Art History Final

J.L David, Napoleon Crossing Saint-Bernard, 1800

, a uniformed Napoleon sits comfortably astride a wild-eyed, rearing horse on a snow-covered mountainside, his bright red cape whipped by the wind. One hand firmly grips the reins while the other points skyward over the peaks. Under the barrel of the horse's chest the figures of soldiers can be seen pushing equipment upward through the bleak landscape.The strong use of diagonals gives the painting a sense of dynamism, the highest point of the red cape propelling the eye forward, mirroring the gesture of the mounted soldier and suggesting the direction and momentum of the attack. Wind rakes the horse's mane and tail and sends the dark clouds sliding across the sky, suggesting the dynamic forces of nature harnessed by the invading army. Horse and rider are illuminated as if in divine affirmation of Napoleon's power.Amid the wind and movement, Napoleon's expression is steady, his eyes focused and intense. The painting's red, white and blue - the colours of the Republic - lend boldness to the image and mirror the tricolour flag that waves in the corner of the composition, emphasising the force of the nation personified in the heroic figure. the painting unmistakably conveys the timeless notion of a man in control, with power over both himself and the natural world, the forces of destiny swirling around him.

Claude Monet, Women in the Garden, 1866

-Impressionism -no story line in the painting -The painting was typically built on a lightly coloured neutral ground, beginning with an underpainting of dark tones, usually brownish in hue. Onto this dark underpainting the highlights were added in white or near-white, and the local colour of the object or figure (its actual colour) was introduced into the middle-toned areas. This technique produced a strong sense of volume and solidity of form, but colour played a secondary role, being diminished or sometimes even lost in highly illuminated or deeply shadowed areas. The method used by Manet - the first great innovator of modern art - sometimes called peinture claire, was first - to determine colour areas through mid-tones; and then - to add highlights and darks into the wet paint, thus emphasizing shapes at the expense of form. This resulted in a strong colour pattern, reminiscent of the then-popular Japanese prints, and also gave more importance to colour itself, since the real colours of highlights and shadows could be given more consideration. -Monet went one step further in this painting, giving a clear colour identity to each shadow, such as that falling across the path and on to the dress of the seated figure. The resulting mauve-blue on the dress is one of the dominant colours in the work, and gives "uplift" to the tonal pattern. In the painting of the shrubbery there is a great variety of greens and yellows but no dark-toned shadows, and very little black is used, a colour Monet was soon to abandon altogether. Compositionally the painting is divided into quarters, pivoting on the springing of the branches of the small tree - an almost central spot in the work. The top half of the painting, in deep tones almost entirely occupied by foliage, while three or four figures, static and preoccupied, are concentrated in the left lower quarter. The moving figure is lit from the right and this light, falling across both the path and the dress of the seated figure, also strikes the flowers she is holding. The second bunch of flowers and flowering shrubs provide a moving ellipse through the outstretched arm, the left-hand figure, the skirt of the seated figure and across the path, giving a touch of animation. The whole effect of the painting was thus antipathetic to standard academic practice, and the Salon judges were the opposite of artistically adventurous. The rejection, although undoubtedly disappointing for Monet, in no way deflected him from his chosen course.

Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait on the Border between Mexico and the U.S., 1932

1) DUALITY. Through her photographs and self-portraits, she created a character that melted with her persona, thus she maintained a relentless seach for her personal identity. "Kahlo cultivated and promoted a public ambiguity that stemmed from her own personal work. By turning her public image into a portrayal, she transformed her paintings into actual mirror of her imaginary prowess... Frida is not a real person but an artistic discourse -a thematic leitmotif- on the level of speech, image, and public representation". 2) MEXICO. The flower roots represent not only the cultural and family ties that link Frida with her homeland, but they also symbolize the relationship that Mexico holds with the United States, as they feed the American electric generator with their energy. The Mexican side represents the steady and natural cycle of life and death, while the American side represents a lifeless landscape, inflicted byt the overpowering technological advances. "It clearly reflects the interest that Frida nurtered over the course of her tormented life: her art and political struggle, her images of Indians and Mexico's pre-Hispanic past. All of those amassed with Frida's burning passion for Mexico and everything mexican". 3) POLITICS. Frida belonged to a wide and heterogeneous social circle, which allowed her to travel and see different places, reasserting her political and social conviction. "The diversity sensed in their social relationships points at the fact that their ideological choices were result of genuine personal convitcion rather than a symtopm of resentment or alienation". 3) IDENTITY. Both in pictures and in paintings. Frida always posed staring directly into the front, in a challenging and haughty attitude, showing the same strenght that was escaping from her body and that made up an important element of her identity. " The picture does not represent the person as it is but as it should, wants or wish to appear". 4) THERAPY. The gown and the name in the platform are different from what she used to wear and use (Carmen is her baptized name and Rivera her married name), implying that she represented herself acoording to the social conventions to which she oppposed. "Frida describes the mood crudely and somewhat ironically. She hints at the strategy she would often resort in order to face pain -either her own or other people's-: it is as if by bluntly naming, writing or painting things the artist would be able to chase away the apin, or at least make it more tolerable". 5) PHOTOGRAPHY. "Photography was one of the most decisive influences in Frida Kahlo's work. It was because she was always in touch with pictures through her father occupation -Guillermo Kahlo-, and later on, because of her relationship with photographic artists whom she befriended." 6) INDIGENOUS HERITAGE. For Frida, her indigenous heritage (on her mother side) was source of pride, so she expressed it in her lifestyle, clothing and in her work. "Her Indian heritage was a source of great pride and self-confidence". 7) PAINTINGS. Many of the photographs in the collection served as models for the pictorical work of Frida and Diego. "Frida reproduced in her paintings some of the images that were especially shocking or moving for her...[She] even used photographic fragments in some of her paintings".

Peter Paul Rubens, Elevation of the Cross, from Saint Walburga, Antwerp, 1610.

BAROQUE ART---> In the central panel, we see the dramatic moment when the cross of Christ's crucifixion is being raised to its upright position. Rubens created a strong diagonal emphasis by placing the base of the cross at the far lower right of the composition and the top of the cross in the upper left—making Christ's body the focal point. This strong diagonal reinforces the notion that this is an event unfolding before the viewer, as the men struggle to lift the weight of their burden. In the central panel of the triptych of The Elevation of the Cross nine enormous figures with bulging muscles struggle to raise the heavy wooden cross that Christ is nailed to. Rubens combines muscled figures that remind us of Michelangelo (he had returned from a trip to Italy only two years earlier) with the descriptive realism that comes from the Northern tradition. Look for example at the way the light shines on the black armor of the figure on the left. There is also a specificity to the faces of some of the figures (the armored figure again, or the old man at the bottom) that reminds us of the Northern tradition. Christ's body is simultaneously graceful and powerful as his chest lifts and pulls to his right and his head, abdomen and legs move to his left. It clearly looks back to the ideal and elegant figures of the high Renaissance, but Rubens makes the figure more dramatic on that receding diagonal and emphasizes Christ's humanity and weakness by the large nails through his hands and feet and the blood that drips down.We can also see the influence of the Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio in the strong contrasts of light and dark. Rubens combines the physicality of classical sculpture (think of the Laocoön in the Vatican Museums), with the elegance and attention to musculature of Michelangelo, and the drama of the Baroque in what some art historians have described as his most important altarpiece.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Self-Portrait, 1659

BAROQUE ART--->Rembrandt painted this self-portrait in 1659, when he had suffered financial failure after many years of success. His spacious house on the Sint-Anthoniesbreestraat and other possessions had been auctioned the previous year to satisfy his creditors. In this late work, the deep-set eyes that bore into the viewer's eyes express the wisdom gained from his life experiences. Interpreting a painting on the basis of an artist's biography may be misleading, however, particularly an artist whose life has been romanticized to the extent of Rembrandt's. Before the painting was cleaned in 1992, thick layers of discolored varnish had given the portrait a heavy, brooding quality,

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Cornaro chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, Italy, 1645 - 1652.

BAROQUE PERIOD--> Composition Essentially, Bernini designed the chapel as a theatre for his sculpture. The latter is set in a niche above and behind the altar, flanked by pairs of marble columns. It is theatrically illuminated by beams of natural light from a hidden window overhead. This natural light mingles with and reflects off a sheaf of vertical gilt bronze shafts behind the sculpture, sculpted to resemble the rays of the sun. High above, the ceiling of the Chapel is frescoed with trompe l'oeil images of a sky filled with cherubs. The sculpture of Saint Teresa actually consists of two figures, sculpted in white marble: Teresa herself, shown lying on a cloud, and an angel standing above her, holding a golden spear pointed at Teresa's heart. This sculptural group portrays Teresa's experience of religious ecstasy, as described in her autobiography, when an angel appeared before her with a golden spear: "He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and... to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God." [Note that Teresa expresses her intense desire for God in the language of erotic passion, an approach which is part of the long tradition of what is called "bridal mysticism".] To represent the true intensity of Teresa's experience, Bernini shows her swooning in near-erotic rapture, with eyes closed and mouth open, and both her visible limbs hanging limp. The ruffled, heavy drapery of her clothing adds to the movement and drama of the scene, and the texture of the fabric contrasts with the purity of her face. The childlike angel looks lovingly at Teresa as he prepares to pierce her heart with his spear of divine love, completing her mystical union with God. To formalize and "authenticate" the scene as a genuine spiritual experience approved by the Catholic Church, Bernini added two groups of "witnesses" carved in life-size relief sculpture to either side of Tereasa. The first group, composed of four male members of the Cornaro family, is located to the left of the altar as if in a box at the theatre. A second group, consisting of male representatives of church and state are located to the right. Meaning of Ecstasy of Saint Teresa The traditional interpretation of Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa is relatively straightforward. The sculpture portrays the Saint's overpowering sense of spiritual pleasure in serving Christ. Bernini employs imagery which suggests sensual pleasure, but only in order to convey the tangible nature of Teresa's experience - a manifestation of her love of God and her yearning for spiritual union with him. The work is consistent with the aims of the Catholic Counter-Reformation art campaign, which sought to convey the mysteries of Catholicism as cogently as possible.

