In Episode 3 of “Ways of Seeing,” Berger describes how the accumulation of wealth during the Renaissance in Italy together with the rise of oil painting allowed people to hire painters to paint pictures of themselves and the things they owned. Oil painting, with its focus on objects and special ability to show the qualities of objects, became a way for those with money to showcase their wealth and power. Nowadays, instead of using oil paintings, many people show their wealth through social media, posting pictures of themselves wearing expensive clothes, eating at fancy restaurants, and traveling to exotic places.
However, one difference between now and the age of oil painting is that nowadays, some people post images on social media that make themselves look rich and glamorous, even if they are not in reality. The below photo appears to show two glamorous women with money, flying on an exclusive private plane:
A viewer of this Instagram post might be envious of the glamorous lifestyle shown in the photo and of the wealth required to live this lifestyle. However, sometimes the illusion overshadows the reality. The above photo was not actually taken in a private plane, but instead in a replica created inside a store to allow people to take Instagram photos to “fake” their lavish lifestyles. The actual set, shown below, is much less glamorous:
What is different between now and the oil paintings that Berger discusses, is that even though both oil paintings and social media posts are used to show wealth, nowadays for some the illusion of wealth is more important than the reality. Their goal may be to receive attention and likes and followers, which may help them to make money from social media. Although this private plane replica was created in part with a humorous aspect, it highlights how some people try to create fake images of wealth and how social media encourages this, whereas in the age of oil paintings, only the truly rich could afford to have them painted.
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