Hi there,
I’m trying to add information on this guy here
and there are some songs and poems that are based on paintings. Is there a possibility to add something like that? I had to think about Mussorgsky and his Pictures at an exhibition, but I didn’t find anything to be honest.
Is there a way? If not, what do you think about adding something like that?
If the music is released in a format that can be documented, it sounds like it should be added.
A song would be a Standalone Recording. A Poem is a Spoken Word recording. Maybe they would be Singles, or just Other? Depends on the media. Were these cassettes? Did these get released as compilation CDs? There are ways to add live performances and broadcasts.
Certainly should be added. Do you have any direct examples?
One recent example that comes to mind is this:
I think you misunderstood me, but that’s on me, because I somehow missed the point. I was talking about already existing releases, that don’t have to be added. What I mean is a relationship that shows the inspiration behind a certain song/poem.
this album is almost wholly based on different paintings. In theory a painting could be added under event. But, you know, doesn’t sound that logical, right?
I would think a painting would be best represented by a work, then use a “based on” relationship. That’s not exactly right, but it’s the closest we can come without adding an “inspired by” relationship and maybe a “non-music” checkbox to the work entity. I’d be surprised if someone hasn’t already done this for some work of poetry or literature. I can think of a couple of songs inspired by fantasy novels just off the top of my head.
And I just thought of an entire musical project based around the works of one author (H.P. Lovecraft).
Based on a work is the best way I think. But paintings aren’t supposed to be added, are they? You can add a work of prose or a poem, but that’s another way, you can release something like that, if you read it, you can’t release a painting…
A workaround to this would be to add the painter (if they’re not already in the database) and link them to any entities inspired by their work with a relationship like “inspired by the works of/created a work that inspired.”
Edit to avoid double-posting: Here’s a ticket.
Honestly, I’d be fine with adding them as a Work for this purpose. Sure, it’s a bit hackish, but it seems like it’s a fairly reasonable way to represent them, even if the Work–Artist relationships don’t currently really seem appropriate for a painting and its painter (or sculpture and its sculptor etc.).
(I have done some dance exercises based on paintings and sculptures etc. before, so maybe I’m also a bit more empathetic to this issue than “music only” geeks. 
)
@reosarevok, O Style Lead, what is thy word?
A painting is clearly a Work. How to link the painter to the painting is a bit trickier though, and I don’t have a good answer for that at the moment 
Surely someone here wants to start VisualArtBrainz?
Paintings are something Wikidata is good enough at, IMO
Which led me to recall this album based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe
So @Freso suggested on JIRA that we add Painting to the list of work types. I know I’m probably going to get shouted down that this is beyond MB’s scope, but here goes:
Edited to add two related tickets:
Do we want it to be Painting? Or would something more general like “Visual Art” be better, so we don’t have to later add “Sculpture”, “Engraving”, etc.
Would it make sense to have an Inspired By relationship that links to Wikidata IDs? I feel like adding these clearly non-musical works is not a good idea, when Wikidata does most of the things already.
I thought about making a “visual art” category of works, so we could potentially add different types of works in the future.
I’d like to add my vote for this approach. We don’t store movies and TV series as works either, but just link them to IMDB. I’m not sure if Wikidata is very accepting to adding things that don’t have a Wikipedia page though? Do they whine about notability as much as Wikipedia does?
If it’s in the collection of a museum it’s generally fine.
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Notability are their notability guidelines, I feel like Point 2 would apply to this.
Linking directly to Wikidata items would have the advantage of immediately allowing works to be inspired not just by Paintings or Poems, but also by landscapes/geography, buildings, people, etc.