6 ms·

Wait, as opposed to famous.. for not being famous?

by deely3 3y ago

edmundsauto 3y ago
As opposed to being famous because it is a revolution in style or the material is historic or because it’s inherently interesting or moving.
- SamFold 3y ago
  How can you possibly argue the Mona Lisa isn’t inherently interesting or moving? It wouldn’t be the most famous painting in the world if it wasn’t interesting or moving. And no, it’s not because it was stolen. Most people don’t even know it was stolen. I loved the painting and it moved me from the moment I saw it as a child.
  - iopq 3y ago
    > It wouldn’t be the most famous painting in the world if it wasn’t interesting or moving. The most popular book in the world is the Bible and I never found it very interesting
    - crtified 3y ago
      The overall human majority probably falls upon the side of (people who don't find the Christian Bible very interesting), as opposed to those who worship it. After all, Wikipedia tells us there are only about 2.4 billion total Christians on the planet. Therefore, you fall in line with the dominant human viewpoint, the popular opinion. I don't know what my point is, apart from a friendly irony that in eschewing (the) popularity (of the Bible), you're actually doing the popular thing.
      - iopq 3y ago
        I bet you the majority of the population doesn't think Mona Lisa is anything amazing and is just a famous painting. They just don't come out of the woodwork to tell you that
  - edmundsauto 3y ago
    I do find it interesting that it is so famous, but I think it’s probably due more to a confluence of coincidental events than anything inherent to the painting. Rerun the universe simulator 1M times (adding a hard requirement that this paining gets painted every time) and I’d bet this level of popularity is an outlier. I just don’t think popularity means much outside of a lot of people knowing about it in some vaguely positive light. Sometimes things are popular because they are incredible (the Beatles), sometimes they are popular just because of randomness or situational context (most pre-20th century American literature)
ketralnis 3y ago
It was fairly unknown outside of art buff circles until it was stolen in 1911 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#Refuge,_theft,_and_vandalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#Refuge,_theft,_and_v... It's not a mysteriously unknown technique, or of particular historical importance, or the only painting by da Vinci. It become famous mostly because of the theft incident and once you're famous the famousness tends to feed itself because people do things like X-ray it which adds to the mystique. It was owned by some famous people including Napoleon and it's spent a lot of time in art museums being shown to the public, but there's no secret message on the back or alien decoder ring or demascus steel/roman concrete "how'd he do it?!" mystery.
- adasdasdas 3y ago
  A lot of paintings get stolen though, what makes this case special
  - ketralnis 3y ago
    Shrug, good question. I guess that's what it means to be famous for being famous.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - tasty_freeze 3y ago
    Back in the 70s, the Pet Rock became all the rage. Considering all the novelty gag gifts that come and go, why did that one catch fire? Some memes catch on while most don't for inscrutable reasons. Most likely there was some notable cultural reference to it and its nudge into cultural relevance further fed to more gains.
- SamFold 3y ago
  If it didn’t have some other appeal the theft would never have led to the worldwide appeal of the painting. The theft may have kickstarted the recognition but this painting has something special about it, the woman, her expression, there’s a mystery about it. I loved the painting before I ever knew it was stolen. I think it’s fair to say there is something about this painting that isn’t in many other works or most other works, and it’s a human and psychological quality more than some special painting technique.
tiltowait 3y ago
As opposed to being famous based on merit. The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world despite not being all that remarkable, at least by pure aesthetics.
- SamFold 3y ago
  It wouldn’t be as famous as it is if it didn’t have something remarkable about it. Art is about creating emotion in people and whether you think it has good “aesthetics” or not, the Mona Lisa captures people’s imaginations almost more than any other painting in the world. For me there is a mystery and secret in the Mona Lisa which doesn’t exist in other paintings that might show great “skill” and in the end, art is about emotional impact, not what some critic thinks is “skillful”
  - Cannabat 3y ago
    Sometimes “remarkable” means a meme randomly caught on, or a good marketing team. There are plenty of famous things that are poor imitations of relative unknowns.
  - bobim 3y ago
    There is something uncanny in this painting, my take is that it’s not a woman that was painted.
- GuB-42 3y ago
  It is probably a combination of many things. It is made by one of the famous and influential person in history. It is aesthetically pleasing, a bit mysterious yet accessible. The technique is interesting. And with the 1911 theft, it comes with an exciting story. Taken individually, none of these qualities are that remarkable, but it is the combination, and a bit of chance.
  - lazide 3y ago
    It probably got picked up and used as an example of ‘famous stolen art’ in a movie too, which skyrocketed it.

