Final Essay
The two artists that I have chosen are: Pablo Picasso "Guernica" and Eugene Delacroix "Liberty Leading the people". Eugene Delacroix was born in France and was under the strict mentor ship of Pierre Guerin (Przybylek, 1). When Delacroix was seventeen, he began to pursue his studies at the Rouen and under the strict membership of Guerin; he quickly lost interest in neoclassical style and began to pursue Romanticism. Romanticism can be defined as," the movement in nineteenth-century European culture, concerned with the power of the imagination and greatly valuing intense feeling"(DeWitte Larmann Shields, 405). Romanticism was used to describe the conflict of the European and American Revolution. Romanticism was used to challenge the current state of society. "Liberty Leading the People", embodies the sacrifices of a changing society. Delacroix uses an oil medium that is supported by a canvas (Artble, 1). To use an oil as medium gives the piece "a rich luminosity that captivates the emotions of the viewer"(DeWitte Larmann Shields, 186).
The historical context behind the “Liberty Leading the People”, Delacroix witness the growing instability in Paris, as the
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Picasso "Guernica" was created as antiwar propaganda in the events of the bombing of Guernica. Delacroix created "Liberty Leading the People" as he was inspired by the courage of rebels during the French revolution. Both artists use oil on the canvas to create their masterpieces and give their pieces a theme of expressionism. Expressive can be defined as, “the capability of stirring emotion into the viewer"(DeWitte Larmann Shields, 186). "Liberty Leading the People" gave the viewer a sense of pride, as lady Liberty carried the rebel's flag towards freedom. "Guernica" gave the viewer a harsh reality of senseless violence in the time of
The painting “Guernica”, a black and white oil painting depicts the chaos that ensued World War II. It was painted by Pablo Picasso in his sharp, shaped style. At first glance, you notice an overwhelming amount of shapes, when looking closer those shapes become faces of despair and distress, which as one could imagine that is what the people of Spain were feeling prior to the bombing that inspired this painting. With odd shapes, and a large, chaos filled canvass, it defiantly puts on display its uncanny ability to attract the viewer into digging into the deeper meaning of this intriguing master piece.
Delacroix whilst employing saliency, personifies Liberty as Marianne, a representation of the French nation being represented allegorically as a goddess figure and also as a vigorous WOMAN representing ideals of freedom and reason. Liberty’s Phrygian cap whilst holding the Tricolour French flag and her exposed breast whilst marching towards the foreground and towards the viewer creates vehement depictions of autonomy as the motive behind the revolution .
During the Spanish Civil War, German tested their bombs for warfare on a town called Guernica. It was in the province of Biscay in Basque Country in Pablo Picasso’s home country. The oil work, Guernica, was Picasso’s reaction to how he felt about the bombing and shows dismemberment and pain. It is art about the tragedies of war, especially on civilians. This anti-war symbol helped bring the Spanish Civil War more attention. The lack of color seems to make the work more dramatic. According to Picasso the bull meant brutality and darkness while the horse the people of the town. This artwork should be classified as one of the most famous political protest
Most of his creations represent history and society of his time. But “Guernica,” which Picasso painted in response to tragedy and the loss of life, directly related to the Spanish civil-war. “Guernica” was one of the masterpieces created by Picasso, probably the 20th century 's most negative symbol of the horrors. It was a also signal for the terrors of the future. When the Nazi troops dropped a bomb on the Basque village of Guernica in northern Spain, at that time nobody imagined this kind of act in reality. Most
The story symbolizes the courage to sacrifice own lives for the sake of the glory of their nations, and the painting later became an icon for the French Revolution (Harris & Zucker, n.d.). Liberty Leading the People (Delacroix,
Pablo Picasso, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century and co-founder of the Cubist movement, was a participant in Europe’s political discourse during most of the early 1900s. Picasso’s Guernica, one of his most powerful political statements, was painted as an immediate reaction to the Nazi’s casual bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Guernica, a mural-size canvas painted in blue, black, and white oil, shows tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. Picasso depicts turmoil, people and animals suffering, with building in disarray torn apart by violence and mayhem. With Guernica, Picasso establishes his identity and his strength as an artist when confronted with political authority and intolerable violence, especially in his native land. Interpretations of the symbolism of Guernica
Many attribute the evolution of the French revolution as the catalyst for redirection of the style of artwork from Baroque and Rococo to Neoclassical and Romanticism. Two leading masterpieces that support this aspect are respectively: Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, (c. 1784) and Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, (c. 1830). As commented in Essential Humanities (2016), the French revolution “in all its heroic glory and grisly destruction” (par. 10) is masterfully portrayed in Delacroix 's personification of liberty. In addition, the summons for commitment to the cause of freedom is classically rendered in David 's vow of victory or death. Within this essay both of these paintings are examined in regards to their connection to the French revolution.
