Catholic Apologetics International
Art Through the Ages: Its Philosophical and Theological Meaning
When we look at a painting, what do we see? Do we merely see beautiful portraits and breathtaking landscapes, or is there a deeper meaning behind each painting? Were artists such as Leonardo da Vinci or Vincent Van Gogh painting only to express their artistic talents, or did they have something profound to say about the world?
It has been commonly understood by experts that art tells two stories. First it tells the story represented by the picture itself. It can be a portrait, a landscape, a biblical scene, a magnificent cathedral, and just about anything that the artist desires to paint. We appreciate the fact that man has the ability to reproduce, often to exact likeness, what he sees in the world around him.
Second, and probably most important, the painting tells us about the philosophy, the theology, the culture and even the personality of the painter and his times. Hidden within almost every artwork produced by the famous artists is a commentary on life itself, often a deep commentary. Although we must hasten to add that not every artist who sits down to paint is attempting to give a philosophical message, it is the major players in the world of art, the da Vincis, the Rembrandts, the Van Goghs, the Picassos, who led the way in painting for a purpose - to make a statement about life. Lesser known artists were merely caught up in the style and meaning the great masters set for them.
For example, Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) was one of the greatest painters the world has ever known. Although he became world famous for capturing perfect dimensions in his portrait of the Mona Lisa, little known is that da Vinci spent much of his artistic talent drawing charcoal sketches of the human form in order to capture the "soul," - not the soul in the spiritual sense, rather the inner essence, the universal man. Da Vinci was a deep thinker. The meaning of man’s existence touched him profoundly. Moreover, as a philosopher, da Vinci was on an unrelenting quest to find the proper balance between what is known in philosophy as "universals and particulars" and to depict this philosophical relationship in his paintings and sketches. It is said that he became quite despondent when he was not able to achieve either of these plateaus.
This essay will help you see what was behind each of their works of art. Although man has been making art since the dawn of time, we can only focus on the last millennia. Even then, we can cover only a small representative sampling of the thousands of art works available.
Art of the last millennia is filled with many contrasts and comparisons. For example, the huge, rigid and saintly figures of the Byzantine period (400-1400) are far different than the grotesque and demonic figures of Modern Art (1900 - Present). Between the Byzantine and Modern there are many other movements, such as the Renaissance (1400-1600) and the Baroque (1600-1800), each with its own distinctive form and philosophy.
Within each of the four major groups, there are subgroups, such as Romanesque (1000-1200), Gothic (1100-1400), Mannerism (1500-1600), Classicism (1600-1700), Rococo (1700-1800), Neo-Classicism (1750-1850), Romanticism (1750-1900), Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism (1850-1900), Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism (1900-Present).
The Byzantine Period
Starting our analysis with the Byzantine period (400-1400), we have a form of art that is definitely cast into the Christian mold. Since the church held sway in the period of the Middle Ages, the art of Europe and many parts of the east was financially supported and inspired by the Catholic Church. As such, Byzantine art was more or less confined to representing the doctrines and moods of the Church. The object of art was the institution as opposed to the individual, although this would surely change in later periods. Byzantine art did not portray family or city life as we would understand it today. Only late Byzantine art, the Gothic period, provides the first glimpse into the city, but then only to magnify the presence of the great Gothic cathedrals. [D].
In this period there are some striking characteristics. The reason is not precisely known, but the art of the Byzantine period is very abstract, that is, it had little resemblance to actual material things. It was concerned more with concepts. The abstraction in Byzantine art grew out of the church’s practice to put both practical and spiritual life into symbols. Much of the populace was uneducated, and thus the Church displayed the meaning of life through symbolic representations in art. The artist was not concerned with historical events as such, nor with archeological accuracy, but with dogma in the credal statements. The mystique of Mary, the saints, the sacraments, transubstantiation and the allegorical method of biblical interpretation, were all subjects of symbolic art designed to fathom the mysteries of the supernatural.
One method of achieving the abstract effect was to flatten the subjects of the painting. This gave the impression of de-materialization, an image with no substance. This can be seen readily in Figure 1, Christ Pantocrator. The abstraction is enhanced by the unnatural rigid lines throughout the painting, e.g., the draperies around the chest, the hair, the beard, and the face. The attempt here is to show an immortal and transcendent Christ (D).
Another distinctive characteristic of Byzantine art is the isolation of individuals. We can see this, for example, in the various sculptures of cathedral facades. Figure 2 shows the casts of David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Simeon, and Figure 3 those of Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Samuel, David. These figures are not interacting with one another, and they are almost bodiless. Each has his own significance and representation. This is quite different from the biblical figures painted by Rembrandt (Figure 4). The angel, Abraham and Isaac are of full figure, and each is engaged in an intense role. Rembrandt has even gone to the point of making the angel grasp the hand of Abraham, while Abraham covers the eyes of Isaac, neither of which are stated in the biblical account. To say it in another way, Byzantine sculpture is more concerned with the allegorical and pre-figurational relationship of the biblical characters than their personal relationships. The Byzantine sculpture is purely objective while the Rembrandt painting is purely subjective (D).
