What Makes a Masterpiece?

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[Herr_Vorragender]

9:05 where is that graph from?
I would love to traverse through the nodes and explore

[memopinzon]

"Bold and Brash" is a masterpiece.

[Tubbins]

For me, a great work has an Aura, it feels alive, like it has a personality independent of even the artist who made it. It has it's own identity. A masterpiece isn't just a work of art, it's animistic, something that follows you home and stays with you long after you leave it's physical presence.

[catarinabarbosa]

okay but the horse fair is such a technical flex, horses suck to draw

[Bunny-chul]

As a culture, I feel like we need to be far more judicious with superlatives. I feel like terms like "masterpiece" and "icon" aren't labels that should be applied with any immediacy. Wait ten years. If you're still fascinated by something, then you can call it "iconic" or "a masterpiece." Superlatives are diluted if you just toss them around. For a me, a masterpiece should be exciting on some level, and retain that excitement well into the future. That's not something you can immediately judge. I don't see why it's so wrong to say something will undoubtedly be considered iconic in the future, rather than deeming it iconic immediately. Realistically, not every VMA awards is going to have an iconic performance. Not every Art Basel is going to have a masterpiece. That's why superlatives are special. They should be rarely and judiciously applied.

[Itsme_loganlee]

This page is a masterpiece. Thank you for helping a wider audience experience and analyze art!

[superDUPERman]

i genuinely love how you approach art. it's so inclusive and leads the individual to look for themselves at what they want to derive from a piece, not what they are told to.

[nilspochat]

Oh i see you, my procrastinating colleague, scrolling down the comment section. Now get back to work on your art!

[SpottedBullet]

Something you walk past and stop to look because it looks interesting.

[davidschmidt]

This reminded me of Nerdwriter1's video about the definition of a "classic". Add this to the list of amazing videos.

[omarabdelkadereldarir]

6:00 Nice John reference.

Edit: For me, a masterpiece is something that was made with and conveys great feeling, skill or advanced level of thought. And I want to stress the feeling and thought part because I think that wasn't addressed enough by the video.


Wow I got a heart even though I don't know what I'm talking about! :)

[robertakeller]

I would love a video talking about the relationship between art and privilege! this video delicately touched on issues of privilege in determining art's greatness or in making art, but I would love a full video on this (understanding it couldn't encapsulate everything)

[izzardblizzard]

I love bingeing your videos when frantically finishing art projects

[AmorSciendi]

A version of this conversation happens often in English Departments when considering which books to read. I'm typically on the side of "teach living poets" or on the side of the teacher's preference-- Believing that it's the teacher's energy and excitement for a text that will make the communal experience of the work meaningful.


BUT: there is a good argument for certain works being cultural touchstones that I cannot fully ignore. Like there is something nice about being able to make a Harry Potter or Atticus Finch reference and have everyone in the room get the intended meaning. Reading them allows you to enter communal conversations with huge groups of people outside of the classroom. These works bring us together by having something we all know and can all respond to... but yeah. You're right: Who picks those? I like to think that the students ultimately pick them. Teachers will stop reading books if the students stop responding (I hope), and so the (I want to avoid using the word cannon) shifts.


I always advocate for teaching living poets... but I'm not kicking Shakespeare, Twain, Morrison, or Austen off the curriculum either.


I guess there just needs to be a balance.


Thank you for the video, as always.

[cinnamon]

You've really, genuinely opened my mind to a field I've been wary of my whole life, and made it not only interesting, but digestible and accessible! I've always been intimidated and just assumed I'd be snubbed trying to dip my toe into the high art world, but I'm starting to seek it out and appreciate it more. I suspect that was the goal of your channel, and I just wanted you to know you're succeeding

[Annatomova]

I’m so glad you mentioned folklore, music, traditional clothing and culture. All of that is art. One of my favorite things to do is draw people in traditional folk ware of their respective countries.

[mouseluva]

"What do we want the future to know about the present" is going to be my new motivator and judgement criteria for anything creative, I can feel it. It's perfectly described my dissatisfaction with this year's Pritzker prize award: it's excellent architecture, but it's not the epitomy of the best the present has to show the future. Thank you for helping me word a complicated concept Sarah! Every video I watch I think "wow, no wonder John loves and admires her so much"

[michaelrantanen]

When you make something with the most honest intentions is when you begin to start your masterpiece. You can be inspired to make art all your life but there is always a peak and we must acknowledge those once in a life time moments in an artist life.

[jonas]

While there are some exceptional pieces that are recognizes as Masterpieces during their time, I feel like endurance is a prime attribute of most Masterpieces. In the most typical sense that means greek/roman antiquity, renaissance, plus some Gothic and neoclassical pieces in architecture. There is medieval art that is perfectly executed but stylistically unappealing to us (I'm not sure how people in medieval times felt about classical art, but considering they converted most temples into churches, not too highly), and classical sculpture seems to be the one that has prevailed for most of recorded history (well, at least western)

[raffaelee.scrofani]

I LOVE THIS CHANNEL i was searching all over youtube for a video like this not more than 5 hours ago! thank you 😭