Andy Warhol's The Birth Of Venus Is The Face Of The Goddess Venus

Andy Warhol’s piece titled Details of Renaissance Paintings (Sandro Botticelli,

Birth of Venus, 1482) represents the face of the goddess Venus. This piece was made in

1984 as a depiction of the face of Venus from the earlier painting The Birth of Venus by

Sandro Botticelli that was completed in 1482. The piece’s present location is the

Arkansas Arts Center, and its original location is the Andy Warhol Museum in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The piece is acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen, and it can only be seen from one side because it is hanging on the wall.

The work is a colorful representation of the face of the goddess Venus as depicted earlier in The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. However, Warhol uses more colors in his work. Venus’s face

One bundle of hair goes down to the bottom of the piece on the left side close to her face. This bundle of hair brings some direction to the left side, but not a lot because the left side is mostly empty. However, this emptiness is balanced asymmetrically by Venus’s gaze toward the bottom left corner and the light color used in the empty space. The light color of the empty space is visually light; therefore, it does not have as much weight as the darker, warmer colors of Venus’s face and hair. This visual lightness along with Venus’ gaze is strong enough to balance the multitude of hair and part of a flower on the right side.

This artwork is composed of shapes because it is two-dimensional. Most of the shapes are formed by lines and shifts in color. For example, Venus’s red hair is formed by a shift from the blue background and her pink upper body. Lines outlining her hair in certain places also give form to the shape of her hair. Therefore, both lines and shift in color are used together in some places and separate in other places to create the shapes in

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