As with all sculpture on the facades of buildings in the Middles Ages, they told a story to the people who observed them. The artists had very strict rules for the presentation of their images, otherwise known as iconography. These rules were understood by the people of that day, so much so that they could read the walls of a cathedral as we read a book today. This is no better represented than the facades of the Cathedral of Chartres in France. (See Figures 5, 5a and 5b). The walls are so detailed, ornate and filled with images that it could be said that Chartres presents the entirety of man’s experience.
The last major aspect of the Byzantine can be seen in almost every piece of art in this period. A purely philosophical concept, nevertheless, a major influence during the Middle Ages, was the philosophical dominance of grace over nature. Since the Church governed the social, political and economic spheres of life, along with its high ecclesiastical prerogatives, it is only natural that grace would hold sway over nature throughout this period. This dominance can be seen in the portrayal of human figures. The figures, mainly deified personages, are very large compared to the backgrounds upon which they are superimposed.(Sc)
The Romanesque Period (1000-1200)
A sub-period in the latter end of this era is Romanesque art (1000-1200). This art, although still dominated by the thought forms of the Middle Ages, showed a marked shift in some respects from formal Byzantine art. Probably due to the popularity of the Italian and Spanish mystics, Romanesque art portrayed the mystical and the ecstatic. Although much of the same rigidness from the Byzantine era persists, there is more intersection of lines and movement of characters in Romanesque art. Figure 6 shows a scene in the Bury Bible of the 12 century of Christ and Moses speaking to the people. There is a flowing motion to the characters and an intimate interaction between them. The facial expressions are intense. Romanesque art had a fascination with human eyes. They are almost always wide and attentive. This can be seen in the Romanesque depiction of Christ Pantocrator from the 12 century (Figure 7). The intensity of the painting would well define the fervor of the mystics of that day.
The Gothic Period (1100-1400)
The next sub-period is Gothic art (1100-1400). Opposed to the mystical style of Romanesque art, the Gothic period reintroduced the non-mystical. As noted, Romanesque art had been highly influenced by the monasteries which housed the famous mystics of the day. In the Gothic period, there was a shift to real life situations. As a result, there was a growing sense of the dignity of man. Since the popularity of secluded monastery life had lost ground to the more urbanized dwellings of city churches and great cathedrals, naturally, the art of the time followed suit.(D)
The shift away from the mystical in the Gothic period was due in large part to the developing philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. Prior to Aquinas, philosophy and theology were dominated by the Platonism or Neo-Platonism of Augustine. The emphasis was on the universals, and thus the spiritual, heavenly or ethereal things. Life was explained with reference to the "ideal" image, not the real image. With the discovery of an Aristotelian library in the middle east, Aristotle’s "particularist" philosophy became prominent in the late Middle Ages. This philosophy concentrated on the details and specifics of life, things in themselves. Aquinas incorporated much of Aristotle’s thought-forms and methodology, even in his explanation of church doctrines and theology (e.g., transubstantiation and natural law). As a result of Aquinas’ incorporation of Aristotelian thought-forms, man began to have a greater appreciation of nature and the natural. As we will see later, the focus on nature was taken to greater heights, or we might say, taken to the extreme, in the Renaissance, a level that certainly would have displeased St. Thomas.
But even in shifting toward the portrayal of the natural and real life situations, the Gothic figures remained static in their geometrical proportions. These same mathematical concepts influenced the transcendental geometry of the High Gothic cathedral. Neither their sculpture or their paintings flowed with natural movement. The human figures were drawn based on abstract mathematical concepts. This can be seen in The Kiss of Judas (Figure 8) by Giotto (1267-1337). Things are not portrayed as completely real even though there was a shift to a portrayal of real life situations. Things were expressed through intuitive notions of reality without exact factual similarity. This philosophy dominated the late Middle Ages and was known philosophically as nominalism. In the same vein as the anti-Platonic concepts of Aristotelianism, nominalism held that universals are mere words (i.e., "nominal"), having no basis in reality or objective counterpart.(B)
The Nativity Scene at the Grabower Altar by Master Bertram, Figure 9, shows some of the effects of this nominalistic trend. First we see the rigid and impersonal geometrical proportions, but there is also an attempt to portray the real life situation by minimizing the abstract qualities of the Byzantine period. In addition, the painting is definitely non-mystical.
The war between nature and grace was just beginning. Such dramatic shifts in philosophy take time to develop. It wasn’t until the Renaissance that nature began to overtake grace, and thus the human figures became much smaller compared to the vast landscapes that enveloped them (B). The grace side of the equation was still surviving in many areas, however. This is seen, for example, in the enormity of the human figures in each of the artworks, in addition to their being placed in more or less make-believe backgrounds and landscapes. Figure 10, the Flight into Egypt painted in 1308 by Duccio di Buoninsegna, shows the predominant human figures placed in a toy-like landscape, with tiny stone mountains, round trees and a golden sky.
