a painting that represents the wealthy lifestyle of a person.

Many works of modern art in other cultures and periods celebrated wealth and power. They used paintings of Gods, Princes, and Dynasties to illustrate the wealth and were being worshipped. Those paintings were symbolic to them, they sometimes do rituals to the paintings which they believe it was their source of strength. It pertains to what Berger discussed about oil painting because Berger stated, ” the most valuable object of all has become the oil painting” which I believe, modern art has the same way of showing how valuable paintings are. They value paintings not just as a drawing, instead, they value paintings because it appeared from history and we cannot disagree that it has the characteristics and the quality. I think the way they differ is that oil painting stays the original story or the structure of art, unlike modern art, because of today’s era, there is a lot going on to the use of technology that has the power to influence, change information, and adding up the argument that does not come from the real story of the painting.

In the psyche of humanity from the beginning there is a passion for wealth. People are interested in making more money, building  beautiful houses, buying expensive cars and so on. So they want to provide a beautiful and secure life. At times people want to show everyone around what they have, what they have achieved and for this they take pictures of everything they possess and publish it in social networks. In the third episode of Ways of Seeing Berger talked about oil paintings and things that display not only people but also their conditions, jewelry, furniture and luxury outfits. He said those years in this way people wanted to show other people how rich they were.

Today we are in different time however people are still the same. Each time when I leaf through my instagram account I see lots of people’s pictures eating breakfast in famous places, driving luxury cars, wearing diamond jewelry and etc. I recently came across a photo of American rapper Cardi B where she posted pictures of her luxury cars and later I saw a TV show where Cardi B said that she did not know how to drive and the cars which she had posted she had bought to take a picture with them and post on social media. I am just wondering why such photographs are needed at all. I think that people expose these photographs in order to show off what they have or just because of arrogance and superciliousness. Instead of that it would be better if they posted their charity work, helping the disabled or reposting more useful information. We have to understand the simple things. Wealth is not in money; wealth is in the soul. 

This is a painting by Della Rocca called “A Wealth of Treasure” . In this image we can see a woman that is painted naked, surrounded by a lot of jewelry, money and clothes, along with gold bracelets on her wrist and ankle. As we observe this picture, what catches our attention is precisely the wealth that it illustrates, and how comfortable the woman is depicted in the middle of all the affluence. By looking at it, we can assume that she lived a life of luxury and richness. Instantly, we certify that she was an important person that could get whatever she wanted by just snapping her fingers and chiefly, that is what this painting is trying to convey.

In the same way, the oil paintings that Berger discusses, were mainly used to show the people’s wealth and their power. As he states “these paintings were records of the confidence of those to whom ownership brought confidence” meaning that those portraits had the purpose to show rich people’s worthiness and everything that they could own. On the other hand, the European oil painting’s principal subject was merchandise (food) which served as a demonstration of what gold and money could buy. In contrast, this painting by Rocca, uses luxuries to represent wealth. In different ways, both are conveying the same.

Berger reflects on how pictures depict someone’s wealth in the second episode of “The Way of Being.” We find this phenomenon in our day to day life through social media. We see how people show off their possessions through images and post it on social media. Its not only celebrities but also ordinary people who cannot resist themselves from showing off things they own.

The image above is from Berger’s The Way of Seeing. This picture is not only about two men who are standing, but it also illustrates the possessions in their surroundings. The man in the left is wearing an expensive fur jacket and holding a sword. The carpet they are standing on also depicts wealth. The image itself shows the power of wealth.

 This is a picture of a contemporary Celebrity who is showing off his jewelry to depict his wealth. Gold and Diamonds have always been considered the possessions of wealthy people.

 Cars are another way that wealthy people show their wealth. From this photo, we conclude that the woman must be very wealthy because of all the expensive cars in her surroundings.

People show their wealth through images. They do not take photos of themselves, instead they take photos of their possessions in order to show them to others. This is what Berger explains in his video.

Recently, Chinese people have released a new trend called the “flaunt you wealth” challenge, and a huge number of people participated. In this challenge, people pretended to be fallen out of luxury cars on the sidewalk, dressed in classy clothes, and the ground filled with their valuable possessions of money, bags, shoes, electronics and other precious stuffs. Well, I think taking such a picture and posting it on social media is silly and funny as well because it has no meaning and no use. What would you benefit from showing your possessions to people? Nothing. Sometimes these behaviors and bragging lead to consequences. I am strongly against flaunting of wealth because sometimes these actions hurt people’s feelings, and it is a cause of depression and a feeling of inferior. So, we should be proud of our morals, not money because money doesn’t last. In episode 3 “ways of seeing”, Berger discussed some historical oil paintings which also show wealth. They are analogous in demonstrating wealth by showing valuables, but there is a difference in attitudes. Maybe in the oil painting there is a kind of exaggerated boast. The way they look at the spectator. Also, in the modern image there is a kind of exaggerated artificiality which is not existed in the oil painting. It is pretty clear that you want to show how rich you are.

John Berger said that oil panting are a way to show people’s wealth. He also said that people who make portaits of themselfs usually have possession that belong to them around the panting. Adding these possessions show the wealth and power that these people have. The portrait of Georg Giese is an example. Objects are everywhere in this portrait. The glass vase, the ornament in the back but most importantly the clothes he’s wearing. The clothes look very expensive not something someone who isn’t rich would wear. This painting is similar to the oil painting Berger discussed in the video because you can clearly see how rich this man was and by his face expression he doesnt look like the type of person you want to mess with. Sometimes its not always about having objects to show people how rich they were. But to show they once existed and had all this money. In the video Berger said that rich people would have generations of portraits to celebrate their life of continuous wealth and power. Those who weren’t rich had nothing.

Name: Mina Sunuwar                                                                  10/05/2019

Course: ENG101

Response paper             “Ways of Seeing”

          In this passage a contemporary image that  first painting,Rembrandt used the style and methods of the tradition for traditional purpose as add good fortune, prestige and wealth. The culture of European oil painting in the same spirit and take place popularity.Berger claims that oil painting was before everything else a medium which celebrated private possession. The  tradition of oil painting has now changed and all, some take place popularities.

OBEY <3

One of my favorite kinds of art is Street art. Im not a big fan of defacing a nice new building but when it expresses corporate greed or awareness ,its pretty cool. In street art, individuals want to inform the public of who the wealthy really are and what kind of power they posses. The streets have become a canvas for self expression and often inspired by the ugly truth of the rich and powerful. Today, wealthy people are depicted as greedy, ugly , spoiled and selfish which is quite the opposite of Berger’s 3rd episode of Ways of Seeing. In the episode, the main focus was how wealthy people glorified themselves and how their oil paintings expressed confidence and power. Wealth to them was defined by their luxurious life style, big properties , expensive belongings and the abundance of food. The majority of people today, depict the meaning of wealth by their freedom, integrity, importance of family and health and street art is a great platform to express that real and humble reality. Unlike the episode, some street art is used to expose those in power and show what damage they have done outside of their glorified images. It doesn’t glorify their wealth but brings to light the global issues that are neglected and the impact these greedy individuals have on the rest of the world.