Caravaggio, Judith and Holofernes, 1599

BAROQUE PERIOD: Caravaggio was certainly aware of Judith's traditional identity as a symbol of triumph over tyranny; but he presented the subject primarily as a melodrama, choosing the relatively rarely represented climactic moment of the actual beheading of Holofernes. Judith, young, beautiful, and physically weak, draws back distastefully as she seizes Holofernes's hair and cleaves through his neck with his own sword. Holofernes, on his bed, powerful but drunk, nude, and bellowing helplessly, has frozen in the futile struggle of his last instant of consciousness. The bloodthirsty old servant, popeyed as she strains forward, clutches the bag in readiness for the disembodied head. It is a ghastly image, with primary interest in the protagonists' states of mind: the old woman's grim satisfaction, Holofernes's shock, and Judith's sense of determination. Caravaggio intensifies the body language not only in the poses, gestures, and facial expressions but also in the clenched hands. Drama has displaced the charm of his earlier epicurean paintings, as if the world had ceased to be his oyster and become a battlefield. -Painting evokes fear and terror at first glance. -unconventional for a woman to be performing a decapitation. -purpose is to provide a religious lesson symbolizing virtue over sin - -Carvaggio depicts most thrilling moment, when holofernes realizes he's dying and his eyes widen out of his drunken state. -holofernes muscular body in contrast to judith's slender physique yet she holds all the power over him with the sword in her hand. -even tho she's killing him, she has a look of disgust and dread -the lady in the back looks encouraging and not at all disgusted, indicating she's the driving force behind judith's power. -painting looks like a theatre scene with the pitch black background and red curtain with light shining on the three main characters. he used chiarrascurro.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes, 1620

Baroque ART--> Gentileschi creates a far more violent and graphic scene, dramatizing the intense physical effort required on the part of Judith and her maid to kill their enemy, as he fights for his life. Holfernes' head becomes the brutal focus of the violence, as limbs, sword and blood radiate from it in the vicious struggle. The gruesome physicality of the painting is utterly riveting, with its plunging arms and gripping hands, and the blood-soaked sawing of the blade through spine and gristle of the neck. A masterpiece of murderous action! On a quieter note, the work is also memorable for its rendition of the rich gowns and bed linen, as well as the folds of the different fabrics, and the skin of all three figures. Above all, notice Gentileschi's outstanding use of chiaroscuro which gives real volume to the arms and legs in the picture, and her use of tenebrism to focus attention on key parts of the work.

Hyacinthe Rigaud, Louis XIV, 1701

Baroque Art---> Rigaud's monumental portrait displays a life-size, full-body depiction of Louis XIV. The composition recalls Anthony Van Dyck's 1635 Charles I Dismounted. Louis, as the focal point, stands in the center of the canvas, his body angled slightly while his face is turned to meet the viewer with the confidence and directness expected from a king. Billowing embroidered silk curtains form an honorific canopy over the King's head while the lavish carpeting creates an opulent environment worthy of the king's presence. To the left, a marble column sits atop a gilded base, symbolizing the strength of the monarch while again recalling the classical era. Louis' pose, like Charles' before him, allows him to literally look down on the viewer, despite both monarchs being quite short. As royal portrait painters, both Rigaud and Van Dyck were able to assert the dominance of the monarch by carefully creating the illusion of height; to please their patron, royal painters often opted for idealized elements at the expense of realism. Despite the similarities in their portraits, Louis met a happier (or at least far less grisly) end than Charles I who was beheaded in 1649. Like Versailles, nothing in Louis XIV is understated; every detail was intended to remind the viewer of the supremacy of the monarch and his divine authority. Louis, dressed to the nines, is bedecked in his coronation robe. Even the materials of the robe reinforce the image of the monarch; the black-and-white ermine fur and the blue-and-gold fleur-de-lis, a stylized lily, are symbolic of the French monarchy. Rigaud paints Louis with a royal sword fastened to his hip, the precious materials contributing to the extravagant atmosphere while also symbolizing his military might. In his right hand, Louis holds the royal scepter while the crown rests on the table below, just in case there were any lingering doubts that this Louis was a pretty important fellow. Louis' advancing age (he would die fourteen years after this portrait) is betrayed by his lined face, slight jowls, and double chin; the king was reportedly in ill health and had to have several teeth extracted due to infection. It is no coincidence that Louis is posed with his majestic robe draped over his shoulder to reveal his lower limbs: Louis had been a ballet dancer in his youth and prided himself on his dancer's legs. The legs, while in contrast to his aged face, suggest a vital and vigorous man, still in the prime of his power. Rigaud tempers the monarch's timeworn face by reminding the viewer of Louis' athletic past; the heeled shoes are not only flattering but add several precious inches onto Louis' height. Here, Louis is identifiable—clearly the portrait is of the king in the later years of his life—yet also idealized, his well-toned legs and lustrous hair preternaturally preserved.

Johannes Vermeer, Allegory of the Art of Painting, 1670s

Baroque Art--->The largest example of Vermeer's style of Dutch Realism, it is believed to be a full-blown allegory - commenting on the art of painting and the artist's role in society - and maybe even a self-portrait of himself in action: hence the work's various titles. the scene's 'theatrical' quality is deliberately highlighted by the prominent curtain which is pulled back to the left as if revealing a stage play. Looking beyond the parted curtain, there is a brightly lit studio in which a model is being painted by the artist who sits with his back to the viewer. The room is far more elegant than a regular artist's workshop, with a gold chandelier, fine furnishings, expensive marble floor tiles, and so on. In particular, the picture itself demonstrates, through the use of linear perspective and chiaroscuro, that painting can fool the eye into "seeing" three-dimensional depth and solidity of form. All this was Vermeer's attempt to answerAll this was Vermeer's attempt to answer one recurrent question that continued to be debated by painters, sculptors and writers - What was the painter's place in society? Was he a craftsman, on a level with carpenters, masons and goldsmiths, or a creative thinker on a par with poets, architects, engineers and philosophers? Vermeer's answer, like that of other Dutch Realist artists - notably the brilliant interiors artist Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-78) - was that painting was the equal of any other art, since it was capable of representing all possible visual ideas, and deluding the eye with illusions of depth and colour. Adorning the gold chandelier is a double headed eagle, the official symbol of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, former rulers of Holland. Thus experts believe that the chandelier represents Catholicism, while the lack of candles is a reference to its suppression by the dominant Protestant faith. In any event, like the hat worn by an Orthodox Jew as a reminder of the existence of a higher power, the chandelier is an allusion to the overarching presence of God. The map covering the rear wall of the studio contains a tear symbolizing the division between the Dutch Republic to the north and the Habsburg-ruled Flemish provinces to the south (note: as was the custom, the top of the map points to the West). As a whole, the map serves as an illustration of how far a painter's fame could spread - from Antwerp to Amsterdam, through all the schools of Dutch Realist painting including Utrecht, Haarlem, Leiden, Dordrecht and Delft. The remainder of the studio's plush furnishings and fittings merely symbolize the material prosperity which is within the reach of talented painters. Jan Vermeer and Colour Colour played an important part in all Vermeer's paintings, and he had a particular weakness for the cool blue hue of natural ultramarine, made from the mineral Lapis Lazuli. This was (and still is) one of the world's most expensive colour pigments. How he managed to finance his generous use of ultramarine - even after the disastrous year of 1672 - remains something of a mystery. One answer is that he was supplied with materials by a collector, possibly Pieter van Ruijven, whose son-in-law Jacob Dissius held a major auction of 21 Vermeers in Amsterdam in 1696.

Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew, Contarelli chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, 1597 - 1601

Baroque Art--> This painting, situated on the left-hand wall, shows the unexpected calling of Matthew, a tax collector, by Jesus. The scene takes place in a room with bare plaster walls. Below and to the left of a dusty window, a mature man (Matthew) and three very-young men are seated around a table; a fourth, much older man is standing beside Matthew. Caravaggio creates a sense of modernity by using flamboyant, contemporary dress. Towards the right, standing, with his back three-quarters turned to us, is St Peter; behind him stands Jesus, his head turned towards Matthew and his right arm and hand stretched out towards him. The order in which Caravaggio executed the paintings for the Chapel of Cardinal Contarelli is not clear. It is possible that the Inspiration of St Matthew was commissioned as early as 1591. The Calling of St Matthew can be dated from between 1598 and 1599- In the interval between the two works, a great rivalry developed between Caravaggio and Giuseppe Cesari (who was responsible for the ceiling frescos) over who was to be given the task to decorate the walls. During this time, Caravaggio's work showed a slow progression from a light tonality to a fully mature dramatic style based on strong contrasts of light and shade.Here, for instance, the dandyish tax-collector and his fashionably-dressed associates - all busily counting the day's proceeds - are contrasted with the barefoot Christ. So as well as casting his gaze on a sinner like Levi, Jesus is shown to shine the cleansing light of faith into Levi's dark habitat of financial greed. a painting about spiritual awakening

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), 1656

Baroque Art-->The picture is composed like a scene from a play, with all the actors in their pre-planned positions, around the central blonde figure of the five-year old Infanta Margarita Teresa (1651-73). The daughter of Philip IV, King of Spain, and Maria Anna of Austria, she married Leopold I, becoming Holy Roman Empress, but died prematurely at the age of twenty-two. The actors in the painting include (from left to right): Diego Velazquez who stands behind his huge canvas, painting the scene; Maria-Augustina Sarmiento, the first lady-in-waiting (menina), who offers water to the future empress; the Infanta Margarita; Isabel de Velasco, the second lady-in-waiting, who curtsies; and the two female dwarfs - Maribarbola with her battered face, and Nicolas de Pertusato, who teasingly kicks the sleepy dog lolling on the floor. In the shadows behind them is the ladies' governess Marcela de Ulloa, and an usher; standing in the open doorway is Don Jose de Nieto Velazquez, the marshal of the queen's palace, who draws aside a curtain through which light enters, gently adding to - and competing with - that from another source, an unseen window on the right. -Velazquez painted directly, without drawing first, without 'calculating', as it were. He began with the brush, sketching with a burnt umber, going from dark to light often alla prima ('wet-on-wet') (an oil painting technique in which layers of wet paint are applied to existing layers of wet paint) often finishing in one session - An enigmatic group portrait of sorts, Las Meninas is populated by an odd cast of characters, including a princess, a nun, a dwarf, and the Baroque artist himself.