Before we leave this period it should be noted that Mary has a special place in the art of the Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic periods. Mary captivated art like no other figure, especially portrayals of her as the Madonna with her child. In each piece of artwork in these periods, Mary is presented as the gentle and serene motherly, beckoning the viewer to seek her intercession. Mary had such a profound influence that even when Descartes (1596-1650) formulated his famous cogito ergo sum ("I think therefore I am") as the foundation of autonomous man's certainty, he made a pilgrimage to Mary to thank her for giving him the knowledge.(R) Paintings of Mary are so common in almost every period of art, it could be said that depictions of her serve as a gauge to determine the spiritual condition of the people. As we shall see, in the later periods when nature overtook grace, the art, by increasing steps, attempted to demote Mary off her medieval pedestal.
The Renaissance Period (1400-1600)
The Renaissance extended from 1400-1600. It is broken into two periods: the Low Renaissance and the High Renaissance. The High Renaissance contained the more popular artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
The Renaissance was a time of a great flowering for art, even as the name suggests. This flowering was due in part to a surging middle class in politics and culture. As opposed to the prominence of the institution in the Byzantine era, the Renaissance placed importance on the individual. As a result, thousands of individual portraits were painted, of every class and culture, including children. The paintings were intimate, not abstract. We can see this, for example, in the portrait of Contessa Nani by Paola Veronese (See Figure 11). In addition, portraits of Mary and Christ showed Christ as a real baby rather than the miniature adult of Middle Age art. By this time also, the Renaissance had transferred the Byzantine’s abstract symbolism and the Gothic’s nominalistic geometry into portrayals of real human figures in their proper dimensions. This is especially seen in the exquisite and detailed sculpture of David by Michaelangelo (See Figure 12), along with the exact human proportions and enigmatic expressions of da Vinci in the Mona Lisa (See Figure 13).
The reason this dramatic _expression of reality took place was due in part to the new belief that the mysteries of life could be solved by empirical investigation. As Aquinas opened the door for investigation into the particulars of life, so man began to look at nature with keen analysis. The introduction of perspective and the third dimension in painting showed that man was beginning to understand the mechanics of nature. This led to a decrease in the mystical and supernatural elements, and was replaced by man’s expression of himself in concrete terms. (Mc)
But this expression of man also presented its problem to the Renaissance artist. Whereas the Byzantine artist meant his art to be a symbol of a truth deeper than the eye could see, the Renaissance artist's penchant for realism limited his ability to create art with symbolic meaning. This problem was especially acute for biblical scenes. Would the artist make the picture historically accurate or would he embellish it to bring out deeper meaning? Many artists simlyp abandon painting biblical scenes due to this tension. Rembrandt, as we shall see, was one of the few who tried to overcome the problem.In any case, within the humanistic flowering of the Renaissance came the surge of nature over grace. Prior to this, the Catholic Church had penetrated into all areas of society and was an overwhelmingly powerful force in keeping antagonistic elements from becoming non-Christian and autonomous. But with the Renaissance and Reformation, the division between church and state was becoming quite noticable. This can be seen readily in two paintings by Jan Van Eyck (1370-1441). The first, The Ghent Altarpiece (Figure 14), depicts the first real landscape in the history of painting. Going from human figures to landscape was indeed a dramatic shift in art’s philosophy. Landscape symbolized the dominance of nature over grace. The dominance is accentuated as we see the bishops, who represent grace (lower frame) in the corner of the painting, while the landscape overwhelms them.
Van Eyck is also famous for his painting, The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Rodin (See Figure 15). Although the quality of this painting is immediately obvious, it is also noticeable that Mary no longer captivates our vision with her tremendous size. The Chancellor is of equal stature and has no problem sharing the same room with her. Once agin, this shows that grace has lost ground to nature. (Sc).
During the Renaissance, artists struggled with the philosophical questions of the time. For example, the attempt by the philosopher Casanus to balance the infinite with the finite had tremendous influence upon Leonardo da Vinci, as did the Neoplatonists, Cosimo and Ficino. Leonardo was constantly trying to capture the universal in his drawings. Contrary to popular opinion, da Vinci did not paint much, but spent his time filling notebooks with these drawings attempting to capture the "soul" - not the soul in the spiritual sense, but the essence of man. As a Neoplantonist, da Vinci would not merely paint a woman or a landscape, rather he would attempt to paint the universal woman or landscape - one that stood for all women and landscapes. The best critics say that Leonardo knew he failed in this attempt. Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile says regarding da Vinci:
Hence, the anguish and the innermost tragedy of this universal man, divided between his irreconcilable worlds, leaves in the mind an infinite longing, made up as it were of regret and sadness. It is the longing for a Leonardo different from the Leonardo that he was... (Leonardo da Vinci (New York: Raynal and Co, 1956, p. 174)).
This failure is best portrayed in his despondent "soulish" self-portrait done at the end of his life (See Figure 16).
