Unpopular Opinions You Can’t Prove

[purplehorseshoe]

@overlyverbose

Oh, for the love, no. Please, no.

Keep yer shorts on. I was simply rebutting the “rare/expensive” claim.

Back to the O.P. I submit:
A percentage of the younger 18-35 crowd is approaching stone-cold deafness. Either that’s why they play their music in the car at sternum-vibrating levels … or it’s caused by playing music in their cars at sternum-vibrating levels.

[begbert2]

@DocCathode

I’ve seeb pictures of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and View From The Asylum Window. They are but pale imitations of the real canvas viewed close up and in person

If the premise is that if I were to see the Mona Lisa in person I would become wholly enraptured and do my best to come up with $850,000,000 so as to be able to make it my own, I cannot dispute this because I haven’t seen this magical artifact in person.

But I have my doubts.

[RivkahChaya]

I found it not terribly impressive-- it’s very dark and small; but I had to be reminded that one time it was stolen, it was cut out of it’s frame, and about two inches all around was lost, which apparently not only altered the size, but the contrast of colors.

So that leads me to ask which Gioconda? the present one as it hangs, or the one that was originally painted?

[DocCathode]

Oh, I didn’t mean that you’d be convinced that it was worth 850 million. Just that in my opinion and experience, reproductions are nowhere near as good as the original painting.

When I see View From The Asylum Window here in the Philly museum, I don’t honestly know that it’s worth 250 million. I do know that it’s a damn fine painting and I nearly swoon.

[John_DiFool]

@mjmlabs

I’m of the opinion that Julian Jaynes’s hypotheses w/r/t The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind [and related works] are more likely true than not. They are of course, and admittedly, entirely speculative and both unfalsifiable and impossible to prove; but they cohere well.

I take it further and think that the vast majority of humankind are indeed philosophical zombies. Yes, solipsism thus rears its ugly head, but I differ from the usual conception in believing that being such [as in not being conscious] would be demonstratable & testable with the right means.

[Slow_Moving_Vehicle]

@DocCathode

Years ago, I went to see the Fricke Collection. Most of the pieces, while good, didn’t rate as great for me. Then, I saw a statue of Hercules. Even at a foot or so tall, it looked so real and so dynamic that I expected it to break the pose and complain at any minute. I looked it up in the guide. The artist was Michelangelo. I immediately thought ‘well, he has certainly lived up to his reputation.’

I’ve visited the Art Museum here in Philly a few times (I recommend it highly). Again, while good most of the art fails to wow me. But, when I look at Van Gogh in person I am caught up in a timeless rapport with Vincent. I all but swoon.

That said, I largely agree with you. I don’t even know that it’s an unpopular opinion. Van Gogh’s Sunflowers is good- I would say it’s great. But, I can’t see how it’s worth $250 million. I hold, and I know I’m not alone, that some of the pieces in the museum are crap that became popular and people bought into the hype. Murphy Brown did an episode on this. I was stunned when an artist friend informed me that the pile of Sweet N Low packets with a single packet of real sugar at the bottom, the clear shower curtain hung on a museum wall, and With 12 You Get Eggroll ( a printed copy of DaVinci’s Last Supper with the faces painted out and Chinese take out painted over the food) were all real pieces that had sold for over a hundred thousand dollars.

Hard to argue with that. But, Great Art is actually a thing. The first time I visited the Art Institute in Chicago, I went to the Modern Art wing to see the O’Keefes and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, one of my favorite paintings.

I also saw another gem of their collection: American Gothic. Felt like I had to, since it is iconic. But also trite and clichéd, right?

Wrong. I was blown away by the rawness and emotion of that painting. Seeing it in person, I understood why it’s such a keystone of American art. It is a starkly powerful work.

My unpopular and unproveable opinions? Jazz is boring, wine is just sour grape juice, and pineapple is the perfect complement for pepperoni, on a pizza.

[Dr_Paprika]

I’ve seen quite a lot of “famous art” in person. Sometimes it blows you away, and sometimes it is underwhelming. There were many things in the Louvre I preferred to the Mona Lisa. This is partly due to crowds, perhaps. You can’t get too close for too long, at least as a tourist wanting to see most of the museum.

In particular, the best sculptures in person are amazing. You can’t easily capture them with a picture.