Palace of Versailles, Le Vau and Hardoun-Mansart, 1668

Baroquw. The Palace of Versailles (built c.1624-98), a magnificent example of French Baroque architecture, is the most famous royal chateau in France. The gigantic scale of Versailles exemplifies the architectural theme of 'creation by division' - a series of simple repetitions rhythmically marked off by the repetition of the large windows - which expresses the fundamental values of Baroque art and in which the focal point of the interior, as well as of the entire building, is the king's bed. A court of 3,000 residents, including the king and queen, members of the royal family, government ministers, aristocrats, diplomats, civil servants and the like, required a suitably grand building, and no expense was spared. Indeed, the new complex became the apogee of palace architecture. Surrounded by 800 hectares of immaculate gardens, with beautiful vistas, fountains and statues, the palace contained several symmetrical suites of apartments for the public and private use of the king and queen, as well as numerous other architectural highlights. These included The Hall of Mirrors (1678-90) - the central gallery of the Palace - which comprised 17 mirror-clad arches reflecting the 17 windows. A total of 357 mirrors were used in its decoration. The ornamentations - the canvases along the ceiling that celebrate the apotheosis of the king, the polychrome marbles, the gilt bronzes -were organized by Le Brun, and in this undertaking he can be said to have reached the peak of the expressive possibilities of French Baroque art. Another famous room is the Royal Opera of Versailles, designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-82), which can seat up to 1200 guests. It was one of the earliest expressions of the Louis XVI style. Other important reception rooms, included: the Salons of Hercules, Diane, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, all named after Roman gods and goddesses. The rooms were decorated with mural painting, much of it by Le Brun, who was strongly influenced by the Italian tradition of architectural Baroque painting, as exemplified by the quadratura illusionism of Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669) at the Pitti Palace in Florence. Additional building works as well as alterations to the gardens, were instigated by both Louis XV and Louis XVI, but no major changes took place. The Palace of Versailles's interior designwork and decoration was legendary in its range, quality and expense. It featured the finest furniture and furnishings, beautiful ceramic art including Sevres porcelain, as well as tapestry art and small-scale bronze sculpture. The initial salons and the Hall of Mirrors even contained lavish displays of silver table pieces, gueridons and other furniture, though these were later melted down to finance further military campaigns. Not surprisingly, Louis XIV's astronomical expenditure stimulated a huge expansion of French crafts and specialist applied art, led directly to the emergence of Rococo art (dominated by France), and created an impetus in French painting and sculpture that paved the way for Paris to become the arts capital of the world.

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Chair Caning, 1912

Cubism Let's start at the upper right: almost at the edge of the canvas (at two o'clock) there is the handle of a knife. Follow it to the left to find the blade. The knife cuts a piece of citrus fruit. You can make out the rind and the segments of the slice at the bottom right corner of the blade.Below the fruit, which is probably a lemon, is the white, scalloped edge of a napkin. To the left of these things and standing vertically in the top center of the canvas (twelve o'clock) is a wine glass. It's hard to see at first, so look carefully. Just at the top edge of the chair caning is the glass's base, above it is the stem (thicker than you might expect), and then the bowl of the glass. It is difficult to find the forms you would expect because Picasso depicts the glass from more than one angle. At eleven o'clock is the famous "JOU," which means "game" in French, but also the first three letters of the French word for newspaper (or more literally, "daily"; journal=daily). In fact, you can make out the bulk of the folded paper quite clearly.

Caravaggio, Bacchus, 1595

Despite recent scholarly efforts to establish the Bacchus as an allegory - of the sense of taste, or even of Christ - the painting remains sufficient and convincing as simply the portrayal of a boy dressed as the ancient god of wine. It is less a satire than a kind of living symbolism.It is Caravaggio's first obviously classical work. The boy is a muscular ephebe, lolling on a lectus, an ancient couch, and dressed not in the flimsy shirt of a contemporary musician but in heavier stuff, reminiscent of the carved drapery in ancient Roman sculpture. His hair, surely a wig, is crowned with a wreath of black and white grapes and their leaves, and he offers the viewer a glass kylix of red wine, the cup of pleasure. Caravaggio's inspiration was one of the many surviving statues of the Emperor Hadrian's beloved, Antinous, who was often represented as Bacchus; perhaps it was the full-length statue of the god that belonged to the Marchese Giustiniani, and was engraved about 1630. The pose seems derived from a frescoed Bacchus painted by Federico Zuccaro during 1584-85 in a lunette in the studio of his house in FlorenceThe objects on the table are palpable under natural light which, however, casts no shadow on the background. The illusion is as seductive as the boy himself. He offers not only wine but himself as well: his right hand toys with his sash, which barely holds his drapery together. The image is a kind of imposture: the pose and costume, the affected coiffure, plucked eyebrows, pudgy hand, and plump hairless body are betrayed by the disturbingly muscular arm and the sullen provocative expression. Someone may have dictated to Caravaggio devices to transfigure the paganism of the image into concealed Christian symbolism. Knowledge of some such signification may have made the picture acceptable to connoisseurs. But what Caravaggio characterized was a body dedicated to sensuality rather than a soul infected with Christianity. The sly, dreamy eyes speculate on carnal things and promise gratification of the senses, not of the spirit, as "love cools without wine and fruit." Yet the possibility of an underlying moral, bizarre as it may seem and contradicted by appearances, cannot be totally ignored. The touches of corruption in the still life - the wormhole that has spoiled the apple, the pomegranate that has burst from overripeness - hint again of the Vanitas theme, that the boy is triumphant only in his youth, which will vanish as quickly as the bubbles in the carafe of freshly poured wine.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907

Early cubist colonisation that goes with modernism by using their masks without knowing much about it, cubism, Widespread interest in primate, non-modern societies -The picture is like a cinematic close-up. The five women - each over seven feet tall - are shockingly present, pressing themselves to the surface of the picture. The colour of their flesh makes them appear starkly naked rather than merely nude. And the way the figures are grouped is also striking: there appears to be no connection between them, which heightens the drama of the picture as well as its uncertainty. The two central women, in particular, are especially provocative: they stare expressionlessly out at the viewer, while lifting up their arms to show their breasts. These women - all aggressively flaunting their nudity - are real prostitutes with no hang-ups about what they have to offer. The head of one figure (top right) is covered with a primitive mask; while a second, squatting, figure (bottom right) is also masked, although her face is made up of multiple views, like a badly arranged jigsaw. Its "Cubist" characteristics include Picasso's use of flat, splintered imagery, together with patterns of light and dark (as opposed to rounded volumes), in order to create a sense of space and form. The splayed figure (bottom right) is made up of a collage of different viewpoints of herself, while the others are depicted in a flattened geometric form, with only minimal three-dimensionality. The painting's sharp, almost shard-like pictorial components, imbue it with a disturbing sense of violence and sexual power. The main point of Les Demoiselles d'Avignon was to challenge the viewer's normal assumptions. The gigantic intrusive nudes, the absence of perspective, the disconnected nature of the group, the juxtapositioning of normal faces with masked faces, the fact that all five seem to be arrested in time: all this contributed to the kaleidoscopic chaos and the sense of pictorial anarchy. Even the small tableau of fruit (bottom centre), the first indication of Picasso's interest in still life painting, appears to be falling from an upturned fragment of a bowl. The picture was a revolutionary act against the tyranny of Renaissance art, whose ruling principles of perspective, shading, colour and composition had to be trashed in order to usher in new ways of representing reality. The work paved the way for the explosion of abstract art

Henri Matisse, Woman with Red Hat, 1905

Fauvism; impressionism Femme au chapeau marked a stylistic change from the regulated brushstrokes of Matisse's earlier work to a more expressive individual style. His use of non-naturalistic colors and loose brushwork, which contributed to a sketchy or "unfinished" quality, seemed shocking to the viewers of the day.The artist's wife, Amélie, posed for this half-length portrait. She is depicted in an elaborate outfit with classic attributes of the French bourgeoisie: a gloved arm holding a fan and an elaborate hat perched atop her head. Her costume's vibrant hues are purely expressive, however; when asked about the hue of the dress Madame Matisse was actually wearing when she posed for the portrait, the artist allegedly replied, "Black, of course."

Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal at the Ballet on the Stage,1874

Impressionism -. He invents an entirely novel composition by giving the scene the illusion of having been painted from a raised position. This enables him to show the room in oblique and receding perspective, emphasised by the lines of the parquet floor. This sensation of the room receding is increased by exaggerating the diminution of figures by distance, using the process known as 'heightened perspective'. this picture is painted in succulent, seductive colours -Between the little ballerinas crowded together on the steps in the background and the two dancers seen in the foreground, stretches a large empty space - contrasting with the varied and busy detail of the ballerinas and their postures - in which the dancers will later perform. But now the space is occupied by the old ballet master (Jules Perrot) who stands there leaning on his wooden stick which he uses to beat the time. While a young girl in the centre of the group seems to be paying some attention to what he is saying, the rest are taking no notice. The two dancers in the foreground are observed with a cruel and rather ironical eye. One of them, standing up and resting heavily on her ungainly feet, shows no sign of the gracefulness which she will display later on. Interestingly, X-ray analysis of the canvas shows that Degas first painted her facing towards the viewer. By changing her position to face inwards, he reinforces the impression that we are actually in the room with the dancers, who are oblivious of our presence. The other dancer, who is sitting on the piano, is twisting herself about in order to scratch her back. The sylphides of the future are now the 'monkey girls' of whom the Goncourts spoke, and give away their origins with every gesture. Degas himself, in a sonnet about the theatre, wrote this disillusioned line: "That queenly air is achieved by make-up and keeping at a distance." -The room is lighted from the right by tall windows which are reflected in the big mirror on the left, which thus provides a second source of light. -The influence of photography on Degas can be seen in the way he crops the edges of the composition, in order to create an impression of spontaneity, as if the painting is a snapshot of the scene.

Mary Cassatt, In the Loge, 1878

Impressionism Cassatt focused on the spectators rather than the performers, exposing the dramas in the audience. In the Loge explores the act of looking: a distant man (at right) watches the woman in black who stares through her opera glasses at another spectator. This series of glances evokes Cassatt's own studious observation as she produced the picture. Despite the man's intense gaze, the woman in black is not merely an object of his desire. Her own actions emphasize her independence and reflect the increasing social freedom accorded modern women.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, 1894

Impressionism Light was all that interested Monet. -His painting technique was still changing; his paint became a sort of stippled cement as if to imitate the grain of the old stones. -Using a cathedral as his subject allowed Monet to illustrate the paradox between a relatively solid, permanent stone structure and the evanescent light which controls our perception of it. In these compositions, he used thick impastoed layers of paint, expressive of the nature of the subject. This texture and Monet's subtle interplay of colours helped to fashion a series of shimmering images that are entirely worthy of their monumental subject. -

Manet, The Bar at the Folies-Bergere, 1882

Impressionism central female viewer that's confronting the viewer: more impressionist influence = some elements are off (assume that it's a bar facing two sides; however it's a woman standing in front of a counter with a mirror: the woman is staying in the wrong place > by putting it off center there's a sense of ambiguity and weirdness: a bored expression on the woman's face: modern alienation) > parallel between the fruit, liquor and woman: all the things you may approach the bar to pay for + feet in the upper left: strange details The woman behind the bar is believed to represent one of the prostitutes -

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950

In Autumn Rhythm, as in many of his paintings, Pollock first created a complex linear skeleton using black paint. For this initial layer the paint was diluted, so that it soaked into the length of unprimed canvas, thereby inextricably joining image and support. Over this black framework Pollock wove an intricate web of white, brown, and turquoise lines, which produce the contrary visual rhythms and sensations: light and dark, thick and thin, heavy and buoyant, straight and curved, horizontal and vertical. Textural passages that contribute to the painting's complexity — such as the pooled swirls where two colors meet and the wrinkled skins formed by the build-up of paint — are barely visible in the initial confusion of overlapping lines. Although Pollock's imagery is nonrepresentational, Autumn Rhythm is evocative of nature, not only in its title but also in its coloring, horizontal orientation, and sense of ground and space

J.L. David, Oath of Horatii, 1784

NEOCLASSICAL ART--> Neoclassicism stands for values such as stoicism, self-sacrifice, duty, patriotism, gravitas, action and reason. Thus in the context of a decadent France, ruled over by the Absolute Monarchy of the Bourbons, with its frivolity and absurd self-indulgences, the idealized art of classical antiquity was a perfect medium for David's message. The idealized faces and bodies of the men, bunched together for solidarity, with their determined looks and taut, outstretched limbs: all this conveys an intensity and clarity of purpose, as they take their oath of allegiance to Rome. The trio express no emotion or doubt about the nature of their patriotic duty. They are ready and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. But there is much more drama in the scene. Behind the father of the three Horatii brothers, the women of the family sit weeping. The woman on the far right is Camilla, the sister of the Horatii brothers who is also betrothed in marriage to one of the Curiatii fighters. She weeps because she knows that whatever happens she will lose someone she loves. Next to Camilla is Sabina - her Curiatius sister-in-law - who weeps for her Horatius husband and her Curiatius brother. In the background, the mother of the family comforts the two children, one of whom belongs to Sabina. But however noble the theme, it is the artist's painting ability that creates a masterpiece. In this case, David's painterly methods are masterly and provide a perfect illustration of the neoclassicist style. The figure painting is exceptional, the drapery is outstanding. The emphasis is on clear, hard details with none of the soft-focus brushwork favoured by the Rococo. And in the best traditions of academic art, the artist has gone to great lengths to eliminate any brushstrokes so as not to distract the viewer. David depicts masculine resolution in the straight arms and legs of the brothers, reflecting the strong columns in the background. In contrast, female sensitivity is portrayed in the curves of the women, echoing the arches which are supported by the columns. The use of straight lines to symbolize strength is also shown in the swords, only one of which is straight, perhaps indicating that only one brother will survive the battle. Colour is also used to convey messages. The brother nearest to the camera wears red, matching the robe of the father, and white, matching that of Camilla, perhaps implying that he is destined to be the only survivor. In true neoclassical style, The Oath of the Horatii provides an idealized story which illustrates the nobility of putting civic duty before personal preference. In its emphasis of republican values, rather than the divine rights of the monarchy, and in its promotion of reason rather than emotion, it clearly reflects the principles of the Age of Enlightenment and heralds the era of modern art to come.

J.L David, Death of Marat, 1793

NEOCLASSICAL ART-> The Death of Marat immortalized Marat as a martyr and hero of the people, and rapidly became an iconic image of the French Revolution. David achieved this by harnessing all the features commonly used in religious paintings of the lamentation of Christ, or scenes of Christian martyrdom. To begin with, he removes all trace of the ornate decor of Marat's grand bathroom. In its place, he creates a sort of austere theatrical set with a darkened void as a background, against which Marat is presented to the audience. His head sinks back and his face is bathed in a soft, glowing light. With a sweet, beatific smile on his lips, his last breath escapes. His pose, as well as the knife-wound just below his collarbone, both recall paintings of Jesus after being cut down from the cross. A quill drops from his hand; the bloody knife lies nearby. Adapting his composition from the traditional style of the pieta - see, for example, Pieta (1500, St Peter's Basilica, Rome) by Michelangelo - David transforms a messy, chaotic assassination into an icon of peaceful martyrdom. He has amended and edited the truth so carefully that nothing rings false. Although a withered invalid in life, Marat has been given long muscular arms in death. His right arm is left dangling in a manner reminiscent of Jesus in The Entombment of Christ (1601-3, Vatican Museums) by Caravaggio. His oozing skin is now smooth and unblemished. We could say that David presents us with a "carefully staged death" as in theatre. The sense of space is reduced to a minimum as David is not preoccupied with the rendering of a perfect perspective of a room but he is rather interested in idealising Marat.

Marie-Guillemine Benoist, Portrait of Madeleine, 1800

Neoclassical->The painting shows a young black woman seated in an armchair. Her body is oriented to her left, but she turns to face the viewer with a sober and self-possessed expression. The treatment of her face suggests this is a likeness of a particular individual. Most of her hair is covered in an elaborate white headwrap, and she wears a brilliant white garment that slips from her shoulders to reveal the warm dark skin of her right breast. The background is a plain beige field, but the trim on her chair suggests that she is sitting in a well-furnished interior. The only bright colors in this largely monochromatic work are the red of a ribbon holding the white cloth beneath her breasts and the blue of a shawl draped over the back of her chair. Benoist's painting is consistent with the conventions of portraiture and the Neoclassical aesthetic prevailing in France in 1800. The woman's costume recalls the fashionable dress of the period, and her pose is similar to those seen in Jacques-Louis David's portraits, such as Madame Raymond de Verninac. The bared breast underlines the contrast of skin and fabric: in portraits, a convincing rendering of flesh tones was crucial, and in the European tradition, as far back as the sixteenth century, the skin of "Ethiopians"—as Africans were commonly called—was considered especially challenging to paint. Benoist's work is a striking demonstration of her capabilities as a portraitist. Many believe Benoist's painting is a celebration of the abolition of slavery and an analogy of France's new Republic. The woman is wearing white clothes with a red waistband while sitting on a blue chair. Here, it's thought that Benoist was making reference to the times of the Revolution as the episode that took away the blindfold of the people of France's eyes.

Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Self Portrait with Two Pupils, 1785

Neoclassism? The work has often been construed as a piece of propaganda, symbolising the dispute over the role of women in the Academy. She has portrayed herself in her studio which is richly furnished and this was her way of denoting her favourable financial situation. She is seated in front of a large canvas and behind her stand two of her students, Marie Gabrielle Capet and Mademoiselle Carreaux de Rosemond, who have been depicted in much plainer clothes. Adélaïde wears a sumptuous and expensive low cut gown and large plumed hat neither of which would have been worn by an artist at work but is more likely to be a declaration of her femininity, and the fact that she is an artist who moved in high society. The feminist stand on art education was further enhanced by the inclusion of her two female students both of whom would become great artists in their own right. She shows herself as a strong and confident woman, as she engages our eyes directly with an unwaveringly commanding gaze.

