i think about this story all the time

Before you read this, look at the painting and see if you can tell what it is.


When I was in Spain I took a course on Spanish artists, in which we studied Goya, Dali, Kahlo, and of course, Picasso, among others. One of the things that really stuck with me the story that our professor told us about the Picasso painting on the left, "El Guitarrista". It is was painted during Picasso's cubism period, which is the style that he was most famous for. In it, there is a man sitting on a chair with crossed legs, playing a guitar. Our professor, without explaining the painting, asked us to look at it and point out any details that we could decipher. Some of us could see a head or a foot--most of us couldn't see a thing.

Here's the cool part--apparently a study was done on children ages five through thirteen. Each child was asked to look at the painting for a set amount of time, and then explain to the researcher what he or she thought the image portrayed. After interviewing 100+ kids, they found that in the group of thirteen-year-olds, around 30% could tell that it was a picture of a man playing a guitar. However, as the groups decreased in age, more kids could accurately pinpoint the image. When they finally interviewed the group of five-year-olds, they were shocked to discover that 100% of the children could not only tell what the subject was, they could also point out details as minute as fingers and details in clothing.

Our professor theorized that when we are children, we have a much broader view of the world. Our perception has not been hindered by knowledge, and we are able to accept the unconventional without question because we have not yet been told that it is wrong. However, as they age they are shown how things are supposed to be, and lose their "other pairs of eyes" (that's what he said in spanish and I honestly can't think of a better way to say it in english). Think about it, how many times have you seen a kid present an adult with a pageful of squiggly lines and explain that it is a giraffe, only to have to adult draw their own more "accurate" version and provide it as an educational example (this clearly does not apply to me--I could never in a million years draw a giraffe). I don't think I'll ever forget that lecture--I've can't remember being that fascinated about anything before or since.