Has a work of art ever changed your mind about anything important?

No. A catchy tune can be cute but typically not very informative.

This gave me a whole new perspective of the events surrounding it. It didn’t really change my views, but I lightened up a bit thinking about the whimsical, artistic mind that came up with it.

Many books shaped my views when I was younger. I have also changed some deeply held views over the years but I think it took relationships to do that. A commentary or a piece of art presented by someone I already admired or respected might influence me, but only after the relationship with the presenter had established trust.
Hope this isn’t to cryptic.

Oh, Books! Yeah, many books have influenced me on many subjects, both fiction and nonfiction.

Last month I read the whole Old Testament for the first time ever. It gave me a better understanding of Western Culture, our history and the decisions people made in the past two thousand years. This month, since I’m on the Island where Napoleon was last exiled by the British after Waterloo, I’m reading his Memoirs. Extraordinary life, and amazing childhood. I’m checking other sources on the net as I go along. He was very well read and repeatedly refers to Niccolo Machiavelli’s works, especially The Art of War (Not to be confused with Sun Tzu’s treatise by the same name).

So, of course, I’m reading Machiavelli at the same time, which naturally made me curious about Prussian General Carl von Clausewitz’ (a contemporary who had opposed Napoleon on the battlefield a few times) book, On War. I usually don’t read military theory, but I find it easier to get into Napoleon’s head by doing so. I also downloaded a copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War because I think it should give me a good example of the differences of western and eastern thinking on the same subject… and so I’m reading Napoleon and picking at the rest simultaneously. It’s raining a lot here.

But it has had quite an effect on me, especially after the Old Testament. I’m not sure what that effect is yet, however, but all experiences change us if only a little bit. As the books mellow into my memory and have time to cook, I’ll moderate, I always do. But right now, Brrrrrrrrrrrr. Weird. I’ll be OK in a couple of weeks, I think.

@Espiritus_Corvus,
I saw an amazing documentary on Machiavelli The Prince That was amazing. It had many powerful people commenting in it like henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton. The link os to part 1. I found it fascinating.

@Judi Thank you for the link!. I appreciate that. It will be extremely interesting to see what these guys think of Old Nic.

There was also a good one on BBC a few years ago. Funny they were released so closely, and a few years before the big anniversary.

This movie made me rethink about my life. I realized that I tended to blame people for bad things they did while I myself did exactly the same things, subconsciously. I have tried to change myself since.

I was walking through the Tivoli gardens near the Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen and suddenly came upon this. I was about 30. For the first time in my life I realized how overwhelmed my mother must have been at times with me and my six siblings. I gave her a call back in Florida that afternoon and told her I loved her.

Thanks, all. I appreciate your examples. I expected that film would be the art form that is most likely to change minds. @Mimishu1995 I’ll have to check out that movie. Nonfiction books like The Prince weren’t quite what I had in mind by “art”, but I admit that if we use the term in a broad sense, they would have to be included.

I read The Swerve, and from that book
got a new sense about the Renaissance, which affected how I viewed art from that period. Other works of art show me new concepts I hadn’t considered. And, of course poetry is a constant source of solace and insight.

Hi,thanks for sharing this.Sometimes, you try to change your mind by making yourself even more convinced of something you already believe at least a little. For example, most college students would be in favor of a proposal to decrease tuition at their school. In this case, people are more convinced if they generate arguments to convince someone else than if they generate arguments to convince themselves. If you are truly trying to change your mind, you need to argue with yourself rather than with someone else.

Nah.