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Discussion Room: De Botton and Hopper
The extract is clearly the product of considerations from an art critic or a professional figure related to the art world. The fact that the TATE website reports it confirms this consideration. On the other side, reading the text, I can perceive not only comprehension of Hopper’s work but also an empathy for the painted subjects.
How it can maybe be guessed from my previous statements, I agree with Alan De Bottom, being a huge fan of melancholy’s representations and a fierce supporter of the dignity of each human emotion. Loneliness, lack of hope, and feeling lost are sensations that are often excluded from the classical representation, preferring to show the nobility of love, joy, pain and sacrifice. With this framework, I find that the title ‘On the Pleasures of Sadness’ gives centrality to a re-evaluation of the feeling and, as a consequence, I think that it centers the core of Hopper production.
From what I can recall, the creed representation of Loneliness that Hopper makes is not present in other artists. Romanticism represents loneliness and nature in a certain way but they are majestic, almost holy, and they have not the empathy for human condition that I feel in Hopper’s works.
About his being a cliché, I simply think that in a production (it doesn’t matter if it is a literary, artistic or cinematic) the producer inserts part of his life and experience. So, if from a purely stylistic point of view the critic about the simplicity of themes and style can be understood, also considering the great artistic innovation of the begin of XX century, from a strictly thematic point of view this kind of opposition is sterile.
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7 Replies
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Morning @Lu_Corde I enjoyed reading your discussion very much and I especially appreciate your ideas on the title On the Pleasures of Sadness.
From the English point of view, you’ve done a great job expressing these complex thoughts and there are hardly any mistakes. 👏 There is just one thing we can change to make it sound more like a native speaker:
> How it can maybe be guessed from my previous statements, I agree with …
> As one can probably tell/guess/imagine/from my previous statements, I agree with …
(Here I’ve used ‘one’ because the writing style is fairly formal. In general conversation or in a less formal writing piece, you can say: as you can probably tell/ guess / imagine ….)
ps. tiny mistake!: they have not the empathy for human condition ❌
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Hi @Kerin , thank you for your feedback! I am really happy you enjoyed it.
I haven’t understood the correction you did in the post scriptum, can you please expand it?
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Ah sorry! I wanted you to try and correct it! Can you have a go? 😉 @Lu_Corde
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I think it is a problem of the chosen verb, but I cannot find a word more suitable. Can you give me a tip?
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It’s a little mistake, that’s probably why you can’t see it:
> they have not ❌
and you are missing an article!
Tell me if you can’t get it! It is Friday after all 😂
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Did I forget a ‘the’ in front of ‘human condition’?
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Yes, but also the negative form is wrong.
So this:
they have not the empathy for human condition
should be:
they don’t have the empathy for the human condition
👍😉
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