Teaching Through Art

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
Aristotle

I’ve always fascinated with art, everything that is related to art; paintings, literature, sculptures, songs, plays, symphonies, dance … And I’ve always tried to reflect that on the people around me.
Through art we can discover ourselves, as well as analyze and get to know more about other people.
Keeping all these in mind, I wanted to test my students and allow them to take their first footsteps in art and analyzing art. I wanted my students to express their inner thoughts, emotions and opinion all at the same time. And at our paragraph writing session I showed them Aivazovsky’s “The Ninth Wave” and I asked them to look at the painting and write whatever they see or feel.

And this is what they came out with:
Ruba Ani: “Look at the hidden sun standing behind the clouds, and saying: “Good bye, see you after the moon.” While the waves wave the water as hands reply to the ‘good bye’ of the sun.” “When I look at this sad and melancholic painting I feel I am inside it. I wish I was so rich, I could have bought it.”

Hanan Aref: “I felt comfortable when I saw this painting, it's like a very beautiful dream. Do you know that dreams can be real? Once I dreamt about a sea colored in pink and orange and I was in the sky with my smart ship that used to answer all my questions, and solve all my problems… This painting is a dream like my dream. I wish every dream comes true.”

Hiba Soubra: “ The sunset reflects beautiful light in the painting, it isn’t only beautiful but it’s amazing .The people on the raft are joyful. When I looked at this painting I felt joy. The orange color of the sun is the perfect color in the painting. It gave color to the clouds and waves. I think the painter is proud of himself in this painting.”

Reina Agha: “When I first saw this painting I thought it was a photograph, but when my teacher told me that it was a painting I got shocked and I immediately realized that the painter who drew this painting was a famous artist and that the painting now costs a fortune.”

Salma Ahmed: “The scene of the sunset is the most exciting scene in the whole painting. As if the sun is fare welling us and is sending fire to the waves.”

And as I’ve told my students ‘art is all about what you see and feel’, even though the painting depicts a sea after a stormy night, where people are facing death and attempting to save themselves by clinging to debris from a wrecked ship. Even though the painter has used warm tones of color in which the sea appears to be not so menacing and giving a chance for the people to survive, but still some of my students saw peace and victory in it.

P.S: This famous painting is displayed in a museum in Russia. And it is called as “The most beautiful painting”.