Module 8 Assignment: Essay on a Specific Artwork or Musical Composition
Write a 4-5 page (minimum) essay in MLA style on the following question:
Choose any artwork or musical composition covered so far in the textbook. In addition to the information in the textbook, draw on information from at least two credible outside sources.
The essay must examine the artwork or composition in detail, describing its long-term impact and the cultural context of its creation. Be very specific and use the textbook terminology.
You should base your analysis on the textbook information, our class discussions to date, and also on information drawn from at least two credible outside sources.Apart from some of the Renaissance “great works,” certain iconic Impressionist paintings are perhaps the most immediately familiar works of art. Who wouldn’t immediately recognize Water Lilies by Claude Monet?
Many people aren’t aware that Water Lilies (like many of Monet’s subjects) was a series of paintings rather than a single work. Monet also painted series of hay stacks, train stations, etc. The Saint-Lazare Station paintings depicted his fascination with stream engine trains.
It was one of Monet’s paintings that debuted the Impressionist movement. Below, you can see his painting Impression, Sunrise.
The initial sense of the above paintings may be of wavy lines, indistinct fogginess, and colors that create an immediate sensation of beauty and even mysticism.
However, there is an explicit theory behind the Impressionism movement. The idea is that artists shouldn’t begin by painting preconceived objects, but instead should paint the actual light that falls on the eye. In other words, the mind “perceives” an object like a train, but at a more primitive level of perception, the eye doesn’t yet “know” it’s an object. The eye at this stage only sees light and color in shifting patterns. This is what the Impressionists tried to convey. The result was a revolution in painting.
The ability to carry paints in tubes was very closely associated with these innovations. For the first time, it became possible for painters to paint “en plein air” or outdoors. Many of the Impressionist paintings depict natural surroundings, some with breathtaking freshness and originality. It’s an attempt to capture the effervescence of natural lighting.
The painter Renoir was a master of these impressions. His work Dance at the Moulin de la Galette shows the vivacity of an outdoor scene in a flow of activity and social vivacity.
You can see the blotches of light falling on the clothes of the participants. This effect is a very typical one of Impressionist painting. You can also see Renoir’s dazzling use of white, repeated again below in the painting called La Loge (The Theater Box). The artist wanted to show the light bouncing off the paint.
The post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh is one of the best-known of all artists. A Dutch painter, he was heavily influenced by the French Impressionists and lived in France most of his life. Van Gogh is known for his thick, swirling paints and his startling originality. He sold only one painting during his lifetime and was primarily supported by his brother Theo. Art history owes a debt to Theo as well as to Vincent van Gogh, since this financial support was essential to Vincent van Gogh’s ability to paint.
Van Gogh’s paintings are unforgettable and haunting. You can see the Impressionist influence in “The Sower” below:
and in the eerie Willows at Sunset (below):
Van Gogh’s best-known painting is probably Starry Night, seen below.
In architecture, the work of Antoni Gaudi is a hallmark of the period. You can see Casa Mil on page 256 of your textbook or below.
There is also a link to the Gaudi Cathedral of La Sagrada Familia in this folder with a series of images. You can see one image below:
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