Through the events of the French Revolution, the implications of the fight for justice from 1789 is still visible today around France through slogans such as ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’. The French Revolution was not only important in spreading the notion of democracy in France, but the event also sparked revolutions of the people throughout Europe and South America. These revolutions sought to uphold the principals of the French Revolution in establishing governments that would secure their natural rights and protect against the abuses of absolutism. The revolution would ultimately urge France to change its government to a democracy as a whole. Specifically, through the work of David Andress the Storming of the Bastille particularly was very important in the course of the revolution to get France to where it is today.
Pablo Picasso a famous Spanish artist, painted a piece that is breath taking, the Guernica. It was painted as a reaction to the aerial bombing of Guernica, Spain by German and Italian forces during the Spanish Civil War in 1937.The artwork shows tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicted upon innocent civilians, and animals. The grey, black, and white mural-size canvas painted in oil stood 11 ft tall and 25.6 wide, the acceptable size to tell a story that needed to be heard. The cinematic impact that automatically catches the eye, shows there is human despair. In this search for human proportions nearly lost after the bombing dismembered and ripped apart everyone to leave humanity disjointed. This large canvas carries my focus from inhumanity,
In 1937, Pablo Picasso painted Guernica, oil on canvas. The Republican Spanish government commissioned the mural for the 1937 World Fair in Paris. Guernica is a large mural, twenty-six feet wide and eleven feet tall, and was placed at the entrance to Spain’s pavilion. Picasso did not do any work after receiving the commission until reading of the bombing of the Basque village of Guernica, in Spain. It was that attack, perpetrated by the German Luftwaffe, that inspired him. Guernica, however, is not a complete depiction of that event. In Guernica, Picasso masterfully conveys the suffering of the Basque people and the tragedy of war. He seeks not to report on every detail of the bombing, but only to
Hitler supported Franco but artist like Picasso and Dahli supported the republicans. Then in 1937 a small city in Spain named Guernica was bombed and it caused it stir amongst artists. As a result of the bombing Picasso created his oil painting, Guernica, in 1937. This painting was a representation of what Picasso was probably reading in the newspaper while in Paris. Its monochromatic, black and white color scheme can be compared to a newspaper. The viewer can read the painter from left to right or vice versa. The painting uses symbolism like the bull to represent Spain and the horse falling apart represents dismemberment. Picasso depicts the horrors of the event as people flee from a burning building and a mother holding on to her dead child screams in agony. What made this piece important was Piccaso’s use of his cubist style to voice his political opinion. He made it clear which side he was on and the discontent he held for the misfortune his home faced. The painting was put on tour as a fundraising event that only charged a pair of boots for entry. These boots were then sent to republican soldiers. This was something Pablo Picasso had never done before making this work
“Guernica” is one of the most well-known paintings in the world. It was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1937. The painting itself measures 11ftx 26.5ft. “Guernica” depicts the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica during the Spanish civil war. The whole thing is done in a cubist style not surprising since Picasso is known for his cubism. In the painting there are people and animals alike all of them in pain and or suffering. “Guernica” is also filled with symbolism that Picasso incorporated into it, and hidden messages. The painting is also colorless it only uses black, white and, gray.
Eugene Delacroix's painting Liberty Leading the People made in 1830 falls under the era of Romanticism. Even if we did not have the knowledge of the year this was painted, we would be able to discern its Romantic origin. Delacroix uses elements of art and subject matter to achieve this romantic work of art.
French Romanticism developed relatively late because of Neoclassicism being rooted in French art and especially in the society’s structure. Eugène Delacroix’s painting Liberty Leading the People depicts the July Revolution of 1830. Parisian coup d'état resulted in Charles X dethroning and replacement with Louis-Phillipe, the “citizen-king.” Although the painting is historical, it is full of contrasting human emotion, a fundamental characteristic of French Romanticism. In the foreground despair is represented by human death of both sides of the battle. In the central figure, Liberty, an allegorical symbol of freedom, shows grand heroism. Delacroix’s use of brilliant and shocking primary colors opposes classicism’s use of color as subordinate and of subtle modulation. The Death of Sardanapalus by Eugène
Post-revolutionary Paris should be an entirely different society than pre-revolutionary Paris. In many ways it is, but the result remains the same: the innocent man is still “proven” guilty. The common people have the power now, but that power does not result in good reasoning. In the socialistic society of Paris, there are two ways to rule. In the first way, the people rule themselves with a mob-like mentality. In the second a ruling elite rises to the top by taking a populist approach and manipulating the people. A