The Art of Faith: Religion and Art

Religion and Art: You can't think about religion and not think about your own accepted views about life - your identity, your purpose and your fate. Religion and art always have had a close relationship throughout history simply because society's root beliefs about life in the early days were firmly built around their religious beliefs. So when artists projected their views about life on the canvas, they automatically included representations of their religious views in one way or another.Being liberated from the social norms, artists were much more inclined to find new ways of interpreting these religious beliefs and used their art as a means to do so. Like all of us, they themselves had doubts about the dogma that was being inculcated in their minds. Yet unlike most us as well, they freely expressed these doubts and apprehensions and even made them appealing to the most conservative of minds.

The results are sometimes nothing short of stunning and nothing more than baffling. Upon your first glance at an artwork by Dali, you can't help it but feel a little bit uneasy. This effect is normal, but shouldn't deter you from pursuing more information about the artwork and Dali's thought process when he created it. The uneasiness can be a subtle nudge to ponder more. A well respected psychologist associated religion and art because of the parallel thought processes both encompasses. Simply put, art creates "room" in your mind to consider possibilities of new worlds, sensations and ideas as much as religion does. Dali wasn't known to be a religious man, yet his religious works were celebrated across the world because they engaged people to enter the same thought processes that religion and art share. He made people realize truths, solve mysteries and believe in the unreasonable through his artworks.

There are many other artists like Dali who are being featured this month at Baterbys. The goal of the exhibit and art collecting opportunity is to make this experience more real to the visitors and not just end up as some text in an art book. The influence that religion has exerted on art has allowed scholars not only to understand a culture's core beliefs and values, but also helped them understand the evolving nature of mankind. With over 200 artworks on display, an experience like this can be uplifting and eye-opening. Once you find an artwork that speaks to you in many ways that you simply can't put into words, you know you've entered "thinking mode". While you're in it, ask for more information. Our gallery staff, with their deep knowledge about religious art, will certainly help you.You never know, after all these years of searching for answers, you might just find it in our gallery, framed and ready to hang on your wall.