Have you ever been in a situation or heard someone else complain about not understanding art, thus not wanting to go to a cool art gallery or museum? If you think that appreciating art is something that is given to people and others are just simply doomed, there are some tips and tricks that will help to “train” your taste and understanding.

According to this article released by The Conversation, we only need to keep 3 things in mind to appreciate art and not be afraid of it. That is to look at it, see it, and then think about it. How often do we actually take a proper look at a painting or any other type of artwork? It’s not enough just to glance over it for a few seconds to really understand what we see. How often do we ask ourselves questions such as: how is this artwork made? What kind of technique is used? What does it portray? This information is important to understand what the artist wanted to say with this work.

Looking and seeing are two very different things. While looking is simply describing things that we can literally see there, seeing is a more complex act in a way that requires our mind to ascribe certain meaning to it. This is where it becomes a little bit difficult as very often artworks are full of symbols and images that have a hidden meaning. This “second step” is very closely related to the third one - thinking.

Once you've looked at a certain artwork, seen and found all of the significant details, it’s time to put all of the gathered information together and look for possible meanings and conclusions. The most beautiful and perhaps scary thing about art is that there are no right or wrong answers. Everyone can take what they need or want from an artwork. It might inspire them, give them some kind of answer or even closure, or it might confuse them to the point where they feel stimulated to keep digging deeper.