Impactful Art: Revolutionizing Perspectives and Society

Art is an expression, it is the byproduct of what an artist is feeling, thinking, doing and seeing. Some works of art have become notorious for the roles they have played in revolutionizing the world of art and the issues in society they have brought attention to. The reason art can have such an immense impact is because it is a direct reflection of what is going on in the world at that time and how the artist feels about it. Artistic masterpieces have the power to change the way one thinks and feels about a certain subject, idea or law. Three artworks that have made an impact are Edouard Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass, Marcel Duchamp’s The Fountain, and The Rite of Spring, composed by Igor Stravinsky and choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. These

The painting was deemed scandalous and inappropriate by the people of the mid-1800’s. In more ways than one the painting disregarded society’s standards of the time. The painting depicts two women and two men having a picnic together in a nature setting. Upon hearing this description one might envision a peaceful, harmless illustration and thus wonder why it may be hard to imagine this painting as upsetting. The two men in the painting were fully clothed in modern clothing of the time period, while one woman was completely nude and the other was in her undergarments. By juxtaposing the fully clothed men with the naked women, Manet challenged “Academy Standards” of French painters of the time. According to the “Academy Standard” nudity was supposed to be reserved for religious, mythological or classical characters, and the women in Manet’s Luncheon on the Grass were none of the above. In fact, the two women are suspected to be prostitutes, and the men, their customers. In illustrating the men with modern clothing, Manet’s image alluded to the subject of prostitution which was a very real issue at that time. Manet questioned the morality of society and the people by illustrating prostitution in such a real, modern way. This was a tremendous scandal because prostitution was not discussed and especially not illustrated on a large scale canvas, it was pushed under the rug and overlooked by society. The painting was highly criticized and rejected at first, but later became widely renowned. It paved the way for a new, modern artistic development. It shaped and reformed the idea of what was conventional for artists to paint and what was accepted, widening the freedom of creators, allowing them to illustrate real problems they saw in their