The Metropolitan Museum of Art houses thousands of paintings that preserve the rich cultures of some the most influential historical movements. Romanticism was one of the most profound artistic movements. As a response to the Enlightenment, Romanticism emerged as an artistic movement that validated the experience of intense emotion—with a particular emphasize on the compelling forces of nature and the sublime. (In examining excerpts from The Sublime and The Beautiful, a work by Edmund Burke, one can define the sublime as excitement, pain, fear, horror, or terror). Artists of the Romantic Movement were obligated to encourage their audience to indulge in an array of emotions and to relish nature. With these ideas of Romanticism in mind, I took a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in search of a 19th century French Romantic painting that not only enhanced my visual experience, but also provoked my emotions.
Before starting my journey to the museum, I first browsed the online catalogs of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I began here so that I would have an idea of what paintings I would like to see and where they were spatially located. Considering the fact that I am severely directionally challenged, this saved me copious amounts of time (I spend more time trying to figure out where I am in the museum than I do actually enjoying the artwork). With a couple of paintings in mind, I ventured to the museum in search of these Romantic pieces. The most compelling piece I saw was The Natchez by Eugène Delacroix.
Eugène Delacroix was a French painter who focused on the values of Romanticism: self-realization through the act of embracing emotions and contemplating nature. The contribution of his compelling works greatly influenced the Ro...
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...ion on her face as she gazes at her newborn son. She holds her stomach in agony (I assume this is because child birth is a painful and exhausting experience). The father gazes at his son lovingly as he coddles and embraces him. I empathize with this couple because I have experienced this moment with my parents. My dad once held me just as the father depicted in the painting; and my mother lay there exhausted, yet regarding of me, just as the mother in the painting.
Works Cited
"Eugène Delacroix: The Natchez" (1989.328) In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.328. (December 2008)
Galitz, Kathryn Calley. "Romanticism". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roma/hd_roma.htm (October 2004)
In the Florence and the early renaissance, we have the greatest master of art like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli and others. In this period of time the painters almost never show their emotions or feelings, they were more focused on indulging the churches and the wealthy people. In The renaissance period the art provides the work of art with ideal, intangible qualities, giving it a beauty and significance greater and more permanent than that actually found in the modern art. Florence and the early renaissance, the art become very valued where every artist was trying to create art forms consistent with the appearance of the beauty or elegance in a natural perspective. However, Renaissance art seems to focus more on the human as an individual, while Wayne White art takes a broader picture with no humans whatsoever; Wayne, modern three dimensional arts often utilizes a style of painting more abstract than Renaissance art. At this point in the semester these two aspects of abstract painting and the early renaissance artwork have significant roles in the paintings. Wayne White brings unrealistic concepts that provoke a new theme of art, but nevertheless the artistic creations of the piece of art during early renaissance still represent the highest of attainment in the history of
The painting depicts a mother and her four children, who are all leaning on her as she looks down solemnly, her tired, despondent expression suggests she felt trapped in her roles as being a mother and a wife. The woman and her children are clearly the focal point of the artwork as the bright colours used to paint them stand out impeccably against the dull, lifeless colours of the background. This painting appears to be centred around the ideology that women are home-keepers, whose main role is to satisfy and assist her husband while simultaneously minding the children and keeping the home tidy and ready for his return. The social consequences of this artwork could have been that the woman could have been berated for not taking pleasure out of being a mother and raising her children, as a woman should. She could have been made redundant as her husband may have felt as though she is no longer useful if she couldn’t adequately adhere to her roles as a mother and a
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
Also, since it’s hard for the viewer to see any emotion the women are feeling in either painting by looking at their faces, the two painters appear to have used colors to create the tone. The feeling of gloom that surrounds the two women on a wharf with the color suggests that they have not found what they have been looking for so their sorrow will last a little longer. The kneeling woman has a brighter background probably depicting that she has found solace or love where she currently kneels. Between the two paintings, the kneeling woman seems to have a brighter looking future ahead of her.
When you put all these aspects put together with my interpretation of what is happening in the painting, a sense of calmness and security was constructed for me. No matter what this couple may be going through at the end of the day they still lean on each other for support. The complementary colors symbolized a sensation of strength between them, the balance of the composition created a stability characteristic, and the smooth and fluid brush strokes created a tranquil energy between the
Spiegelman, Willard. "Revolutionary Romanticism." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Aug. 2009. Web. Mar. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204119704574236393080650258
Kreis, Steven. "Lecture 16: The Romantic Era." The History Guide. Web. 18 Aug. 2010. .