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889

Post impressionism -he night sky depicted by van Gogh in the Starry Night painting is brimming with whirling clouds, shining stars, and a bright crescent moon. The setting is one that viewers can relate to and van Gogh´s swirling sky directs the viewer´s eye around the painting, with spacing between the stars and the curving contours creating a dot-to-dot effect. These internal elements ensure fluidity and such contours were important for the artist even though they were becoming less significant for other Impressionists. Thus Starry Night´s composition was distinct from the Impressionist technique of the 19th century.The artist was aware that his Starry Night composition was somewhat surreal and stylized and in a letter to his brother he even referred to "exaggerations in terms of composition. " The vivid style chosen by van Gogh was unusual - he chose lines to portray this night scene when silhouettes would have been a more obvious choice.In Starry Night contoured forms are a means of expression and they are used to convey emotion. Many feel that van Gogh´s turbulent quest to overcome his illness is reflected in the dimness of the night sky. The village is painted with dark colors but the brightly lit windows create a sense of comfort. The village is peaceful in comparison to the dramatic night sky and the silence of the night can almost be felt in Starry Night. The steeple dominates the village and symbolizes unity in the town. In terms of composition, the church steeple gives an impression of size and isolation.In the left foreground is a curvy cypress tree which is typically associated with mourning. It is painted in the same way as the sky with fluid lines which enhances the flow of the Starry Night painting well as its easiness on the eye. -Van Gogh's use of white and yellow creates a spiral effect and draws attention to the sky. Vertical lines such as the cypress tree and church tower softly break up the composition without retracting from the powerful night sky depicted in Starry Night.Vincent van Gogh´s choice of dark blues and greens were complemented with touches of mint green showing the reflection of the moon. The buildings in the centre of the painting are small blocks of yellows, oranges, and greens with a dash of red to the left of the church. The dominance of blue in Starry Night is balanced by the orange of the night sky elements.Van Gogh paints the rich colors of the night and this corresponds with the true character of this Starry Night, whereby colors are used to suggest emotion. THESE COLORS SYMBOLIZED ANXIETY MAYBE -There are various interpretations of Starry Night and one is that this canvas depicts hope. It seems that van Gogh was showing that even with a dark night such as this it is still possible to see light in the windows of the houses. Furthermore, with shining stars filling the sky, there is always light to guide you.

Vincent van Gogh, The Night Cafe, 1880s

Post impressionism The painting was executed on industrial primed canvas of size 30 (French standard). It depicts the interior of the cafe, with a half-curtained doorway in the center background leading, presumably, to more private quarters. Five customers sit at tables along the walls to the left and right, and a waiter in a light coat, to one side of a billiard table near the center of the room, stands facing the viewer.The five customers depicted in the scene have been described as "three drunks and derelicts in a large public room [...] huddled down in sleep or stupor."One scholar wrote, "The cafe was an all-night haunt of local down-and-outs and prostitutes, who are depicted slouched at tables and drinking together at the far end of the room."In wildly contrasting, vivid colours, the ceiling is green, the upper walls red, the glowing, gas ceiling lamps and floor largely yellow. The paint is applied thickly, with many of the lines of the room leading toward the door in the back. The perspective looks somewhat downward toward the floor. -Unlike typical Impressionist works, the painter does not project a neutral stance towards the world or an attitude of enjoyment of the beauty of nature or of the moment. The painting is an instance of Van Gogh's use of what he called "suggestive colour" or, as he would soon term it, "arbitrary colour" in which the artist infused his works with his emotions, typical of what was later called Expressionism.The red and green of the walls and ceiling are an "oppressive combination", and the lamps are "sinister features" with orange-and-green halos, according to Nathaniel Harris. "The top half of the canvas creates its basic mood, as any viewer can verify by looking at it with one or the other half of the reproduction covered up; the bottom half supplies the 'facts.'" The thick paint adds a surreal touch of waviness to the table tops, billiard table and floor. The viewer is left with a feeling of seediness and despair, Harris wrote. "The scene might easily be banal and dispiriting; instead, it is dispiriting but also terrible."The red and green of the walls and ceiling are an "oppressive combination", and the lamps are "sinister features" with orange-and-green halos, according to Nathaniel Harris. "The top half of the canvas creates its basic mood, as any viewer can verify by looking at it with one or the other half of the reproduction covered up; the bottom half supplies the 'facts.'" The thick paint adds a surreal touch of waviness to the table tops, billiard table and floor. The viewer is left with a feeling of seediness and despair, Harris wrote. "The scene might easily be banal and dispiriting; instead, it is dispiriting but also terrible."The perspective of the scene is one of its most powerful effects, according to various critics. Schapiro described the painting's "absorbing perspective which draws us headlong past empty chairs and tables into hidden depths behind a distant doorway an opening like the silhouette of the standing figure." Lant described it as a "shocking perspectival rush, which draws us, by the converging diagonals of floorboards and billiard table, towards the mysterious, courtained doorway beyond." Harris wrote that the perspective "pitches the viewer forward into the room, towards the half-curtained private quarters, and also creates a sense of vertigo and distorted vision, familiar from nightmares." Schapiro also noted, "To the impulsive rush of these converging lines he opposes the broad horizontal band of red, full of scattered objects Van Gogh established a symbolic, emotional depth in "The Night Café." The painting's purpose was to put the viewer into the eyes of the artist. As the viewer walks into a café alone, they see a man in white staring directly at them; meanwhile, other characters are spread around the café looking depressed, melancholy, and miserable. This gives the viewer an automatic feeling of insecurity, as well as the desire to become comfortable- a human's unconscious id. Van Gogh expresses the darkness in public places through his "hellish furnace" colored café. The red walls and green ceilings cause the viewer to unconsciously acquire feelings of loneliness, fear, and coldness. Van Gogh interprets Freud's theory by expressing the idea that humans seek pleasure while avoiding punishment. While the man in white is staring at the viewer, we begin the feel anxious and the idea of "ruining oneself" arises. The painting is made up of contrasting colors meant to represent the "terrible passions of humanity" (van Gogh 677). Van Gogh describes the Café de la Gare to be a place where the people of France go to get drunk and become miserable; therefore, a setting for voluntarily not dealing with personal obstacles. Freud's Psychoanalysis theory has a corresponding meaning about the internal conflicts of a person. The id wants to be pleased, which is conveyed by the glasses of alcohol on the tables. Admittedly, the feeling of being alone and not dealing with one's problems is common among the visitors of the Café de la Gare; however, the ego negotiates between ruining oneself and fitting in with society. Putting these three parts of the human mind into the life of the viewer, the id wants to do what will provide them with instant gratification, the ego wants to fit in, and its superego is yet to be decided, because we are to determine that.

Antoine Watteau, Pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717

ROCOCO ART--> The Pilgrimage to Cythera is neither a genre painting nor a landscape painting, but a new type of picture known as La fete galante (a sort of allegory of courtship and falling in love). Set on Cythera, a fantasy island of love and romance where lovers go to find their ideal partner (in classical mythology Cythera was seen as the birthplace of Venus, goddess of love), the painting seems to depict the end of the journey when the lovers must re-embark for home, although this remains moot: some critics believe the boat is about to set off to Cythera. In any event, the painting's acclaimed qualities include its rhythmical structure along with its subtle sense of continuity between the groups of figures, the liveliness of its brushwork, and the beautiful colour scheme. The dreamy distant landscape is another innovative feature of the painting, and signals the influence of Giorgione and Leonardo da Vinci. Watteau had been accepted as a member of the Academy in 1714, but in return was expected to present the Academy with a picture. Although, being of an independent mind, he was given considerable freedom in choosing a subject for this piece, his repeated failure to submit a work (he was too busy with a lucrative line in portrait art for private customers) led to several reprimands. An ultimatum from the Academy in January, 1717, led to the rapid completion of the painting - based on the earlier Frankfurt design. In fact, it was so well received that the Academy decided to invent an entirely new classification for it: the fete galante. This style became a significant influence on the development of Rococo painting, although it rapidly fell out of favour during the era of the French Revolution when it was superceded by the new Neoclassical painting.

Francois Boucher, Diana at her Bath, 1742

ROCOCO ART-->Boucher was a master of playful eroticism. His works for the French court were designed to titillate; yet they always maintain a light, almost innocent tone, regardless. Here we have a beautiful Diana, goddess of the hunt and the moon, assisted at her bath by a lovely nymph. Instead of the more typical Diana - who is often depicted as a strong, bow-wielding huntress - Boucher presents a charmingly innocent girl, unabashedly nude. Diana's bow and arrows lie on the ground beside her next to a grouping of hare and birds, evidence of a successful hunt (though it is difficult to imagine how this sweet soft Diana could even handle such a bow). Her hunting dogs drink from a stream in the background as the young goddess reclines on silky drapery in the middle of lush woods, wearing nothing but a crescent moon, pearls and ribbons in her hair. Boucher used this thin mythological guise to explore the beauties of the female body. Expertly drawn, the young women move with an exquisite delicacy - note the gentle point of Diana's feet, the languid turn of her body. Light emanating from the left sensuously highlights every curve and line of both women's figures; Diana's nipples are daubed a rosy red, the sort of naughty detail Boucher loved. His luminous palette - smoky blues, shimmering white, subtle greens - add to the sense of a charmed world. With creamy complexions, fair hair, rosebud lips and rounded bodies they are effortlessly feminine and innocently titillating; perfect reflections of the concept of the ideal woman during the reign of Louis XV. Diana was also a symbol of chastity and Boucher plays up her innocence (almost to the point of imbecility) as a foil against charges of impropriety: unaware of the spectator or her potential affect on one, her nudity is innocence itself. The scene is a masterpiece of guiltless voyeuristic pleasure, which is exactly what Boucher intended: the painting was first exhibited at the Salon of 1742 as part of a series of small sensuous works destined for collector's private cabinets. The image is a compendium of the Rococo style: glossy surfaces, a high-toned palette favouring blues and pinks, a playful grace and lightness and tone that is both sentimental and filled with erotic possibilities. Boucher is famed for his development of the mature Rococo;

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Meeting, 1766

ROCOCO- " The series advances in the following order: from a flirtatious proposal (a young man offers a girl a rose), to a furtive meeting (the lover scales the wall of a garden), to consummation or marriage (the girl crowns her lover with roses), to the calm enjoyment of a happy union (the reading of love letters).

