive left the gallery, they keep living in my mind. Lets see how artists do these magic tricks. Its important to see how an artist arranges things, puts parts of a picture together as in this madonna, by raphael. The composition of a work has a powerful and instant impact on you. So does the sense of movement you get from a particular kind of line. Lines can contain a picture, balance it, or move it. Theres a wonderful sense of speed and space here in winslow homers painting. Everythings on the same diagonal line leaning to the left the rudder, the masts, the sails. The curves of the sailors bodies move to the left, too. You just know its breezing up off gloucester 100 years ago. The man who painted this had to be a fight fan. George bellows, an american artist, went to this very bout himself in 1909 in new york. He chose the climactic moment just before the knockout. Hes made us feel were right in the smokefilled arena. The triangle of bloody, glistening fighters towers over us in the ring. The winner lunges from the right for the knockdown. The poor fighter on the left will crumble in defeat. Everything is jagged and angular. Light and shade are used very dramatically. Thats another thing to look [bell rings] good. Thats over. This is a more agreeable subject to tell you about some of the other tools artists use to create their effects. Portraits with individual character, like cranachs young princess, appeared first in the early renaissance. Before that, portraits symbolized peoples status. This is saskia van uylenburgh. Her husbandtobe painted this contented and confident portrait shortly before their wedding in 1634. He was rembrandt van rijn, the great dutch artist. He adored saskia. All his life, in the hundreds of portraits rembrandt painted, he used light and shadow in this dramatic and expressive way. Its a crucial tool to create mood to give character to shapes and spaces. Poor saskia. She died seven years later. We have no idea who this young girl is, but it really doesnt matter. Shes charming, and that was the whole point of portraits when fragonard painted her in paris in 1776. He wasnt interested in her character, but he was interested in light. That was as important to fragonard as it was to rembrandt. He used it like sunshine. Rembrandt, like a spotlight. Theres another thing to notice. He used the same line inside the picture to create a feeling of grace and rhythm. You can trace the delicately curving line of her chin everywhere. In her dress, her bodice, her finger, her pillow. The only Straight Lines i can find are the armrest and the wall behind her. Soon after this, the french revolution caused the death, ruin, or exile of many of fragonards wealthy patrons. He survived by the skin of his teeth and died in 1806 without a penny. This is by one of the best Women Artists of the 19th century berthe morisot. She was the grandniece of fragonard and the sisterinlaw of manet. Doesnt something seem strange to you, though . Look at the striking contrast between the two figures. Berthes sister is so light and fresh. Her mother is so much darker and heavier. We know why. One day, berthe asked manet for his opinion. Not only did he give it, he worked for four hours on the portrait of berthes mother. She was annoyed, but could do nothing. A messenger was waiting to take the picture. Its useful for us, though. In one painting you can see two artists work and compare their use of light, color, and shape. Morisot was an impressionist. She was fascinated by the play of light on objects. So was auguste renoir. He and morisot were good friends. Impressionists had a special philosophy of life as well as a theory of light. The earth as a paradise of the gods thats what i want to paint, was renoirs view. And this is how he painted light small strokes of glowing colors to catch the changing sunlight. This picture makes me feel good right away. Its spontaneous and innocent. Colors always affect your response to a painting. These are direct and simple. They take your eyes right to the action. I also love the way the bareback riders seem to float in the air. The horse, too. And look at the marvelous details. W. H. Brown was an american primitive artist of the late 19th century. He wanted to paint a real live circus, but he didnt quite know how. He taught himself. Thats why his shapes are flat, twodimensional. They look like paper cutouts. The figures are rigid and frozen even when theyre in motion. No matter. Hes caught the excitement of the circus. Now, this artist knew how to do everything. Pablo picasso. He painted these wandering acrobats in 1905. You can test the effect of color again. What a somber mood. Here picassos colors are subdued and subtle. They help your eyes move quietly around these unhappy, isolated people. We think the harlequin figure is the painter himself. Picasso was one of the greatest artists who ever lived. He gave us aadically new and different way to look at the world, and our eyes will never be the same because of the way he saw things. You know how much i love emily dickinson. She wrote a poem i think of when i come here to the National Gallery to see all these wonderful works of art. Beauty crowds me till i die. Beauty, mercy have on me, but if i expire today, let it be in sight of thee. I hope youve enjoyed this adventure in art with me today. Perhaps ill see you here again. Usic synthesized music director offscreen okay, this looks pretty good. All right, lets get all the rest of the lights on, and get ready for a take. Crewmember what about the sky . indistinct comments director all right, quiet down; roll camera. Crewmember speed director and action burke this is a film about vision and illusion how we see what we see, or what we think we see. Im james burke, and if youre anything like me, you can easily lose yourself in the special effects shots filmmakers create these days. They make images that fool the eye, and, of course, we eat it right up. You may be surprised to know, however, that in spite of all of the fancy equipment here, they are using basic visual techniques developed over 500 ars ago by the masters of the renaissance. In many ways, the special effects crew here actually faces the same challenge that intrigued artists centuries ago how to make a flat picture appear threedimensional and believable, the people here are ultimately working with a flat movie screen. The renaissance artists were working with a flat canvas or a wooden panel, even a giant wall the size of a movie screen, for that matter. Centuries ago, the masters revolutionized our understanding of optics and visual perception, and the techniques they developed became the basic Building Blocks of visual art still used today. The artists in this special effectstudio will help us unveil some old secrets of the masters with some new techniques of their own. To understand the principles of visual illusion, we will be examining that period of remarkable artistic and scientific discovery, the renaissance a movement that laed from 1400 to the mid1550s, when some Extraordinary People like copernicus and columbus were changing our understanding of the world, and the renaissance artists were changing how see that world. This was a period of great artists, great discoveries, and great illusions. dramatic music to explore some of the earlie developments in catg illusion, we should take a look at where the Renaissance Movement itself beganitaly. Even today, the city of florence stands as a monument to the renaissance masters. This fascinating city is filled with great works of art and archecture. Some of the worlds great masterpieces were created by artists who had developed their skills in florence. church bell rings a number of the citys principal landmarks, including the dome of the cathedral santa maria del fiore, were designed by one of the primary innovators in visual perception. Brunelleschi, an architect, was the