ART MUSEUM report on art

Last Saturday my college class went to a museum. We had to answer these questions when we returned. I hope this can be useful to someone.

Museum Report

I.       Historical  (40 pts):

 1500’s:

Artist and Year(s): Andrea del Sarto 1527

Title: The Sacrifice of Isaac

Why representative of this time period? This painting has an amazing Italian sky. There are strong colors in this painting including red, blue, and brown etc. The man giving the sacrifice has a drape effect on his clothes. There is also nudity of Isaac. The Italian sky, strong colors, drapes, and nudity are all renaissance characteristics of the 1500’s.  

1600’s:

Artist and Year(s): Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio 1606-1607

Title: The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew

Why representative of this time period? There is lots of movement in the men’s body on the cross. It almost feels as it one if actually there. There is also a light that is on the men on the cross. The Rococo lots of movement and light are characteristics of the 1600’s.

1700’s:

Artist and Year(s): Fulchran-Jean Harriet 1798

Title: Oedipus at Colonus

Why representative?  There is a Greek subject going on. In this painting is the Greek king Oedipus.  He is sitting in front of a column. The Greek subject and the columns are both neo classical characteristics of the 1700’s

1800’s:

Artist and Year(s): John Linnell 1848

Title: Noah: The Eve of the Deluge

Why representative?  The 1800’s is the romantic time period. The painting is of a landscape. This painting has rapid brush strokes especially in the sky. There is a specific light coming out of the sky. This painting also captures a specific time of day. The landscape painting, rapid brush stokes, specific light and time of day are all characteristics of the impressionist in the 1800’s.

1900’s:

Artist and Year(s): Pablo Picasso 1909

Title: Fan, Salt Box, Melon

Why representative?  This painting shows a lot of geometric shapes. This painting is a part of the cubian 1900’s time period.

II.    Analytical  (30 pts):

Artist #1:

Identify:  Peter Paul Rubens Diana and Her Nymphs Departing for the Hint 1615

Describe: There is a woman in a red cloth with one of her breast uncovered. There is a white and black age leaning on the woman with the red drape cloth. There is also a brown dog in the picture. There is a nude man with his arms around a woman in blue cloth. Her breast is also out. There is also two other woman in this picture. The one who clothes the viewer can see is wearing purple with one of her breast out.

Interpret:  The women in the picture are being raped. The naked man is pushing himself on top of the woman in the blue dress. The woman in the blue dress is trying to push him off of her. One of her arm is pushing down on his leg and the other arm is pushing the man arm down. Also, her head is tilted away from the man. The woman in the red dress is the main focus point of the picture. The white and black dog is reaching to her. The dog’s movement in his body leads the viewer right to the woman in the red dress.

Evaluate: This painting is during the 1600’s Baroque and Rococo time period. There is a lot of movement going on in this painting. The painting is very represented of this time. The dog’s body has a lot of movement in it. The dog’s body is stretched on his hind legs to the woman in the red dress. Also, the naked man and woman in the blue cloth in the background are showing a lot of movement. One can almost feel this movement between the two.

Artist #2:

Identify: Jacques-Louis David Cupid and Psyche 1817

Describe:  Psyche and Cupid is nude in this painting. There is a landscape image in the background. There are mountains with a blue sky. There are red, gold, orange, and white draperies. They are lying on a blue with gold trim bed. 

 Interpret: Cupid is happy and Psyche looks very relax. They seem to just get doing something. It seems to be either early in the morning or in the evening when the sun has gone down.

Evaluate: This painting is in the 1800’s romantic modern abstract. There is a landscape outside of the window. There is a peaceful emotion coming from this painting.

Artist #3:

Identify: Salvador Dali The Dream 1931

Describe:  There is a blue sky on the left side of the painting. There is a painting of a mouth less statue with the hair growing straight back. There are also some small people in the left hand side. There is another statue of a man sitting on a sworn.

Interpret: The big statue has bugs on it’s mouth. It comes from Salvador Dali dreams and unconsciousness. The big statue eyes are closed to indicate sleeping. The entire weirdness of the paintings was created unconscious being that there is a lot of things going on in this painting that doesn’t make sense to the conscious mind.

Evaluate: This is during the 1900’s Fred unconscious abstract. This painting is very represented of this time period.

III.  Individual Artist (20 pts):

Pablo Picasso

Painting #1: The Harem 1906

Painting #2:  La Vie (Life) 1903

      Comparison/Contrast: There is nudity in these paintings. In La Vie the girl is hanging on to the guy. There is also a painting hanging in the background of nudes in La Vie. There is a woman in La Vie holding a baby. The Harem seems to be all women. All of the women are in motion. Their bodies aren’t covered like the woman in La Vie. In La Vie there is a person in the background with their head down. The two messages in these paintings are different. La Vie has a darker message than The Harem. La Vie is about death. On the other hand, The Harem is about life.

IV.    What did you like best in the Museum—and why?

I loved the ancient Egypt room. I didn’t realize how big the mummies tombs. The detail in which they put into this is amazing. The outside of the tomb actually looked like a real person face.There was so much small detail that they took into consideration. Inside of the tombs seemed like they were telling a story. I liked the gold colors that they used in a lot of their art. I also liked the statues of the Egypt heads. The manuscript was also nice. It was nice to actually see what they wrote on instead of looking at pictures. I got a first-hand experience at Egypt art.

V.        Extra Credit

Egyptian- They paint their body facing forward which shows side of their face.

They also cover their bodies up with a cloth. There is also no muscle tone and every person is the same high and body size.

Greek- They paint muscular body types. They also show their bodies in motion. They loved painting the body most of the time the bodies were nudes in their paintings.

Medieval- They tend to also cover their bodies in the paintings. The people in the paintings wore robes. They painted from their religion.