Honoré Daumier, Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art, Lithograph, 1862

Realism Context: Nadar was famous for taking aerial photos of Paris since 1858. Daumier depicts Nadar as a bizarre, daring photographer; Nadar's hat is flying off, and in his own excitement to capture the perfect shot, he almost falls out of his balloon. Daumier mocks the new declaration that photography could be equal to "high art;" it's an ironic artwork. Appeared in a journal called Le Boulevard. Content: All buildings in Paris below have "Paris" written on them. Form: Lithograph (printing from a stone or smooth metal plate to produce mass images.) Function: To mock Nadar; to show that ridiculous and dangerous means have to be used to elevate photography to the height and importance of "high art." Serves as a commentary on the 1862 court decision permitting photography to be seen as high art. Also foreshadows modern aerial-surveillance photography; Nadar's balloon was used in the 1870 Siege of Paris for intrusive photography.

Gustave Courbet, The Stone Breakers, 1849

Realism His Stonebreakers represented workers, as he had seen them, in monumental form.The Stone Breakers, painted in 1849, depicts two ordinary peasant workers. Courbet painted without any apparent sentiment; instead, he let the image of the two men, one too young for hard labor and the other too old, express the feelings of hardship and exhaustion that he was trying to portray. Courbet shows sympathy for the workers and disgust for the upper class by painting these men with a dignity all their own. Courbet has used the difference in stone breakers' ages to symbolise the cycle of poverty, and he has 'cast light' on their plight by placing them in strong light across the foreground of the painting, with the shadow of the hills behind them and only a small patch of blue in the upper right. But see how our eye is then drawn from the patch of sky down through the long hammer back towards the endeavours of the older stone breaker, and then across his backward facing leg to the younger man. We are back to the central subjects of the work - they dominate the work no matter where we look. However, Courbet has carefully added details to the painting so we know a little more about their lives - for example, their clothes are clearly tattered and ill fitting. We can see a cooking pot, a loaf of bread and a spoon on the left, sitting on an old cloth - so that we know there is little respite from their day's work. On the right we see a basket to carry debris, with a scythe lying on the rocks between the workers, so we can assume that as well as breaking the stones, the labourers are clearing the land.

Edouard Manet, Olympia, 1863

Realism Manet's most infamous painting: it inspired near-hysterical critical outrage ♣ Both paintings paraphrase a Renaissance original while alluding to contemporary prostitutions, attacking the allegorical mystification of sex, money, and power in typical academic painting ♣ Manet's sketchy paint handling and overall flatness extend Courbet's interest in "naïve, primitive" and popular sources, drawing attention to the surface of the picture place and the material quality of paint ♣ Lots of tension in her hand: shamelessly covering herself and the dark colors that make her skin look dirty > looking at you with her gaze and remaindering that you must pay (provoked critics)• Nude: the idea that a man can control and own a woman but disguises it as a question of beauty• Manet makes prostitution more obvious: doesn't romanticize it She looks at the viewer with a direct, almost confrontational gaze, as if placing the viewer in the role of her client. True, female nudes have been created by artists for centuries: Greek sculpture consisted of hardly anything else, and the Italian Renaissance regarded the human body as the ultimate subject. But nudity was only acceptable provided that the context was sufficiently high-minded. And a courtesan lying naked on a bed had the cold and prosaic reality of a truly low-minded subject. In effect, by refusing to idealize her, indeed, by making her as undesirable as possible - the harsh lighting and off-white skin further diminishes her desirability - Manet is deliberately undermining the tradition of academic art and its old-fashioned principles, which he believed had no part in a progressive arts regime, in a modern France. -similar to sleeping venus painting

Daguerre, The Artist's Studio, 1837

Realism This naturalistic photograph features a cluttered composition to create the effect of realism. This arrangement of inanimate objects appears to be placed randomly on the table. The slanted lines created by the white plate, the two statue heads, and the wicker wine bottle enhance this naturalistic effect; they appear to be resting casually and arbitrarily. The photograph has a grainy texture. The graduated tones of light and shadow act as chiaroscuro. The nearly white left side counterbalances the darkly shadowed right side, creating a harmonious composition. The scene is naturalistic because it is a photograph, and therefore cannot be imagined. However, Daguerre was still able to choose the position and arrangement of objects.

JMW Turner, Hannibal Crossing the Alps, 1812

Romanticism Hannibal Barca was a Commander of the Carthaginian army in 200-100 BC. He was a celebrated military leader. Although he is referenced in the title of this work, Hannibal himself is not pictured. Rather than focus on an individual leader, this work expresses human's vulnerability when faced with the power of nature. The attention is on the victims of the conflict, the soldiers struggling in the harsh conditions. The painting depicts the struggle of Hannibal's soldiers to cross the Maritime Alps in 218BC, opposed by the forces of nature and local tribes. A curving black storm cloud dominates the sky, poised to descend on the soldiers in the valley below, with an orange-yellow Sun attempting to break through the clouds. A white avalanche cascades down the mountain to the right. It contains the first appearance in Turner's work of a swirling oval vortex of wind, rain and cloud, a dynamic composition of contrasting light and dark

Theodore Gericault, Raft of the Medusa, 1818

Romanticism The Raft of the Medusa is an iconic Romantic painting that introduced the movement that effectively substituted Neoclassicism. As such, the piece contained all the features that defined what Romantic meant. Its style relies on the drama and fluidity of the Baroque movement and utilizes loose brushstrokes, a strong and somber color palette, the sharp contrast of light and dark and dramatic poses. As were nearly all Neoclassical and Romantic painters, Géricault was as well strongly influenced by Michelangelo and therefore painted idealized, muscular bodies, which in this case are a strong contradiction to how the men truly looked. The sky and water are also definitely Romantic in nature as they depict drama, shadow and light, conveying the strong forces that these unfortunate humans are at the mercy of. The massive size of the painting is in keeping with traditional historical pieces and their scales, although the subject here was a current event and, contrary to most historical paintings, there is no clear-cut hero(s) - instead, we are presented with victims. Perhaps the most striking feature of The Raft of the Medusa are the interlocking triangles, a common characteristic in Renaissance and Baroque paintings, as well as a clear-cut indicator of Théodore Géricault's academic background[4]. The action is arranged in two distinct pyramidal shapes with two key peaks - the wave that may or may not engulf the survivors on the raft and the flag in the top right corner that is raised in a last gesture of hope. The two pyramids serve to isolate the two distinct possibilities: rescue or massacre[5]. Furthermore, the people on the raft are subtly divided into four separate groups; the dead and dying are in the middle, then there are those struggling to stand up, a third group is comprised of three figures huddled together by the mast and the fourth group is capped by the African man swinging the flag in desperation. Studying the painting from left to right, its obvious that the physicality of the figures intensifies - however, it should be noted that this does not necessarily include the emotional drama as well. This is best evidenced by the despondent father who holds onto the body of his dead son in the foreground. The Raft of the Medusa was also one of the first pieces to feature a subtle social and governmental criticism, In its brutality, realism, and raw emotion it captures the essence of a historic event that shocked the French public, a Revolution-weary public that was not easy to shock. The story behind the painting is as devastating as the desperation on canvas.The Medusa was a French naval vessel that was on course off the coast of Africa before running aground on a sandbar near Mauritania on July 2, 1816. After three days of trying to free the ship from where it was stuck, the crew and passengers took to the ship's six small lifeboats.The problem was that there were 400 people on board, while the boats only had the capacity to carry approximately 250. As a result, 146 men and one woman were loaded onto a wooden raft that was both shoddily and hastily constructed.With only one bag of biscuits, two casks of water, and several casks of wine, the people adrift experienced a hellish 13 days at sea. There was a great deal of infighting, with many people being thrown overboard, throwing themselves overboard, or cannibalized.By the time they were finally rescued, only 15 men had survived. This caused a huge scandal at home due to the slow response of the French government in the rescue.

