A Deep Dive: The Importance of Humanities in the Contemporary World

This essay examines the importance of humanities through the analysis of cultural artifacts like Frida Kahlo's "Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" and Vivaldi's "La Primavera." It explores how these works convey themes of human emotions, happiness, and suffering, impacting audiences by allowing them to connect with universal experiences. The essay further discusses the personal significance of these themes and the broad benefits of studying humanities, including enhanced creativity, improved social skills, and a deeper understanding of various subjects. It also highlights the importance of humanities for society, emphasizing its role in understanding technological advancements and societal evolution. Finally, it addresses the strategies artists use to engage audiences, ensuring that the works resonate with viewers by depicting relatable emotional experiences.

Running head: IMPORTANCE OF HUMANITIES
Importance of Humanities
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1IMPORTANCE OF HUMANITIES
Table of Contents
Question -1.................................................................................................................................2
Question - 2................................................................................................................................2
Question - 3................................................................................................................................3
Question - 4................................................................................................................................3
Question – 5...............................................................................................................................4
Question – 6...............................................................................................................................4
Reference List............................................................................................................................6

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Question -1
The cultural theme of the artefact, which is a painting named Self Portrait with Thorn
Necklace and Hummingbird. The painting seems to have a lot of effect on the audience as it
seems to portray the themes of the character in the painting suffering from a lot of sorrow,
suffering and discomfort in the picture. The other interpretation that can be made from the
painting is the theme of spring which seems to be signified by the musical piece La
Primavera by Vivaldi.
The audience should care about the themes presents in the paintings itself because the
paintings talks about the themes of sadness and suffering which are a natural part of the
human life (Eve, 2014). The paintings have presented the themes of the feelings of the human
sufferings to the audiences so that they would be better able to relate to the paintings
themselves. Similarly, the themes of happiness have also been presented by both the
paintings in the form of hummingbird in the painting by Freida Kahlo and in the form of
spring in the painting La Primavera by Vivaldi.
Question - 2
There are reasons to consider that the evidence presented from both the facts and the
subjective as well as the objective considerations to conclude about the themes of the cultural
artefacts on the audience. This is evidenced from the paintings of both Freida Kahlo as well
as the depiction of spring by Vivaldi. As stated by Belfiore (2015), this is evidenced by the
painting of Freida Kahlo, which shows the image of both thorn as well as hummingbird. The
painting therefore explains the themes of suffering and happiness for both the pictures. In the
first painting, the character is seen with thorn which signifies sufferings and sadness while at
the same time, the theme of the hummingbird, which expresses happiness.

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Both the images are difficult to connect with the exception of the underlying theme of
emotion. Both Freida Kahlo as well as Vivaldi has portrayed the human emotions through
these pictures which links these pictures with each other. Therefore, it is these cultural
artefacts tells the audiences about the emotions of the humans as well as the theme of the
happiness and the sorrows and the sufferings that the human beings have to endure in their
lives. Hence, it is apt that the artefacts have impacts on the audiences itself.
Question - 3
When analysing about the personal importance of the themes and the artefacts in the
given contexts itself, it can be said that both the artefacts have had personal importance in
them. This personal importance being the emotion that is presented in each of the artefacts
itself. If the first picture is considered, then it will be found that the image has the character
sitting with the thorn necklace and the hummingbirds with her (Small, 2013). The picture has
expressed the themes of both the happiness and the sadness that resides in the human heart.
Similarly, in Vivaldi’s painting, the painter has expressed the theme of happiness through the
depiction of spring. Thus, both the pictures have talked about the emotions that are felt by
every human beings in their lives.
As stated by Eve (2014), the pictures talk about the ways in which the human beings
experience the feelings of both happiness as well as sadness and sufferings. These emotions
are a part of the happenings in the daily lives of the humans. Their lives are made up of both
sadness as well as happiness. These emotions are what draws the human lives forward.
Hence, there lies the personal importance of the artefacts and the themes of the artefacts.
Question - 4
There are several benefits that one can get from the study of humanities. First of all, it
allows the humans to sharpen their creative minds. As a result, it will allow the human beings

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will be able to benefit by interpreting the things and the objects that they see around
themselves. Human beings will also be able to find the meanings behind everything that they
see in their lives. Moreover, study of humanities is considered to be important because human
beings will be able to improve their social skills based activities. Moreover, the human beings
will be able to interpret the written and the spoken language very well (Block, 2018).
Other benefits of studying humanities includes individuals better able to understand
the concepts of medicines and technologies through the study of history, philosophy as well
as the study of literature. Studying about humanities will allow the individuals to understand
all these fields with much broader understanding and an open mind. Therefore, it can be said
that the study of humanities is considered to be important because it helps to make other
subjects much easier for the humans.
Question – 5
Humanities are important for the society because it is with the help of humanities that
the human beings can gain in-depth understanding on the various subject matters that are
interesting to him. Humanities help the human beings to understand the technological
advancements that are being made in the fields of science and the engineering, medicines as
well as other fields like that of the art and music. As stated by Belfiore (2015), moreover,
humanities helps the humans to have a clear understanding of what the future holds for them.
It is for these reasons that the humanities are considered to be important for the society
because they help the human beings to gain a much broader understanding into the
happenings of the society.
Question – 6
Various strategies by the artists to cater to the needs and the demands of the
audiences. This includes depiction of the emotional scenes in the pictures so that the

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audiences who sees the pictures are able to understand the themes of happiness and the
sadness that are a part of the daily lives of the human beings (Therwall, 2015).
It is from the pictures themselves that the audience will understand the difference
between the themes of happiness as well sadness. This will help the audiences to experience
the pictures in the way that they want to experience it.

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Reference List
Belfiore, E. (2015). ‘Impact’,‘value’and ‘bad economics’: Making sense of the problem of
value in the arts and humanities. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 14(1), 95-
110.
Block, F. L. (2018). The Thorn Necklace: Healing Through Writing and the Creative
Process. Seal Press.
Cocks, N. (2013). On Frida Kahlo’s moustache: A reading of Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair
and its criticism. In The last taboo. Manchester University Press.
Eve, M. P. (2014). Open access and the humanities. Cambridge University Press.
Guerrero Bote, V. P., Olmeda‐Gómez, C., & de Moya‐Anegón, F. (2013). Quantifying the
benefits of international scientific collaboration. Journal of the American Society for
Information Science and Technology, 64(2), 392-404.
Small, H. (2013). The value of the humanities. Oxford University Press.
Thelwall, M., & Delgado, M. M. (2015). Arts and humanities research evaluation: No metrics
please, just data. Journal of Documentation, 71(4), 817-833.

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