Other paintings show the same surge of nature over grace, often dramatically so. At times this was accomplished by a repudiation of grace, as seen in the two paintings of the Madonna With Child by Lippi (1406-1469) and Fouquet (1416-1480). In the first (See Figure 17), although Lippi paints an inviting picture of a beautiful Madonna holding a baby, everyone in his home town of Florence knows it is really a portrait of his mistress. To identify the Madonna with the ill repute is indeed a severe blow to grace. Even more obvious is Fouquet’s painting of the Madonna with one breast exposed, which is, in actuality, a painting of Agnes Sorel, the mistress of the king of France (See Figure 18). It is not difficult to see the degradation of the Madonna depicted in this painting. This is especially so since the exposure of private flesh was practically unheard of before the Renaissance. The nature side of the equation is now overwhelming grace. (Sc)
Raphael also understood the philosophical tension in the Renaissance, a tension, as we noted, that began when Thomas Aquinas reintroduced Aristotelian thought-forms to compete with Platonism. In his portrayal of Plato and Aristotle, Raphael shows the tension between Platonism and Aristotelianism. In his The School of Athens (See Figure 19), one observes Plato on the left with hand raised pointing to the sky, while his book and feet also assume a vertical position (representing universals). Aristotle, on the right, has his hand level with the surface as are his book and feet (representing particulars). This painting has become the definitive work in expressing this philosophical tension.
Because of this tension, the Renaissance started to break apart at the hands of the artists that helped it grow. In Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel, rules of proportion and perspective that had just been developed using Aristotelian forms, were slowly being defied. Like Leonardo, Michelangelo realized that he could not capture the real essence of things as they were in themselves. Hence, a trend toward distorting the images began, which was an attempt to strike back at this philosophical tension. This is why many of Michelangelo’s human figures often seem over-stuffed, as noted, for example, in The Prophet Jonas (Figure 20) and many other paintings and sculptures.
One of the more remarkable Renaissance attempts to show the prominence of man is Botticelli’s painting Adoration of the Kings (1475). Figure 21 shows several things. First, the face of the man staring at you in the lower right hand corner is the artist himself, Botticelli. He apparently has no trepidation about putting his self-portrait in the famous biblical scene, thus giving a symbolic representation of the esteem of mankind. As if this were not enough, the "three kings," seen conversing with each other in the lower left hand of the picture, are Bottecelli’s employers, the Medici family. Their insertion symbolizes the power and wealth of man. Lastly, the man holding the feet of the baby Jesus is an unknown figure, yet he thrusts himself forward and meets God face to face. This shows the importance of man in his own eyes, even when confronting the Almighty.
The Protestant Reformation (1520-1650)
Coincident with High Renaissance humanism was the religious movement known as the Reformation. Where the Renaissance added innovation and fervor to the side of nature, the Reformation tried to regain on the side of grace. The Reformation, as any religious movement, told men to look beyond the world and to have lasting values. The Reformers taught that life had to be mastered and human worth proved. Opposed to the Renaissance, life was no longer an aesthetic performance but a duty and a task. This idea is portrayed in the stern portraits of that time. An example is seen in the work of Cranach (See Figure 22, of Martin Luther). Being a friend of Martin Luther, Cranach was one of the few painters who advanced the philosophy of the Reformation (B).
Rembrandt was one of the major artists who took to heart the ideas of his times. As the Reformation attempted to give prominence to the individual, Rembrandt reemphasized life-situations and the ordinary. As a result, his paintings show extreme realism, making the individual observer a part of the scene. This is noted, for example, in the painting Christ Drives Out the Money-Changers (Figure 23), in which the anger of Christ and the surprise of the money-changers can be deeply felt by the observer. Also, the fine detail and proportion of the figures gives the appearance of three dimensions, which in turn makes it more real and captivating.
As Rembrandt painted the Descent From The Cross (Figure 24) he expressed other facets of the Reformation, such as its removal of the adoration of Mary. In this painting, Rembrandt casts Mary off to the far side. She also is not the beautiful Madonna that was once portrayed in the Middle Ages.(Mc)
Although Rembrandt made ample expression of the Reformation, he was also influenced by the Renaissance sciences. The Copernican revolution and the discovery of the New World made the universe vast and complicated. After the novelty of discovery wore off, although increasingly autonomous, man saw himself as a small cog in a great machine. Rembrandt captured this feeling in his many paintings of vast landscapes. In Figure 25, Landscape with a Long-Arched Bridge, the human figures can hardly be seen beneath the horizon. This is a dramatic change from the Byzantine era in which the figures had overwhelmed the painting with their tremendous size. Rembrandt’s stress on the horizontal dimension shows an unresolved fear of the transcendental and was in direct opposition to the significance of the vertical in the Gothic period (e.g., the high Gothic cathedral). This fear of the unknown was also expressed in the extremely dark background of Rembrandt’s art. Figure 26 shows the evangelist Matthew in Matthew and the Angel in the midst of a dark and lonely world (P).
The Baroque Period and the Counter-Reformation (1600-1800)
Although the Reformation seemed to give a refresher course on the reality of life for the individual, the mood of Middle Age art once again found expression by the advances of the Counter-Reformation. The mystical, the abstract, and the dominance of color over form served as an emotional stimulus for the people to reconsider the advantages of Catholicism. For some artists the transition was easy. The Reformation had caused a separation between artist and church, which in turn caused a financial crunch on the already meager living of the typical painter. Others, however, who clung to the Reformation, slowly began to receive support from the rising middle class and centralized monarchies. These new patrons helped salvage what was left of the Reformation spirit in art. Often the privilege was used for anti-papal propaganda in paintings and illustrated books. With the strides of the Counter-Reformation, however, Protestant art began to be confined to certain specific areas of Europe (P).
