← Hub
Art & Aesthetics
How to look at a painting, how to listen to music
Day 1
How to Look at a Painting
Composition · Light & Color · Brushwork · Ways of Seeing
Day 2
Turning Points in Western Painting
Perspective · Impressionist Light · Cézanne to Cubism · Abstraction
Day 3
The Language of Chinese Painting
Negative Space · Brush & Ink · Dwellable Landscape · Inscriptions & Seals
Day 4
How Music Moves Us
Melody Harmony Rhythm · Tension & Resolution · Why Minor Sounds Sad · Training the Ear
Day 5
A Beginner's Way into Classical Music
Baroque · Bach · Classical · Mozart · Romantic · Beethoven · Hearing a Symphony
Day 6
Jazz & Improvisation
The Blues Scale · Improvisation as Conversation · The Feel of Swing · Listening to Miles Davis
Day 7
The Language of Cinema
Shot & Shot Size · Montage · Mise-en-scène · Reading the Long Take
Day 8
The Director's Eye
Kurosawa's Motion · Ozu's Stillness · Hitchcock's Suspense · Wong Kar-wai's Mood
Day 9
How to Look at Architecture
Space & Circulation · Shaping Light · Material & Structure · Scale & the Body
Day 10
East & West: Worldviews in Architecture
Gothic Upward · The Garden's Winding Path · Modernist Honesty · Japanese Wabi-Sabi
Day 11
The Designer's Eye
Form Follows Function · Grid & Typography · Minimalism & White Space · Ten Principles
Day 12
Seeing Photographically
The Decisive Moment · Light & Composition · Documentary vs Art · The Smartphone Age
Day 13
The Language of Color
Color Psychology · Color Harmony · Color in Culture · The Painter's Palette
Day 14
Sculpture & Space
Mass & Negative Space · From Greece to Rodin · The Expression of Material · Installation Art
Day 15
Modern & Contemporary Art
Duchamp's Provocation · Abstract Expressionism · Pop Art · How to Look at Contemporary Art
Day 16
Theatre & the Stage
Convention · Stanislavski vs Brecht · Peking Opera Forms · Modern Theatre
Day 17
Dance & the Body
Classical Ballet · Modern Dance · The Body as Narrative · Chinese Dance Imagery
Day 18
The Beauty of Folk Craft
The Mingei Movement · The Warmth of the Handmade · Beauty Born of Use · Intangible Heritage
Day 19
Calligraphy as Abstraction
The Life of the Line · The Five Scripts · The Mind's Picture · Japanese Shodō
Day 20
Gardens & the Art of Landscape
Borrowed Scenery · The Dry Landscape · English vs French · Nature & Artifice
Day 21
Documentary & Truth
Cinéma Vérité · Flaherty to Wiseman · Observation vs Intervention · Chinese Independent Doc
Day 22
The Art of Animation
Disney's Arc · World of Miyazaki · Stop-Motion · Animation as Expression
Day 23
The Many Worlds of Music
World Music · Chinese Traditional · Indian Raga · Minimalism
Day 24
Opera & the Musical
Opera as Total Art · Verdi vs Wagner · The Musical's Storytelling · Sitting Through an Opera
Day 25
The Beauty of Type & Letterforms
Character of Typefaces · Chinese Type Design · A History of Western Type · The Breathing of Layout
Day 26
Fashion & Clothing
Clothing as Expression · The Cycle of Fashion · Haute Couture · Minimalism vs Ornamentation
Day 27
Visual Culture & Images
Persuasion of Advertising · The Power of Images · Memes as Visual Language · Visual Literacy
Day 28
The Philosophy of Beauty
Subjective or Objective · The Sublime & the Beautiful · What Counts as Art · Everyday Aesthetics
Day 29
Collecting & Connoisseurship
How to Walk a Museum · Authenticity & Value · Building Your Taste · Looking at Art with Children
Day 30
Starting to Make Art
Doodle, Sketch, Snapshot · Imitation & Originality · The Joy of the Amateur · Aesthetics as Life
Day 31
How to Read a Poem
Image & Compression · Sound, Meter & Line Break · Ambiguity & Openness · Reading East & West · Slow & Aloud
Day 32
How to Read Fiction & Prose
Point of View & Distance · Structure & Rhythm · The Texture of Language · Close Reading · East & West