Have you ever believed that a work of art told the story of your life?

This painting does a pretty good job.

Kinda….Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. I, obviously, have not yet spent an extended period of time alone in the Utah wilderness like he did, but I want to, and the way he describes the desert, the smells, the sights, the mysterious appeal and the inability to explain that appeal to others who don’t understand it. It just resonates with something inside of me. Its a beautiful thing. I love the desert… and I have met very few people who understand that sentiment.

@tom_g Why was I thinking it was going to be “The Scream”?

“Starry Night” captures some of my wonder at the magic of the natural world but I wouldn’t say any painting sums up my life.

Janis Ian’s song Seventeen seemed to fit when I was young. Then Hotel California really scared me as I was struggling to turn my life around in the late 70’s.

If you call the cartoon strip’...The Born Loser’ a work of art. Yes it completely covers my life in general.

Lament For Icarus I’ve been Icarus, and I’ve been the nymphs mourning for him. (Plus, I just have a deep interest in mythology.)

Edward Scissorhands

Wondering if the OP meant visual arts only – the way I took it – or songs and films as well.

@janbb: I meant any art! Look at the subjects I tagged the question with.

Aha – gotcha!

I asked this question because I was listening to an album recently that I have had since I was in 5th grade or so, one of my long-time favorites. And I only realized recently that it tells the story of my life in a way that I couldn’t have understood when I first listened to it. It’s far too embarrassing to reveal, however. ROFL. Suffice to say it helped me realize that I am a feminine mostly gay guy, haha.

Less embarrassing albums would be “Soundsystem” or “Evolver” by 311.

But as for books, I’d have to say The Perks of Being a Wallflower might be it. I grew up with that book (yes, yes, I’m a youngun), I have turned to it for solace many times, and each time I’ve re-read it, it has taught me something new about myself. The first few times I read it, I wasn’t even able to understand that the main character had been abused, because I did not know that about myself at the time.

Now that I think about it, a very important book in my life has been The Catcher In The Rye, because I could relate to the main character. Also, Green Day’s American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown are two of the albums that ’‘talk’’ about who I am.