Summertime Number 9a

My experience at the Tate Modern was quite different than I had expected. I had not realized that there was such a wide array of modern art styles. After having spent many hours in museums with art dating from before the modern era, having the opportunity to spend some time with these unique art forms was refreshing. I must admit that I felt that many of the pieces did not seem as if they required much talent to create, but maybe modern art is more about thought than skill.

The piece that I was most attracted to was Jackson Pollock’s Summertime Number 9a. I felt like this painting really expressed the change that took place in art as the modern era began. Unlike paintings created in earlier centuries, this one has no set structure. While it may have many interpretations, it does not express a concrete idea as previous paintings do. This painting portrays the sense of confusion and loss of meaning in life that people were feeling during this time period. Every person that looks at the painting may take something different away from it, and by the same token a single person may see something different each time he views it. This aspect of the painting helps express the uncertainty that people of this era were feeling. Perhaps Pollock’s painting provided him a means of trying to grasp a fresh way of thinking.