Art is a language, like any other means of communication. If you haven't learned the meanings of form and color, texture, surface and the history of the times and the artists that produced the work, looking at art might feel a little like walking into a room where everyone si speaking a language you don't know.
I might not be art-included so much, but i know that many paintings don't have hidden meanings that the artist purposely put into them. Very few landscapes or still lifes may have them. But not all. In my opinion, hidden messages are most frequently found in paintings of people and often are symbols of religious or social meanings. Although, sometimes, they reference the artist himself/herself or some secret fact about the patron who commissioned the artwork.
From what i have garnered so far, i know that art was understood to be a symbolic language.
Certain flowers meant particular things - chastity. virtue, true love, courage, and the like. Headcoverings and clothing are the same, too.
Accouterments such as swords, daggers, or a bow and arrow had meaning. The setting mattered, as did the time of day. A background village, a pennant from a tower, or a coat of arms on a shield might be an acknowledgment of allegiance. Animals - snakes, lion, deer, eagle, all represented human qualities of some kind.
Therefore, the presence of these objects in a work of art could imply a simple quality or combine to make a complex story.
However, not every work of art held secrets. Some were simple and straightforward. And when artists began "doing their own thing" and "expressing themselves," the formal practice of using specific symbols began to fade away slowly.
There are still artists who employ symbology in their art today, however. But they are few. Some do it knowingly, and many are in the business of religious and spiritual art. But there are others, who know (or unknowingly) use open hands to represent peace, spirals to indicate infinity,flowers for everlasting life (because they reappear), bowed heads for gratitude and much more.
Purely figurative/descriptive art has no hidden meaning Semi-abstract or abstract work can have.
Sometimes, the meaning can be revealed by the artist, and sometimes it can be guessed by the viewer. The two meanings do not always align because 'hidden meaning' like beauty is often in the eye of the beholder.
Not all art has meaning in the traditional sense. Some art does not directly mean anything about anyone or anything or anyplace. Cause, if we have to be honest with ourselves, we would agree that sometimes doves don't mean peace, and naked ladies are just naked ladies.
Art doesn't have to have to have a message at all. Take poetry as an instance. It uses words, mainly spoken words, but if you read or listen to good poetry only based on the literal definitions of each word, then you miss interlacing of concepts and voice sounds which will dawn on you as the message of the poem. However, if someone asked you to explain all the messages in the poem succinctly, you may find that you'd need to recite the poem again to get it.
In the visual arts images, color, form, space, textures, even movement, etc. can be combined in a subtle or dramatic manner to stimulate the viewer's mind.
This stimulation, as the mind wanders through these aspects, is the message!! And some minds find this emotionally and intellectually satisfying.
When we listen to music without words, do you ask or say, in words, what the music's message is? No, we don't! We let music wash over us and wander in and out of feelings, ideas, memories, and associations, and that's how we enjoy it.
Art should be no different.
I hope you found this interesting. Thank you for reading.
