Qualia at the National Gallery of Art

Taken from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy website (http://www.iep.utm.edu/qualia/Qualia), qualia is the subjective, conscious experiences we get that have a uniqueness about it. For example, on a very wintry day, sitting in a café and taking down a cup of coffee. That intimate time of enjoying coffee- the sense of smell, taste, and touch during that moment in time coming in from out of the cold as opposed to making coffee from home is that experience catalogued in your mind (called sense-datum) and contributes to your memory.

Incidentally, qualia is the plural form. Single instances are known as quales. With that said, Jill and I went to the National Gallery of Art yesterday and the below picture is a perfect example of a quale. It is Jill appreciating Andrew Wyeth's "Wind from the Sea" painting. She had just referenced it in a video piece she is working on and was joyfully surprised to see it. Unlike most other paintings she pondered over that day, this one was a quale. Other paintings that added to her qualia came from artists like Cuyp, Monet, and Sargent. It was an enjoyable day.