A work of art is one of the most intriguing factors that disturb human beings. Our eyes see, and our mind develops a perception of different things in the immediate environment. A work of art prompts interpretation based on what can be seen and the background history of a painting or a sculpture presented by an artist. The human race gains the satisfaction of art through interpretation. Besides, an extended term of success of a work of art depends on its ability to be interpreted and the level of knowledge needed for one to understand the work. A work of art that is easy to interpret human experience provides an elevated level of complexity that calls for examination and reexamination. Such kind of work includes David Alfaro Siqueiros’s The Echo of a Scream. As I first came across this painting, my perception was about helpless children suffering in agony on the battlefield (Gromova, 2018) . However, using experience and art education, I was able to develop a clear picture of what the artist intended to communicate.
Echo of a Scream is Siqueiros’s classical painting created in 1937. The artist grew up in Mexico during the Spanish civil war, where he was recruited at the age of eighteen. The painting represents the pain of human loss and the aftermath of war. The artist was critical in his creation to provide a metaphorical and captivating picture that expresses the realism of the famous Spanish civil war. When I look at the painting, the first impression I get is of two helpless babies where one has an enlarged head, with a mouth large enough for another baby to emerge from it. What I see on the surface is the debris of war representing a just ended conflict, which has left the human race at a critical condition of helplessness (Wuestling, 2013) . The painting has an extreme texture sufficient to exert emotions.
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In working to understand Siqueiros’s Echo of a Scream, education has played a major role in the comprehension and interpretation of facts presented in the painting. Individual responses are made up of complex features that can rarely be analyzed or tracked down. They can only be understood when we talk about them. Further education and experience in art have improved my ability to observe critically and develop an essential interpretation of this painting (Martin & Jacobus, 2014) . Besides, through close analysis, it is evident that the artist was eager to create art as well as to use his art knowledge to pass a bold political message and expose atrocities caused by the Spanish civil war. I have learned to appreciate such kind of work whose message lies on the surface of a viewer’s eyes. Still, works that are not beautiful, such as the Echo of a Scream, may provide significant elements of human history that need to be expanded knowledge to interpret. Through advanced education, I was able to observe critically beyond the children's emotional faces in the painting (Martin & Jacobus, 2014) . Besides, I developed skills in interpreting beyond what the eyes could see, established different perspectives of the picture based on the artist’s historical background and analyzed and the artist’s message to humanity.
As I explored Siqueiros’s Echo of a Scream, my values were significantly identified. For instance, imagination provoked by the creativity employed in this painting was elevated by the presentation of characters, the background, and the choice of color the artist used (Martin & Jacobus, 2014) . It is undeniable that the artist evoked viewers’ imaginations through explicitly capturing the essential elements of his message on the background of the painting.
References
Gromova, S. L. (2018, January). Criteria of Philosophical Interpretation of Works of Art. In Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy (Vol. 1, pp. 115-119).
Martin, F. D., & Jacobus, L. (2014). Humanities through the Arts . McGraw-Hill Education.
Wuestling, J. R. (2013). Reevaluating" Peripheral Sources": The Impact of David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco on Jackson Pollock (thesis).
