Art ? Or not?

Today started sunny and dry so we caught a little ferry over to the other side of the harbour to go in search of the little streets of old wooden houses a website of 10 things you must photograph in Bergen had told me about!  We found them and they were full of character.  I particularly like the incongruity of this shot – the tiny houses and the enormous cruise ship docked on the opposite side of the harbour in the background.  I also like the light.  The extra shows another of the steep little streets.  When I first posted this about 20 minutes ago, I didn't know that the theme for MonoMonday was Art!  Now I do, so I've gone mono and put a similar shot in extras as I like the colours.  Maybe my soul is in colour...
 
 By mid afternoon it had begun to rain – not too much, but enough to need the hood up and seek indoor activity.  We had already walked quite a long way to the Science Museum because SHH likes science museums and then we discovered it was shut on Mondays.  So the long trek back led us, via a very nice coffee shop, to the KODE art galleries.  Those of you who are paying attention will know that we did one of the three yesterday.  Today we did the modern art building and the one which had old masters, Traditional Norwegian Art, and some Twentieth Century works such as Cubist paintings.
 
One of the things that we were challenged to think about on the Year in Photography course early on was why we might be taking a particular shot.  Why take a particular image.  I must admit that has been occupying my brain quite a lot as I have deleted shot after shot off my hard drive, some going back three years now.  I still haven’t finished deleting as I am only keeping shots that I look at now and they mean something to me or I think they might mean something in the future – they are about me, my life, my family, my friends, my progress, my thoughts and feelings, beautiful or special places.
 
So today I have been thinking about other visual art forms.  Much of the contemporary work we saw today either left me cold or just disturbed me.  Some interested me, but not much.  I presume it means something to its creator.  I rather liked some of the Cubist work, but wouldn’t want it in my home.  A lot of the paintings we saw were just like some of my photography – could easily be deleted and I wouldn’t miss it.  Some, with real photographic quality, I loved.
 
There you have it.  As far as visual art is concerned, I’m a bit of a pleb.
 
I like words and these words of Edvard Munch around 1907 have challenged me somewhat:
 
“Art is the opposite of nature.”
 
“A work of art comes from the inner soul of a human being.”
 
“Art is the picture’s form brought into being through human nerves – heart – brain – eye.”
 
I’d be interested in your thoughts…