Installation View: The "Degenerate Art" Exhibition, Munich 1937

The exhibition presented 650 works of art, confiscated from German museums, and was staged in counterpoint to the concurrent Great German Art Exhibition\ Degenerate art was defined as works that "insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an absence of adequate manual and artistic skill" Surrealism

JMW Turner, The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840o

The first impression that the painting creates is of an enormous deep-red sunset over a stormy sea, an indication of an approaching typhoon.[3] Upon closer inspection one can discern a ship sailing off into the distance. The masts of the ship are red, matching the blood-red colour of the sky and the sickly copper colour of the water, which serves to blur the lines between various objects in the painting.[2] The ship's sails are also not unfurled, revealing that the ship is preparing for the typhoon. In the foreground can be seen a number of bodies floating in the water; their dark skin and chained hands and feet indicate that they are slaves, thrown overboard from the ship. Looking even more carefully, one can see fish and sea monsters swimming in the water, possibly preparing to eat the slaves, and sea gulls circling overhead above the chaos. Consistent with Turner's emphasis on colour in many of his other works, the painting's central focus is on the interactions of various colours. Few defined brush strokes appear in the painting, and objects, colours, and figures become indistinct. Rather, objects are defined by their colours in the painting, and some objects (like the bodies of the slaves and the incoming storm) have no real border at all, being solely defined by the contrast with the pigments around them. The most prominent colours are the red of the sunset which encroaches into the water and ship as well, and the maroon of the bodies and hands of the slaves.

Jacob Lawrence, Migration of the Negro #49, 1940-41

The majority of southern blacks migrated to the North with optimism; however many were disappointed to find that it had its own brand of discrimination. The constant influx of black migrants into northern cities led to unprecedented levels of hostility on the part of northern whites. Restrictive housing, living, and working policies abounded. The city of San Francisco sent experts to the Midwest to study techniques and strategies of exclusion.1 Black migrants were often segregated into the most delapidated sections of the city, forced to pay high prices for inferior housing, and discriminated against in the workplace. Widespread unrest over these conditions was unleashed during summer race riots in 1919.This panel shows a public dining space in the North. Blacks and whites are divided by a yellow barrier that zigzags through the center of the painting. The yellow dividing line is emphasized by the tilted table tops and chairs situated against the background of the restaurant floor. Tables and chairs are placed to reinforce the diners' separation.

Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, Portrait of Marie Antionette with her Children, 1787

The queen holds a firm, intense gaze as she looks directly at the viewer. This gaze symbolizes her power as a ruler and her dominance over the viewer, as the viewer is more than likely lower in social status. Marie Antoinette is dressed simply and lacks excessive jewelry which is uncharacteristic of her normal attire. She is portrayed in this manner in an attempt to downplay her excessive, materialistic lifestyle and appear more likeable to those she rules over. The pale skin of the Queen and her children reflects their wealth and power as they spend the majority of their time being entertained inside. Her children are orderly positioned for the painting which is symbolic of their distant relationship. The staged setting and forced interactions within this painting make it clear that Marie Antoinette spends very little time engaging with her own children. The children's encircling positions assist in portraying Marie as the familial core and contributes to her perceived fulfillment of the nature role of a woman. The son pulling aside the drapes to reveal an empty cradle alludes to the absence of another child. It could be representative of a deceased infant or a baby on the way. The Queen's elevated feet on a pillow symbolizes her elevated status and rule over France. Within the painting, only the Queen and her son (the heir of the throne) are looking directly at the viewer. This heightens the superior role and importance of the son within the immediate family. The source of light within the painting originates in the top left corner and widens to illuminate only the Queen and her children. They are illuminated in an attempt to spotlight the Queen's primary role as a mother and secondary role as a ruler. The lavish interior of their home is subdued within the background to symbolize the Queen's "lack of interest" in tangible wealth.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain 1917/1950

The story is legend. Duchamp, wanting to submit an artwork to the "unjuried" Society of Independent Artists' salon in New York—which claimed that they would accept any work of art, so long as the artist paid the application fee—presented an upside-down urinal signed and dated with the appellation "R. Mutt, 1917," and titled Fountain. -testing the commitment of the new American Society to freedom of expression and its tolerance of new conceptions of art.

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930

avoiding references to the real world, and using only the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), the primary values (black, white, and grey), and the primary directions (horizontal and vertical), Piet Mondrian created abstract paintings through which he sought to reveal universal harmony and order. This idealistic pursuit was shared by his fellow Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg. Together they cofounded the pioneering and highly influential movement De Stijl (The Style) in 1917. Through De Stijl, Mondrian and van Doesburg galvanized an artistic response to what they believed would be the beginning of a new era after World War I, where art and life would be integrated. His Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow (1930), with its gridded black lines locking squares of color into a geometric composition, exemplifies the visual vocabulary he created to express his ideas.

Aaron Douglas, Noah's Ark, c. 1927

cubism Noah's Ark, the painting featured on this month's cover of Emerging Infectious Diseases, is characterized by the formal, analytical innovations of cubism. A narrow range of sober hues (greens, beiges, blues, whites) allows uninterrupted concentration on the strict geometric definition of space. The transparent, overlapping geometric forms define the desired perspective. The ark is thrust to the foreground, preceded only by the prominent African mask, which firmly anchors the viewer into a geographic and chronological milieu. Sharp lightening strikes, terse animals heading for cover, and a focused crew advancing the vessel's final course bespeak highest emergency. Cataclysmic disasters fill the pages of human history, from Moses to "the little Dutch boy." The stuff of nightmares, these disasters touch a chord because they reach beyond individual tragedy to massive plight of global proportions. Like other universal themes, the ark derives its appeal from broad applicability: haven of last resort protects those inside from impending disaster for the greater good.

Georges Braque, The Portuguese, 1911

cubism The Portuguese marks an interesting point in the development of Braque's paintings. In the top right hand corner, he stenciled the letters "D BAL" and under them, roman numerals. Although he had included numbers and letters into a still life in 1910, they were a representational element of the painting. In this piece, the letters and numbers are a purely compositional addition. Braque's intentions at adding the letters are many, but mostly they are added to make the viewer aware of the canvas itself. In representational paintings, the canvas is there only as a surface to hold whatever image the painter desires. By adding numbers, out of context elements, and surface textures, the viewer becomes aware of the fact that the canvas can also hold outside elements, making the surface of the painting just as important as what is put on top of it. In his work, objects are fragmented and reconstructed into geometric forms, fracturing the picture plane in order to explore a variety of viewpoints. "The hard-and-fast rules of perspective

Ernst-Ludwig Kirchner, Street Dresden, 1908

expressionism Street, Dresden emphasizes the dynamism of urban life in Germany in the early twentieth century, depicting the swirling crowds and electric lights of the modern city. It recalls the isolation and psychological angst explored by earlier nineteenth-century artists, but reflects the twentieth-century move toward greater expressionism in color and open brushwork. treet, Dresden is Kirchner's bold, discomfiting attempt to render the jarring experience of modern urban bustle. The scene radiates tension. Its packed pedestrians are locked in a constricting space; the plane of the sidewalk, in an unsettlingly intense pink (part of a palette of shrill and clashing colors), slopes steeply upward, and the exit to the rear is blocked by a trolley car. The street—Dresden's fashionable Königstrasse—is crowded, even claustrophobically so, yet everyone seems alone. The women at right, one clutching her purse, the other her skirt, are holding themselves in, and their faces are expressionless, almost masklike. A little girl is dwarfed by her hat, one in a network of eddying, whorling shapes that entwine and enmesh the human figures.

Manet, Nana, 1876

impressionism -Nana is an example of one of Manet's later works which follows Olympia and Le Dejeuner sur l' Herb. This painting is somewhat less shocking then its predecessors because the courtesan is clothed. Still she remains similar to the other two paintings in her defiant stare and prominence in the painting. The fact that her male caller is such an unimportant part of the composition did cause a stir. For a man to play such a minor role to woman, a courtesan no less, in the same painting was not usually done. This painting gave a name and a face to yet another courtesan as Manet struggled to paint the real people. No one wanted to be reminded of courtesans as real people yet with this painting it is hard to remain ignorant. -Nana is standing infront of a mirror applying make-up Her gentlemen caller is shown only on the very edge of the painting making him less important then the courtesan in the middle. To paint a courtesan being more important then a gentlemen was not usually done. The curved sofa, leading away from the man seems to encompass and frame Nana's body. Making it the center and most important part of this particular painting. Everyone is looking at Nana. The mirror is aimed at her and her caller is looking at her. She in return stared out from the center of the picture with a slight smile. Nana is of course aware of her visitor Nana meets the eye of the viewer. This was scandalous because it suggested that she was equal to the viewer or at the very least not ashamed. The man's cane is a phallic symbol which was often employed at the time. The fact that Manet is putting a face on a courtesan and is moving her into the public eye was not something that was done at the time. Giving the courtesan in this picture a name clearly showed everyone that such people existed at the time. Although everyone knew they hated to be reminded and pretended that prostitution did not exist. Nana seems to reduce the stature and subordinates the attention of her truncated solicitor.

Gustave Caillebotte, Paris Street; Rainy Day, 1877

impressionism -In this masterpiece, Caillebotte imparts an unusual monumentality and compositional virtuosity to the sort of typical everyday scene favoured by Impressionists - in this case, the bold new boulevards introduced by Baron Haussmann (1809-91) that transformed the Paris landscape. The effect is both real and contrived, casual and choreographed. His curiously detached figures reflect the anonymity engendered by the boulevards, while the vista chosen accentuates the huge scale of the architectural development which dwarfs the human figures it surrounds. Many of these figures appear isolated and absorbed in their own thoughts, their expressions downcast, while they seem to be hurrying rather than strolling. The picture's cropped look and photo-realistic effect adds to its 'modern look'. Note also that although it is associated with the school of Impressionism, "Paris Street, Rainy Day" is characterized more by its realism and reliance on line, rather than the typically loose brushwork of the Impressionist idiom. -The layout of the roads and buildings allows Caillebotte to use two-point perspective. Judging by the light, the scene is set on a winter's afternoon. The main focus of the composition is a middle-class couple with an umbrella, each dressed in the latest Parisian fashion. She wears a fur lined coat, with hat and veil; while he wears a top hat, frock coat with upturned collar, bow tie and waistcoat. In the background a mixture of bourgeois and working class pedestrians are visible. In addition to the imposing architecture of the buildings, the other defining feature of the picture are the umbrellas carried by many of the people on the streets. According to some art critics, these umbrellas shield their owners not just from the rain, but, also from other passers by. -

Renoir, In the Loge, 1874

impressionism . At the heart of the painting is the complex play of gazes enacted by these two figures seated in a theatre box. The elegantly dressed woman lowers her opera glasses, revealing herself to admirers in the theatre, whilst her male companion trains his gaze elsewhere in the audience. In turning away from the performance, Renoir focused instead upon the theatre as a social stage where status and relationships were on public display. -"In the imagery of the period, following contemporary physiognomic theory, fashionable women from a 'good' background were standardly depicted with wide-spaced eyes and delicate cheekbones, mouth and chin; in contrast to this stereotype, Renoir's figure has a slightly puffy, bloated face and wide, fleshy mouth.