The Art Nouveau style and movement, at its height between 1890 and 1910, enabled a sense of freedom for both its artists and the public as a whole. It offered strikingly original ideologies and transformed both the artistic and the mundane world alike with common characteristics like curvilinear shapes and a sense of the return to the natural and to nature as well as being at the crux of a fundamental change in how artworks were mass produced. The Art Nouveau style seemed to walk between the two worlds: it was simultaneously fantastical and grounded in reality and there was no artist in the period that was better equipped to “know and see the dance of the seven veils,” (Zatlin) than Aubrey Beardsley. It is impossible to fully discuss the value
...ch her face. She looks off into the distance not knowing what is going to happen and despair in her eyes. The wrinkles and creases on her face show worry and sadness. There are two children almost hiding behind her as she slouches forward cradling a baby that seems sound asleep. Her shirt is unbuttoned, her clothes along with the children’s clothes are dirty and worn out. The Migrant Mother communicates emotions of fear, uncertainty, pain and depression that many American families felt during this period. The photograph portrays what life was like for America’s families suffering during this depression. The fact that this in an actual photograph and not a painting makes it more compelling and relatable because it is a realistic view of a human being in pain. A painting would just be a replica therefore the affect it would have on people would not be as significant.
Modern art serves to immerse us more thoroughly in a scene by touching on more than just our sight. Artists such as Grosz, and Duchamp try to get us to feel instead of just see. It seems that this concept has come about largely as a way to regain identity after shedding the concepts of the Enlightenment. “Philosophers, writers, and artists expressed disillusionment with the rational-humanist tradition of the Enlightenment. They no longer shared the Enlightenment's confidence in either reason's capabilities or human goodness...” (Perry, pg. 457) It is interesting to follow art through history and see how the general mood of society changed with various aspects of history, and how events have a strong connection to the art of the corresponding time.
Aristotle once claimed that, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” Artists, such as Louise-Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun and Mary Cassatt, captured not only the way things physically appeared on the outside, but also the emotions that were transpiring on the inside. A part no always visible to the viewer. While both artists, Le Brun and Cassatt, worked within the perimeters of their artistic cultures --the 18th century in which female artists were excluded and the 19th century, in which women were artistically limited-- they were able to capture the loving relationship between mother and child, but in works such as Marie Antoinette and Her Children and Mother Nursing her Child 1898,
In this essay, I shall try to examine how great a role colour played in the evolution of Impressionism. Impressionism in itself can be seen as a linkage in a long chain of procedures, which led the art to the point it is today. In order to do so, colour in Impressionism needs to be placed within an art-historical context for us to see more clearly the role it has played in the evolution of modern painting. In the late eighteenth century, for example, ancient Greek and Roman examples provided the classical sources in art. At the same time, there was a revolt against the formalism of Neo-Classicism. The accepted style was characterised by appeal to reason and intellect, with a demand for a well-disciplined order and restraint in the work. The decisive Romantic movement emphasized the individual’s right in self-expression, in which imagination and emotion were given free reign and stressed colour rather than line; colour can be seen as the expression for emotion, whereas line is the expression of rationality. Their style was painterly rather than linear; colour offered a freedom that line denied. Among the Romanticists who had a strong influence on Impressionism were Joseph Mallord William Turner and Eugéne Delacroix. In Turner’s works, colour took precedence over the realistic portrayal of form; Delacroix led the way for the Impressionists to use unmixed hues. The transition between Romanticism and Impressionism was provided by a small group of artists who lived and worked at the village of Barbizon. Their naturalistic style was based entirely on their observation and painting of nature in the open air. In their natural landscape subjects, they paid careful attention to the colourful expression of light and atmosphere. For them, colour was as important as composition, and this visual approach, with its appeal to emotion, gradually displaced the more studied and forma, with its appeal to reason.
..., transcendental lighting, and color contrast. No less is this a religious experience than the visits to classic cathedrals that dominate the French landscape from the shores of Mont St. Michel, to the Ile de la Cite’s Notre Dame, to the countless other examples of the French expression of faith through architecture. I must admit to surprise at this overwhelming reaction on my part to Matisse’s talent as an architect and designer. Winding up the mountains to this remote convent, my mind questioned the wisdom of the trek as my comrades enjoyed the Riviera once more at the beach and I thought to myself, just one more church. Never did I expect such a transcendental experience as my visit to this modern masterpiece. Long after the suntans will fade, my memory of this place will deepen my appreciation of Matisse’s art and the importance of the effect of art on culture.
Thesis: The French Revolution transformed not only the French society, but also had a huge influence and marked impact on what the purposes of the arts and their expression were now, making profound changes in what they would supposed to be used for, in the form of the Neoclassic works of art that made their appearance prior to the French Revolution, in which very special emphasis is given to the patriotic, the nationalist feeling, together with a strong sense of self-sacrifice that should be present in every person’s heart.
Painting in the 19th century, still highly influenced by the spirit of Romanticism, proved to be a far more sensitive medium for the kind of personal expression one should expect from the romantic subjectivity of the time. At the very beginning of the “modern period” stands the imposing figure of Francisco Goya (1746-1828), the great independent painter from Spain. With much indebtedness to Velazquez, Rembrandt and the wonders of the natural world, Goya occupies the status of an artistic giant. His artistic range goes from the late Venetian Baroque through the brilliant impressionistic realism of his own to a late expressionism in which dark and powerful distor...