Essay on Relationship between Art and Life in Death in Venice

1399 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Nietzsche on birth of tragedy essay

Relationship between Art and Life Explored in Death in Venice

The novella Death in Venice by Thomas Mann examines the nature of the relationship between art and life. The progression of the main character, Gustave Von Aschenbach, illustrates the concept of an Apollinian/Dionysian continuum. Apollo is the Greek god of art, thus something Apollinian places an emphasis on form. Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and chaos, hence something Dionysian emphasizes energy and emotion. In The Birth of Tragedy Friedrich Nietzsche suggests that,"... the continuous development of art is bound up with the Apollinian and Dionysian duality--just as procreation depends on the duality of the sexes, involving perpetual strife with only periodically intervening reconciliations.. in the Greek world there existed a tremendous opposition, in origin and aims, between the Apollinian area of sculpture, and the nonimagistic, Dionysian art of music "(33). The Greeks embodied this concept in the "clear figures of their gods" just as Thomas Mann, a great reader of Nietzsche, embodied it in his characters (33).

At the beginning of the novel, Gustave is depicted as an extremely, if not overly, civilized man. He is an artist, but he approaches art coldly and rigidly. It is more a job than a joy for him, and it is actually his urge to seek "flight from his rigid, cold, and passionate service" that brings him to Venice (Mann 6). Although Gustave loves this service, he is currently in a state of frustration: "To him it seemed that his work had ceased to be marked by that fiery play of fancy that is the product of joy..." (7). His beliefs can be summarized in the words "mind and art," thus missing the crucial ingredients of life and sensuality. Gu...

... middle of paper ...

... painting Figures on Rocks at the Edge of the Sea. Life is found to be problematic if lived at either extreme, a midpoint of some type must be established. A dynamic state of oscillation, the best environment for the cultivation of creativity, would have prevented Gustave's uncontrollable exhibition of previously inhibited Dionysian qualities. The ideal state for the production of art and living in general seems to be a mixture of art, mind, and life.

Works Cited

Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice and Other Stories. New York: Random House, Inc., 1989.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music. 1872. In The Birth of Tragedy and The Case

of Wagner. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Vintage Books, 1967.

Vibert, Jean-Georges. Figures on Rocks at the Edge of the Sea. Snite Museum of Art, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Show More
Related

  • Are There Visions and Ghosts in Van Gogh Paintings?

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ded after his death, it was Artaud that claimed, “No, Van Gogh is not crazy, he was pushed to suicidal despair by a society which rejected his works.” Whether or not Artaud’s theory is correct, Vincent Van Gogh was in fact very ill and his paintings are famous for how lucid they are in illustrating the way his mental illness affected him. Van Gogh’s post-impressionist style is very unique of the late 19th century in France and most of his work was done with impasto technique as a way of expression. It is recognizable that his illness had a larger impact on his paintings’ subject matters than the style they were painted in. Vincent Van Gogh’s fame mostly came after his death, and while his paintings did help him to express himself, they now live on to visually translate the true, unwritten stories of his life and the effects paintings have with a mental illness.

    Read More

  • The Life of Vincent Van Gogh

    2663 Words  | 6 Pages

    It is important to keep in mind that Van Gogh was born exactly one year after his brother, also named Vincent, was stillborn (“Vincent Willem”). This odd situation most certainly led to some of Van Gogh’s mishaps later in his life. Also, Van Gogh’s own mother was an artist, yet she never encouraged art in her children, nor did her or her husband support Van Gogh when he decided to study and practice creative thinking (“Vincent Willem”). Van Gogh’s father was a minister, and he and his siblings grew up in a very religious home, which led to some of Van Gogh’s life choices and also to some of his misfortunes along the way (The Van Gogh Gallery).

    Read More

  • Attendence Essay: Art Museum

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    The structure of the painting fits the example given on page 58 of open composition “in which the eye can wander off the canvas or escape the frame, as disunified.” perfectly. The line structure deals with curved lines only, the focus being the center of the water. If focus is shifted from the water to the surrounding area, it is not without effort. The subject of th...

    Read More

  • Nietzsche’s Response to Schopenhauer’s Philosophy

    659 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to understand Schopenhauer’s philosophy, one must understand the concept of the will. Schopenhauer seems to describe the will as a blind force of our feelings, our thoughts, and our perception. The only way we see the world is through the will. We are limited because we only see our representation of it through the will, not the actual reality, the thing in of itself. For this reason the world is will, our will, and it has desires. These desires are insatiable, so life becomes defined by suffering. Suffering, however, is only our representation. The world in of itself, aside from our representation, has no suffering. Schopenhauer says the only way to escape the will, which is suffering, is through knowledge and art. There is a distinction between ordinary knowledge and pure knowledge, however. Ordinary knowledge, according to Schopenhauer, was a result of the will. Pure knowledge is actual contemplation of the world in of itself without influence from the will. This can only be attained through art that is able to separate us from our perceptions of reality and reach a state of pure knowledge. In the Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche responds to this by agreeing with Schopenhauer’s philosophy in that art is the way to avoid suffering. He argues that the art capable of ending suffering is tragedy, which is a fusion of the Apollonian and the Dionysian.

    Read More

  • Fate against Free will in Oedipus the King by Sophocles

    1229 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Birth of Tragedy, Friedrich Nietzsche puts the Moirai above all knowledge and in control of the destiny of all ...

