In order for any work of art for example a film a novel a poem or a song to have merit it must be understandable to most people Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning f

What makes the great work of art? What have in common masterpieces such as G.Klimt's painting "Kiss" and V. van Gogh's " Starry night"? Surely timelessness and universality. Authors of these masterpieces tried to reach a fundamental human truth. The greatest merit of any work of art is not only satisfy the taste of majority, but for the work to be considered valuable by most of people no matter their comprehension and knowledge.

Taking poems first, it is the universality that makes a poem famous. The good poem will touch deeply both erudite and layman. Ideally, each of them will satisfy his expectations. Interpretations of a given poem, however, will differ drastically from person to person, depending on people's previous experience, and different associations. "The Book of Psalms" is great example of poem that even read by one person but in different circumstances will be most probably interpreted differently, however, with equal satisfaction.

Secondly, although, the great works of surrealistic painters S.Dali and P.Picasso are incomprehensible for most people, they are incredibly famous. Must the work of art be understandable to have merit? This examples show us, that it is not necessarily the case. It is the ambiguity and unintelligibility of these paintings, that most people praise them for. Again it is not comprehension but visual satisfaction and amusement that brought that paintings into fame.

Moreover, most of people sing the songs in foreign languages without real comprehension. Although some can argue if this examples can be considered a work of art, but who does not know "Macarena" or "Freestyler" ? People all over the world enjoy this songs (and many others) without knowing even the words.

To recapitulate, for the work to be of great merit it is the universality that matters the most, disregarding human level of comprehension. Abovementioned examples show that understanding of a given work of art alone, does not necessarily lead to popularity of this work.