The spirit of the Counter-Reformation was carried on by one of the major artistic movements, the Baroque (1600-1800). The Renaissance had placed religion on the defensive but the church fought back with art, and won (K). But in reality, the Catholic Baroque fought harder against Protestantism than against the Renaissance. The extravagant and mystical style of the Baroque was a direct revolt against the realism of the Reformation painters. Many of the art forms of the Renaissance were carried over by Catholicism, except that a ban on nude art was administered by various popes.
The word "baroque" comes from the Italian word "barroco," meaning "irregularly rounded." The word was used commonly in Italian burlesque for the strange and bizarre (B). In this loose style, a release from the tightness of Mannerism (1500-1600) was achieved. Mannerism had followed Michelangelo’s introduction of freedom from objective reality, but a certain tightness came when Mannerism tried to balance nature and ideal beauty (K). The Baroque had dispensed with trying to find this balance, but continued with the stress on subjectivity and individual judgment from Mannerism. The Manneristic style can be seen in The Conversion of St. Paul (Figure 27).
Baroque art was mainly supported by the Jesuit order. In their quest to reemphasize the medieval doctrines of the church, the Jesuits promoted paintings that portrayed the superiority of Mary, the doctrines of penance and transubstantiation, and the papacy (Mc). Figure 28 shows Bernini’s The Chair of St. Peter as done in the extravagant Baroque style. The Jesuits poured huge sums of money into this endeavor. The movement was capped when the Baroque was carried over to Latin America and the Far East by missionaries. But since the strongholds of Protestantism remained in America and England, the Baroque could not penetrate these two countries (K). In Europe, the only merger of Protestantism and the Baroque was in the north and east of Germany, as well as the Slavic countries. Protestant art still stressed simple every day life with only a touch of Baroque. (Bz)
During the Counter-Reformation, several strains of philosophy were competing against one another. The humanism of the Renaissance was still very much alive, while the spirit of the Reformation and the authority of the Bible were slowly dying. They were being replaced by the rapid advances of science. Science became the vehicle for communication because, on the one hand, after the Protestant/Catholic conflict it was thought that no one could adequately understand theology any longer, and, on the other hand, the sciences had verifiable proofs for their propositions. Under the pressure from science, a reintroduction of Aristotelian logic resurrected the scholasticism of the Middle Ages, but with a distinctive flavor of rationalism. The Protestant wanted to hang on to some form of empiricism to fight against the nominalistic tendencies of the Middle Ages, but at the same time, he did not want to be overwhelmed by rationalism and legalism. This tension gave rise to another form of art, Romanticism, which sought an escape from the polarity of rationalism and nominalism.
Baroque art was not only an attempt to fight against the influence of Protestantism, it also tried to appeal to the emotions to calm fears and doubts created by the skepticism resulting from scientific inquiry. The world had become too big and the whims of men uncontrollable. The only way to hold everything together long enough to let the dust settle was to appeal to the sensitivities and emotions of man by the mystical and awe inspiring art of the Baroque. This is seen quite easily in the work of Bernini. His Ecstasy of St. Theresa (Figure 29) shows heaven in direct contact with mankind, overwhelming him with its power and majesty. It makes one forget all the troubles here on earth, as well as seek for the heavenly arms of God in which all is at rest. Baroque picked up where da Vinci left off as a new interest began in the psychology of the soul (K). Yet both the Baroque and da Vinci realized that no one, not even art, could balance the tension between universals and particulars. Da Vinci became despondent, while the Baroque tried to be emotionally optimistic.
During this time the ideas of Leibniz played an influential role in art. His idea of "dynamic energy" led to curved walls, oval shapes and opulent contours in Baroque architecture (K). This can be seen in the cathedral of St. John Nepomuk in Munich, Germany (See Figure 30).
Leibniz’s reduction of nature to individual atoms made paintings focus more on the individual. The Reformation had already stressed the significance of the individual, but this was not fully appreciated in the secular world until many years later. Leibniz’s ideas, however, did not make the Baroque a scientific endeavor by any means. The Baroque still remained an anti-theoretical and anti-functional art form. In fact, the Baroque was known for depicting actual nature as flawed, following the ideas of Plato, and thus it tried to imitate ideal nature instead (K).
The Classicism Period (1600-1700)
Although the Baroque dominated much of the Counter-Reformation, there were a few movements that ran against it. One of the major opponents was Classicism (1600-1700). Classicism was mainly what the term suggests - a dedication to the imitation of antiquity. Stressing the historic and the heroic from mythology made Classicism an entirely secular movement. Even Christian figures would be placed in backgrounds of ancient Greek and Roman architecture, as noted in The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. (Figure 31).
Coupling itself with the empirical and the scientific which it borrowed from the Renaissance, Classicism struggled to retain the rationalism that the Counter-Reformation had tried to eliminate with its emphasis on the mystical and emotional (P). Although Classicism still held on to the Baroque concepts of ideal nature and eloquence of expression, it did not allow color to dominate form. It rejected the concepts of the inspired artist, self-expression, and freedom of composition. Yet Classicism not only rejected the flamboyance of the Baroque, it also attacked the realism introduced by the Dutch masters, Rembrandt, Durer, Rubens and Van Dyck. Although the same artistic techniques of the realists were used, Classicism wanted to give the past more reality than the present (P). All in all, Classicism was an attempt to combine the imaginative force of the Baroque with the scientific discipline of the Renaissance and the artistic exactness of Realism. All these qualities can be seen in the painting by Poussin of Moses and the Golden Calf (See Figure 32). Space is plotted with mathematical precision and there is no blending of forms, no extravagance of emotion, but orderliness and control (K).
