I’m taking a class at the moment the is a combination of grammar review, plus an introduction to words and expressions that come in handy when discussing works of art. Now, the basic word for art in German is Kunst. There’s a tricky little pair of adjectives we reviewed today that sound a lot alike, but which have radically different meanings. I’m sure non-native speakers (like me) will invariably get these mixed up:

• künstlerisch = “artistic”
• künstlich = “artificial, superficial, contrived”

Another fun expression we learned was:

• Das ist keine Kunst!  = “That is not art!”

However, that isn’t the way you comment on the künstlerisch merits of an artwork. Instead, it’s an idiom you can use to say that something is easy, “like taking candy from a baby.”

Anyway, the class meets just 4 times, and while it isn’t an art history class, we’re learning a little bit about random German artists. I’d never heard of this work before, but it’s a painting every kid learns in elementary school here in Germany, apparently. Painted in 1839, it’s called Der Arme Poet, “The Poor Poet”:

Der Arme Poet by Carl Spitzweg (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

It’s iconic in Germany in the same way that the American Gothic by Grant Wood is in the U.S. — the general idea of it is used in everything from political cartoons to advertising.  Do a search on the internet for images with the search “arme poet” and you’ll see what I mean – in fact, to find a photo of the painting to use in this post, I first found several modern humorous variations before I found the original.

Anyway, kind of a fun little class – a little art, a little grammar, and a little bit of new vocabulary all rolled into on. Not easy, but at least it’s not (really) art. 😉