Everyone’s a Critic

September 1, 2025

Everyone’s a critic, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The moment a piece of art enters the world, it begins to take on new life through the eyes of others. Whether you’re an artist who spends hours alone in the studio, a seasoned collector with a trained eye, or simply someone passing by a painting on the wall of a café, you’re engaging in the same age-old dance: looking, interpreting, feeling, reacting. Art invites that. It asks for your opinion, whether or not you’re sure you have one. And the truth is, you do.

What you see in a piece of art is never just about the object itself, it’s also about you. Your past experiences, your education, your culture, your mood that day, the colors you’re drawn to, the emotions you’re avoiding or chasing, all of it colors the way you interpret a work. Someone else might stand in front of the very same piece and feel nothing while you’re overwhelmed, or vice versa. And that’s part of the beauty. The subjectivity of art isn’t a flaw, it’s the feature.

Still, how deeply we connect with art often depends on how much we’re willing to bring to it. The more you know, the more nuanced your experience becomes. Knowing about an artist’s life, their process, the history behind their visual language, it opens doors. You start to see layers you missed at first glance. But that doesn’t mean only the well-informed can “get” art. Sometimes the most profound insights come from someone who knows nothing, but feels everything. There’s no one right way to look at a painting, no single truth behind a sculpture or a drawing. Art isn’t a code to be cracked; it’s a mirror, and each of us reflects something different.

So yes, everyone’s a critic. Everyone has something to say, even if they say it with a furrowed brow, a spark in the eye, a quiet stare. What matters is not whether your opinion is right or wrong, but that it’s yours. That you showed up and looked, thought, felt. That you were willing to engage. And maybe, just maybe, to learn something, not just about the art, but about yourself.