The Rococo Period (1700-1800)
In reaction to Classical art, a movement very similar to the Baroque began to grow. The Rococo (1700-1800) reemphasized the dominance of color over form, and the mystical over the empirical. The only real difference between the Baroque and the Rococo was that the former was more feudal and rural, since it was dominated by Catholicism, but the Rococo was more sophisticated, urban, and industrialized, coming out of secular France and Germany. Rococo was amoral, intuitive and light-hearted. It was the art of the polite, not public, society (K). We get a glimpse of this in the painting by Nicolas Lancret titled Spring (Figure 33), or The Game of Blind Man’s Bluff by Francisco de Goya (Figure 34)
The Neo-Classicism Period (1750-1850)
Not to be outdone, however, Classicism soon developed into Neo-Classicism (1750-1850). It was a reaction to the so-called extravagant and torturous style of the Rococo. More deeply rooted in rationalism than its father, Neo-Classicism took greater advantage of the developing sciences of anthropology and archeology in an effort to unearth more antiquated civilizations (K). Yet Neo-Classicism was also different from Classicism in that it began to promote ideas of pathos and love of nature (P). Actually, to be truly historical, it was expected that the sentimental qualities of antiquity would also seep into the art of this period.
The Romantic Period (1750-1900)
The sentimentality of Neo-Classicism eventually sided with the rise of Romanticism (1750-1900). Rationalism and scientific inquiry were lessened, while a romantic view of life had risen. Yet even though Neo-Classicism and Romanticism had this common bond, Romanticism was as vigorously opposed to the formality of Classical art as it was to the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Not only did it stress the love of nature as Neo-Classicism did, it stressed the mystique of nature as well. By employing picturesque and exotic techniques, Romanticism drew out from the observer the feelings of awe and terror in human emotions (P).
This reassertion of passion and sentiment had come about due to the crisis caused by the age of Enlightenment. Man’s better sense told him that there was a deep side to life beyond the intellect and reason, for none of the previous disciplines answered his deepest passions or longings. Often this gave rise to the mysterious, as well as the power of the imagination, unfettered by the constraints of reason. We see some of this feeling in The Soul and the Witch of Endor by Benjamin West (Figure 35).
After the intellectual surge of the Enlightenment, many struggled with how to harness the enlightened conscience. The Protestants came under a semi-scholastic curriculum to help systematize their beliefs, while the Catholics stabilized theirs with a reemphasis on hierarchical structure and authority. The secular world had once again felt the squeeze, similar to the pressure put on its conscience by the Copernican revolution and the discovery of the New World. Now the Newtonian revolution had made the world even more complicated, and this vastness began to penetrate man’s soul. Even as Baroque art tried to compensate by an appeal to the emotions, so Romantic art tried to fill the same gap with romantic ideas. In the painting by Delacroix, Liberty Guiding the People (Figure 36) we see the portrayal of this sentiment in the passionate, victorious and cause-worthy. Their emotion drove them to action, both political and physical, which led to such events as the French and American Revolutions. The salient feature of Delacroix’s painting is that liberty is depicted as a bare-breasted woman, which is an image of a Roman goddess.
Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism (1850-1900)
From 1850-1890, Realism began to surge again. In reaction to Classicism’s stress on ideal nature and Romanticism’s pure idealism, Realism turned its back on the subjective fantasies of previous efforts, desiring to portray things exactly as they appeared. For this they drew on the power of the old Dutch masters. Realism saw objective reality as a valid theme in itself, even as Rembrandt had opposed the nominalism of the Middle Ages. It held that reality must be portrayed without embellishments and superficial emotions. Like the Dutch painters, Realism tried to portray contemporary life and humble social classes. These ideas can be seen in the painting titled The Penitent Magdalen by Caravaggio (Figure 37), for without this very title it would hardly be recognizable as a depiction of Mary Magdalen. This is certainly not the Mary Magdalen who is dressed in the pious garb of Byzantine art, but a humble, ordinary woman in the clothing of the day.
Although there were realistic paintings that followed the vision of the Dutch masters, there was another "realism" that these artists wanted to portray. Gone was the Renaissance vision of life. Man was no longer in control of his destiny. Gone was the Enlightenment idea that man lived in the best of all possible worlds. Gone was Romanticism’s effort to escape to the glories of the past. With the disappointments left over from all the previous movements, life in the nineteenth century understood mankind as going through great hardships, and even the beginnings of despair. He could not romanticize with his emotions, or dream of eras long gone. He had to face life squarely. That he did, and he portrayed this struggle in his paintings. Thus the brutal truth was revealed. We see much of this in the early paintings of Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). Figure 38, titled On the Threshold of Eternity, shows a despondent man holding his head in his hands. Van Gogh’s figures are almost always ugly and somewhat distorted, for it was his task to show the banal side of life. The Potato Eaters also shows this very well (Figure 39). These pessimistic feelings were prompted by many things, particularly the ideas of Karl Marx and Charles Darwin, who held that life was little more than a mechanized struggle where only the strongest specimens survive. Thus, in the early painting by Paul Gauguin (1846-1903), titled Harvesting in Brittany (Figure 40), we see people struggling to make a living, two of them women who cannot afford the privilege of staying with their children.