Claude Monet, Impression Sunrise, 1872

impressionism Impression: Sunrise, Monet, 1872, Most prolific and consistent exponent of the Impressionist philosophy of plein air painting focused on shifting conditions of color and light The painting gives a suggestion of the early morning mist, at that time clogged with the industrial smoke of the city, and has a strong relationship to the earlier views of mist and fog done by the artist in London in 1870 his interest mainly in the effects of light rather than in any specific architectural features or the social significance of the manifestations of industry. The most obvious characteristic of Impression, Sunrise is its immediacy of execution and the way it captures just one perceived instant. The forceful, clear shape and strong colour of the sun provides the keynote for the work, with the dense, muted pale blue surrounding it providing the opposition of complementary colours which enhances the brilliance of both. The dark note of the nearest boat identifies and stabilizes the colour key, the darkest element in the whole painting being the single near-black accented horizontal defining the waterline. With the passage of time, underpainting sometimes begins to come through, and here we can see some early drawing in the lower left- and right-hand areas, further evidence of the urgency and immediacy of the painting.

Berthe Morisot, A Woman at her Toilette, 1875

impressionist -The painting also moves discreetly into the realm of female eroticism explored by Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir but seldom broached at this time by women artists. Rendered with soft, feathery brushstrokes in nuanced shades of lavender, pink, blue, white, and gray, the composition resembles a visual tone poem, orchestrated with such perfumed and rarified motifs as brushed blonde hair, satins, powder puffs, and flower petals. -By denying us seeing the model's face, Morisot broke with the convention of using the mirror as a means to double the voyeuristic pleasure of glancing at a woman unawares. Morisot's women are usually like this - suggestive, delicate, implied by nuance of color and lightness of touch.

Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Basket of Apples, 1890s

neo classical In his quest for underlying structure and composition, he recog-nized that the artist is not bound to represent real objects in real space. Thus, The Basket of Apples contains one of his signature tilted tables, an impossible rectangle with no right angles. On it, a basket of apples pitches forward from a slablike base, seemingly balanced by the bottle and the tablecloth's thick, sculptural folds. The heavy modeling, solid brushstrokes, and glowing colors give the composition a density and dynamism that a more realistic still life could never possess.

Georges Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884

neo impressionism -dots of small colors that combine in the eye to create a greater rigidity and a systematic way of painting; a public ritual that's a mixture of different social classes in their Sunday class > comical aspect (woman with monkey) = everyone looks very stiff and confined: a critic of modern life of being uniformed; contrast with the colors: lack of lines instead contrasting color: solid figures that are classical in a way = work both solid and weightless

Eugene Delacroix, Women of Algiers, 1834

romanticism Composition:The main activity in this image takes place at the lower center and the left-hand corner; attention shifts from each woman like a ping pong ball, starting with the woman directly in the center, then to the woman on the left, back to the center to the woman in the white shirt and finally to the servant girl. The positioning of the figures combined with the lighting keeps the eye moving.Techniques:There are many textures in this harem scene. The technique of Delacroix's color and brushstroke ranges from smooth to rough, dull to shiny. The dull carpets, tiles and cushions make the shining mirrors, silk, jewels and glass shimmer even more fantastically.Color palette:Like most of his other works, the majority of this canvas is painted with dark colors. Delacroix chose such a palette to make his bright colors and the direction of his lighting stand out even more. The overlapping of colors, bright and dark, mix to create a refined but vibrant canvas and this was the artist's most sumptuous use of color to date.Use of light:The lighting in this piece alters the colors and shapes of the scene. Delacroix bathes the women in a sensuous light, creating a calming effect. The lighting truly dominates the piece and gives it the character that makes it so memorable.Tone elicited:The relaxed poses of the three women and the lighting create a calming but sensuous mood. If Delacroix was attempting to invoke serenity, he certainly succeeded.Brushstroke:The artist uses a small brushstroke but thick paint to give the room a welcoming feel. Overall in this work he practiced a freer brushstroke than usual.

Eugene Delacroix, Death of Sardanapolus, 1827

romanticism The composition shows the bearded Sardanapalus lounging (upper left) on a sumptuous divan, in the midst of an orgy of death and destruction. As a prelude to his own suicide, he has just ordered all his palace possessions to be destroyed and his concubines put to death. Meantime he watches apathetically as his eunuchs and soldiers slash the throats of his concubines, horses and slaves, while off to the right we can just glimpse the dark smoke of the growing pyre. This huge canvas (measuring roughly 13 X 16 feet, 4 X 5 metres) explodes before our eyes in a convulsive orgy of movement and colour. The way the scene scatters into all directions, the sheer anarchy of the picture, completely shocked the commentators. Etienne-Jean Delecluze (1781-1863), for example, art critic on the Journal des debats, declared: "the eye cannot extricate itself from this maelstrom of line and colour". A far cry from the motionless neoclassical pictures of Jacques-Louis David and J.A.D. Ingres. The incredible dynamism of the painting derives from the assymetrical nature of its diagonal structure, the writhing, distorted bodies, and the swirling lines of the composition, as well as the shocking contrast in colours between the white of the female nudes, the black of the eunuchs and the blood red of the divan - all executed in broad, loose brushstrokes. The treatment of colour in this particular work was influenced by Delacroix's study of English watercolour painting and by his contact with John Constable and JMW Turner, as well as Richard Parkes Bonington, during his visit to England in 1825.

René Magritte, The Treachery of Images, 1928-29

surrealism -Magritte loved word games. He was also determined to prove that the painting and poetry were on an equal footing despite the Surrealists' constant flaunting on the pre-eminence of the written word. Magritte caches the gap between the language and the meaning. His statement is taken to mean that the painting itself is not a pipe; it is merely an image of a pipe.

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

surrealism The Persistence of Memory contains a light blue horizon, which slowly fades downward from blue to yellow across the top quarter of the painting. Under the skyline sits a body of water, or what looks to be a large lake or a reflecting pool. The body of water traces the skyline until it interacts with neighboring mountains to the right. In front of the mountains there is lone pebble. On the left close to the water, Dali places a reflective, blue, elevated, rectangular platform with dark brown trimming around the edges. Placed in front of this platform, there is another single pebble. A lifeless tree with a hollow top, is in front of it, missing all of its leaves and branches but one. The single branch holds a silver pocket watch which appears to be melting on the end of the branch showing the numbers three through nine. Only one hand of the watch is shown, pointing at the 6. The tree is located on top of a light brown square object that looks desk-like. The brown object takes over the bottom left corner of the painting, and even goes off the canvas. On this object there are two more pocket watches residing. One of them is gold and melted, hanging half way off the light brown cube. The hands of the gold watch are stopped at five of seven and there is a fly on the face near the 1 o'clock mark. The fly is also casting a very small shadow, which is shaped more like a human. The other pocket watch is bronze and shut. The exterior of the pocket watch is covered with a swarm of black ants. Unlike the other clocks, this is shut, and the only one that is not warped or melted of the four. The ground in The Persistence of Memory is a dark brown that almost turns black in certain areas. On it lies a white figure on its right side with another silver-colored melting clock on its back. The white figure is human-like, with over emphasized large eyelashes. It has a what looks to be a trade mark Salvador Dali moustache and lips where eyebrows would be on a human face. Its nose is flared and has another small brown object coming out of the right nostril. The white figure has no limbs or other human-like characteristics. The rest of the scenery around the white figure is dark and barren. The Persistence of Memory uses the basic elements of art including a plethora of lines, values, shapes, form, colors, and texture (Glatstein) -Dali's creation of this painting was not drug induced, but from melting cheese and bizarre dreams (Rochfort). The message Dali is trying to spread is that life is fast paced and full of choices which sometimes produce unfavorable outcomes, but we move on. The clocks are only stepping stones into the real meaning behind the painting. The silver watch on the tree is symbolic of a time which has recently passed (Being second closest to the white figure). The gold watch symbolizes the best years of life slowly escaping. The closed bronze watch with the ants could symbolize a time which the artist wanted to move on and forget. The one on top of the white figure symbolizes the place that he is at now and currently trying to live through. The pebbles painted on opposite sides of the canvas symbolize separation between a lover. The cracks in the mountains are obstacles that one faces before they can reach a stable point in life and find happiness. The raised blue platform in the back symbolizes the path to a higher quality of life, while the dead tree shows mortality and that nothing lives forever. The fly's shadow in the form of a person could be another symbol of Dali's love escaping, or that he wishes to escape reality. Many sources state that Salvador Dali had fallen in Gala, his only love and muse included in her many pieces (Salvador Dali-A Soft Self-Portrait).