Wait, as opposed to famous.. for not being famous?

by deely3 3y ago

Wait, as opposed to famous.. for not being famous?

As opposed to being famous because it is a revolution in style or the material is historic or because it’s inherently interesting or moving.

SamFold 3y ago
How can you possibly argue the Mona Lisa isn’t inherently interesting or moving? It wouldn’t be the most famous painting in the world if it wasn’t interesting or moving. And no, it’s not because it was stolen. Most people don’t even know it was stolen. I loved the painting and it moved me from the moment I saw it as a child.
- iopq 3y ago
  > It wouldn’t be the most famous painting in the world if it wasn’t interesting or moving. The most popular book in the world is the Bible and I never found it very interesting
  - crtified 3y ago
    The overall human majority probably falls upon the side of (people who don't find the Christian Bible very interesting), as opposed to those who worship it. After all, Wikipedia tells us there are only about 2.4 billion total Christians on the planet. Therefore, you fall in line with the dominant human viewpoint, the popular opinion. I don't know what my point is, apart from a friendly irony that in eschewing (the) popularity (of the Bible), you're actually doing the popular thing.
    - iopq 3y ago
      I bet you the majority of the population doesn't think Mona Lisa is anything amazing and is just a famous painting. They just don't come out of the woodwork to tell you that
- edmundsauto 3y ago
  I do find it interesting that it is so famous, but I think it’s probably due more to a confluence of coincidental events than anything inherent to the painting. Rerun the universe simulator 1M times (adding a hard requirement that this paining gets painted every time) and I’d bet this level of popularity is an outlier. I just don’t think popularity means much outside of a lot of people knowing about it in some vaguely positive light. Sometimes things are popular because they are incredible (the Beatles), sometimes they are popular just because of randomness or situational context (most pre-20th century American literature)

ketralnis 3y ago

It was fairly unknown outside of art buff circles until it was stolen in 1911 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#Refuge,_theft,_and_vandalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa#Refuge,_theft,_and_v... It's not a mysteriously unknown technique, or of particular historical importance, or the only painting by da Vinci. It become famous mostly because of the theft incident and once you're famous the famousness tends to feed itself because people do things like X-ray it which adds to the mystique. It was owned by some famous people including Napoleon and it's spent a lot of time in art museums being shown to the public, but there's no secret message on the back or alien decoder ring or demascus steel/roman concrete "how'd he do it?!" mystery.

adasdasdas 3y ago
A lot of paintings get stolen though, what makes this case special
- ketralnis 3y ago
  Shrug, good question. I guess that's what it means to be famous for being famous.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- tasty_freeze 3y ago
  Back in the 70s, the Pet Rock became all the rage. Considering all the novelty gag gifts that come and go, why did that one catch fire? Some memes catch on while most don't for inscrutable reasons. Most likely there was some notable cultural reference to it and its nudge into cultural relevance further fed to more gains.
SamFold 3y ago
If it didn’t have some other appeal the theft would never have led to the worldwide appeal of the painting. The theft may have kickstarted the recognition but this painting has something special about it, the woman, her expression, there’s a mystery about it. I loved the painting before I ever knew it was stolen. I think it’s fair to say there is something about this painting that isn’t in many other works or most other works, and it’s a human and psychological quality more than some special painting technique.

tiltowait 3y ago

As opposed to being famous based on merit. The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world despite not being all that remarkable, at least by pure aesthetics.

SamFold 3y ago
It wouldn’t be as famous as it is if it didn’t have something remarkable about it. Art is about creating emotion in people and whether you think it has good “aesthetics” or not, the Mona Lisa captures people’s imaginations almost more than any other painting in the world. For me there is a mystery and secret in the Mona Lisa which doesn’t exist in other paintings that might show great “skill” and in the end, art is about emotional impact, not what some critic thinks is “skillful”
- Cannabat 3y ago
  Sometimes “remarkable” means a meme randomly caught on, or a good marketing team. There are plenty of famous things that are poor imitations of relative unknowns.
- bobim 3y ago
  There is something uncanny in this painting, my take is that it’s not a woman that was painted.
GuB-42 3y ago
It is probably a combination of many things. It is made by one of the famous and influential person in history. It is aesthetically pleasing, a bit mysterious yet accessible. The technique is interesting. And with the 1911 theft, it comes with an exciting story. Taken individually, none of these qualities are that remarkable, but it is the combination, and a bit of chance.
- lazide 3y ago
  It probably got picked up and used as an example of ‘famous stolen art’ in a movie too, which skyrocketed it.