But in reality, it was more than just a struggle to survive. Both Van Gogh and Gauguin had a much deeper and darker side to them. They, like da Vinci before them, were on a desperate search to depict the "universal" in their artwork - something to bring them back to reality, something more than struggling with the mundane. To Van Gogh, artists would become the bearers of a new religion in which sensitive and intuitive people like himself, and Gauguin, would open the doors. He opened an artistic community in Arles where he lived. Gauguin joined him. But soon the two began to quarrel violently. Shortly thereafter Van Gogh committed suicide. Gauguin attempted suicide, but was not successful. Before his attempt, he created the now famous Expressionist painting: Whence? What? Whither? (or, Whence we come? What are we? Whither go we?") (See Figure 41). Gauguin, in line with Van Gogh’s desire, wanted to be the purveyor of a new religion. He comments: "I have finished a philosophical work on this theme, comparable to the gospel." The painting displays a Tahitian woman in the middle dividing the left and right sides of the scene. On the right is the beautiful symbolism in much of Gauguin’s Tahitian art, but on the left is the despondent old woman next to a large bird, a symbol of his utter despair.
Prior to this dark turn in art, the Impressionists such as Pierre Auguste Renoir tried to hold off the onslaught. The Enlightenment made reality an unknown. Man could only discover its features by using his senses, while with his intellect he would try to categorize his sensations. After the philosopher Immanuael Kant virtually trapped man within his own mind, David Hume had added to the frustration by questioning all previous assumptions man had used to guide his life. For the artist the question became whether he should paint what he actually saw, or merely record the light sensations that reached the retina of his eye. The Impressionists chose the latter.
Renoir, for example, painted in a "hasty" style so as to mimic the blink of a camera’s eye, and thus there is only an "impression" given in the painting. The eye of the observer was required to fill in anything that was missing. This can be seen in Renoir’s painting Moss Roses (See Figure 42). Renoir tried to capture that "accidental" dimension, thereby showing that life was not the ordered one of the Renaissance, but one governed by chance and uncertainty. This idea can be seen in Renoir’s Moulin de la Galette in which the edge of the canvas cuts abruptly across the characters of the painting, showing that life cannot be categorized in pre-ordained segments (See Figure 43).
Nothing was certain - not even the presentation of art. This idea was later developed by Claude Monet. He burst through the limitations Renoir had imposed. Whereas Renoir tried to hold on to reality, Monet claimed that no one knew the reality behind the sensation. In fact, there is no reality, only sensations. Thus light and air became the real essence of his paintings, regardless of the subject matter. This can be seen in Monet’s Parliament (Figure 44). It can also be seen in Alfred Sisley’s Detail from Landscape (Figure 45), as well as the Post-Impressionist work of Georges Seurat in Le Crotoy (Figure 46). Many of these artists tried to convey the idea of change and impermanence, using the shifting shades of sunlight to symbolize the shifting ideas and fortunes of life. Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), although known for trying to regain a little more reality in painting, was famous for showing these shifting patterns of light by putting the same objects in different positions in the same painting (Figure 47). In addition to the philosophical problems, industrialized society crowded in on mankind. Along with the pressures of a fast-changing world, this produced feelings of anxiety and hopelessness. The famous Scream painting of Edvard Munch best depicts this (Figure 48).
The Modern Period: Cubism and Beyond (1900-Present)
Although the art of Realism was appealing to the populace, by this time, the crisis caused by the Enlightenment had reached its peak. By the 1900's, philosophy had turned the world upside down. In successive philosophies, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) had taken objective reality away from man; Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) relativized truth into a synthesis of competing ideas; and Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) told man to escape by the existential experience, which ultimately suggested suicide. Artists such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Dali, Picasso and a host of many others, followed the pessimistic existentialism of the French and German philosophers. Art became a series of physical distortions portraying human despair. This can readily be seen in Van Gogh’s Portrait of a Peasant (Figure 49), or his many self-portraits (Figure 50), or his many landscapes (See Figure 51).
Still, with its unique form and novelty, modern art gripped the world stage, but at the same time, both artist and viewer were drawn into the vortex of hopelessness dripping from its paintings and sculptures. Everything da Vinci worked so hard to attain in seeking an answer to the deepest philosophical problems of man had been utterly rejected by Modern Art.
That this movement is a direct answer to the work of da Vinci and the Renaissance can be seen in the painting by Salvador Dali in which he places himself as the Mona Lisa, complete with handle-bar mustache, bulging eyes and masculine-looking hands (See Figure 52). Dali was making a statement that da Vinci had failed. The result of this failure was that man was caught without an answer to life. By putting himself in place of Mona Lisa, Dali exudes the very meaning of the term existentialism, that is, "I exist for myself," and this is characteristic of the whole period of Modern Art.