    Read More

  • Vincent van Gogh

    1546 Words  | 4 Pages

    Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in the rectory of Zundert in Barbant (Burra). His father was a soft-spoken Dutch clergyman. The only thing Van Gogh got from his father, was the desire to be involved in the family church. Even at an early age, Vincent showed artistic talent but neither he nor his parents imagined that painting would take him where it did later in life. One of his first jobs came at the age of sixteen, as an art dealer’s assistant. He went to work for Goupil and Company, an art gallery where an uncle had been working for some time. Three of his father’s brothers were art dealers, and he was christened after the most distinguished of his uncles, who was manager of the Hague branch of the famous Goupil Galleries (Meier-Graefe). His parents were poor, so his rich uncle offered to take him ...

    Read More

  • Essay On Michelangelo

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    An architect, poet, sculptor, and painter are some of the terms that define Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. Michelangelo was one the of the most influential artists of his generation. He was born in Caprese, Italy on March 6, 1475 and died in Rome on February 18, 1564. Michelangelo’s early life and work consisted of him becoming an apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio, a painter in Florence, at the age of 13, after his father knew that he had no interest in the family business. The painter then moves on and joins Lorenzo de’ Medici’s household, where he learns and studies with the painters and sculptors that lived under the Medici roof. As a sculptor Michelangelo carved magnificent statues, he was invited to Rome

    Read More

  • Vincent Van Gogh

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the age of sixteen, Van Gogh went to go work with his Uncle Vincent, whom he was named after, as an art dealer at the Goupil and Co. This job had branches not only in Europe, but America also. Vincent was assigned the branch in London. There he got his first rejection in love. He fell in love with the daughter of his landlady. Van Gogh thought her feelings would be mutual, though she was not attracted to him. In fact, she was disgusted by him. She was engaged to be married, anyway. Because he was so hurt from this rejection, he took it out on his career. He told the costumers they were buying useless junk and insulted them for that. Van Gogh had to go to Paris and only his uncle's influence allowed him a second chance with the firm. His harsh behavior toward the costumers continued. In 1876, the Goupil's managers had to let him go.

    Read More

  • Vincent van Gogh

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Vincent van Gogh was a poor artist in 19th century Europe that was constantly tortured by psychiatric issues. Van Gogh was born in Zundert, Netherlands on March 30, 1853. His father was a pastor and raised him with a very religious lifestyle and he originally set out to be a pastor himself. He was fired from his preaching job because of his intensity and fierceness and decided to be an artist. His many disorders eventually got the better of him and he was admitted to the St. Remy mental institution where he did the much of his art. After his release in May of 1890, van Gogh fell into deep depression and eventually committed suicide in July of that year. In my opinion van Gogh’s importance was shown through his different use of color that was looked down upon by the critics of the time but led to a new style of Post-Impressionism at the end of the Impressionistic era. Also, his large amounts of paintings, over 2,100, portray a large amount of subjects which virtually anyone can relate to. Finally, his importance is verified in the sheer price of his paintings, the most expensive, Portrait of Dr. Gatchet, was sold for 82 million dollars.

    Read More

  • Essay on Exploring Death in Death in Venice

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    Death in Venice by Thomas Mann, is a story that deals with mortality on many different levels. There is the obvious physical death by cholera, and the cyclical death in nature: in the beginning it is spring and in the end, autumn. We see a kind of death of the ego in Gustav Aschenbach's dreams. Venice itself is a personification of death, and death is seen as the leitmotif in musical terms. It is also reflected in the idea of the traveler coming to the end of a long fatiguing journey.

    Read More

  • The Concept Of Romanticism In Faust By Johann Wolfgang Von Faust

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Romanticism period is marked by changes in societal beliefs as a rejection of the values and scientific thought pursued during the Age of Enlightenment. During this period, art, music, and literature are seen as high achievement, rather than the science and logic previously held in esteem. Nature is a profound subject in the art and literature and is viewed as a powerful force. Searching for the meaning of self becomes a noble quest to undertake. In the dramatic tragedy of “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, we find a masterpiece of Romanticism writing that includes the concepts that man is essentially good, the snare of pride, and dealing with the supernatural.

    Read More

  • Consumed by Beauty in Death in venice by Thomas Mann

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    Life for humans is dictated by the yearning for more through our experiences. We strive for more knowledge, more wealth, and more happiness, but it all is endless like an abyss. Beauty, however, is pure and can be found in the simplest matters in life. Throughout the novel Death in Venice, by Thomas Mann, Aschenbach works his whole life rigorously day by day searching for more and more until his introduction to Tadzio in Venice. Upon Aschenbach’s first site of Tadzio he falls in love with the perfect beauty of the child. For the first time in his life he sees the simplicity of beauty and how perfect it is, however, he is consumed by it. Aschenbach’s introduction to beauty consumes his mind from the rest of the world. Aschenbach searches for beauty in life, but is trapped and consumed by it and is pulled away from the rest of the world.

    Read More

  • Renaissance Art Essay

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the Middle Ages, the Renaissance took place in 1350-1550. During this period, new ideas about cultures, arts and inventions formed. Art was one of the most influential out of cultures and inventions. With art, artists were able to exemplify realism, humanism, and secularism. Art did not just show paintings. It showed different views of the Renaissance.

    Read More

  • A Survey of Tragedy

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    “A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious, and also as having magnitude, complete in itself in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not in a narrative form: with incidents arousing pity and fear; wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.”

    Read More

  • Essay On Van Gogh

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vincent Van Gogh’s well known artwork had a profound impact on the world. After being rejected countless times by other jobs, Van Gogh realized that art was his calling and he begun to research other artists and various artwork. He visited several museums in London and got inspiration from many of the impressionists living in Europe at the time.

    Read More

More about Essay on Relationship between Art and Life in Death in Venice

Open Document