Dali was part of the surrealist group of painters going by the name "dada." These artists rejected any absolutes, but soon found themselves in that strange world between determinism and chance. The word "dada" was chosen specifically to portray the idea of chance. During a meeting at the Café Voltaire in Zurich, a group of these artists thumbed through a French dictionary and let one of their group randomly chose a word. His finger rested on "dada" (which, for what its worth, means "rocking horse" in French) and so the movement was born.
Although he was an ardent surrealists in his early years, Dali, like many of the modern artists, was unable to live in the world he created for himself. To escape, he became somewhat of a mystical painter. The beginnings of this occurred when he painted a portrait of his wife, Galarina, in 1945, which he called "my basket of bread." Previous to this, Dali gained famed for his 1926 work Basket of Bread (Figure 53), which was an oil painting of actual bread. But now there is meaning to his life because of his love for Galarina. In his own words he describes his transition: "Today, now that Gala has risen in the heraldic hierarchy of my nobility, she has become my basket of bread" (See Figure 54). Dali went so far as to describe his wife’s arms and chest as parts of a loaf of bread.(Sc)
One of the most provocative artists of this period was Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), particularly in his development of Cubism - a highly abstract form of art combining Gauguin’s noble savage image, Cezanne’s geometric forms, and the faces of African masks. Although in Picasso’s early years he was not ashamed to display his Catholic upbringing (as can be seen in the 1895 painting, First Communion in Figure 55), soon thereafter, perhaps by some tragic experiences in his life, he accelerated the pessimism begun by earlier existentialist philosophers, imposing severe and grotesque distortions in his paintings. This was his way of saying that not only did da Vinci fail, but he plunged mankind into the abyss, never to return again. Mankind became a pariah, trapped in a world in which there was no escape, except death - the so-called "final and authenticating experience" of existentialism.
Picasso depicted this decrepit state of mankind in his many paintings of nudes in distorted figures. At times, he portrayed humankind as so insignificant that the viewer couldn’t tell the human figure apart from inanimate objects. All was one mass of confusion. From another prespective, it could be said that in his attempt to create the universal concept, Picasso’s art became so abstract that he simply was not able to communicate with his viewer any longer.
This was no better portrayed than in his 1907 painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, (Young Ladies of Avignon, Figure 56). As he showed his eight-foot-square canvas to a group of painters and art critics at his studio, Picasso met with shock and outrage. The artist Matisse was enraged and considered it a hoax. The artist Derain stated: "One day we shall find Pablo has hanged himself behind his great canvas." The art critic Salmon wrote: "It was the ugliness of the faces that froze with horror the half-converted." Apparently, Picasso had the same sentiments, since stated that it was "my first exorcism painting...if we give spirits a form, we become independent."
Perhaps along the same lines of thinking, in a sharp contrast to the beautiful 1895 First Communion painting, years later Picasso took a giant swipe at Christianity with his grotesquely distorted and satirical painting titled Crucifixion, in which a blend of human body parts and modern imagery is superimposed on the crucifixion scene of Christ (See Figure 57).
One of Picasso’s favorite objects of derision is the human female. This is seen, for example, in the painting A Woman Seated from 1908 (See Figure 58). One cannot tell where the woman ends and the chair begins. The woman, a nude, is severely distorted, undefined, ugly, and in despair, as she holds her malformed face in her handless arms. This grotesque distortion and despair continued in Picasso’s painting, resulting in his 1935 work Nude in an Armchair. This time, however, it is hardly recognizable as a human figure, while the chair itself is more defined (See Figure 59). The same attempts were made by other artists, as noted in Marcel Duchamp’s (1887-1968) painting titled The Bride (See Figure 60). This is not the typical bride, of course, but a conglomeration of mechanized parts haphazardly put together.
Although women became Picasso’s symbolic message of existential despair, similar to the experience of Salvador Dali, there was also a tension, almost a revulsion, in Picasso’s mind over the art he was producing. Picasso showed that, as much as he wanted to react against mankind’s plunge into hopelessness, there was still a part of him that could not let go. This tension is seen in his painting titled Nude: I Love Eva (See Figure 61). On the one hand, Picasso shows no break from the severely distorted female figures of his past works; on the other hand, he admits he cannot live in the world he created for himself, and thus writes across his painting, almost in spite of it all, "J’aime Eva" ("I Love Eva"). Prior to the above painting, two works with Eva’s name written on them were exhibited in the "Picasso and Man Exhibition" at the Toronto Art Gallery in 1964.
These incidents show that no matter how distorted Picasso made his paintings, the better half of him could not live in the absurd and hopeless world his other half depicted. He could not hide his strong passions and search for meaning in life, yet he understood that, according to his existential philosophy, these passions have no basis in reality, and there should be no love of Eva. In existentialist philosophy, loving Eva is no different than hating Eva, since it is all one grand self-authenticating experience.
Such contrasts can also be seen in Picasso’s painting of his first wife, Olga, in 1917 (See Figure 62). Continuing the same "armchair" theme he depicted in so many of his paintings, Picasso has Olga seated very stately. The armchair is attractive and defined and she is beautiful, serene, composed and in control of her world. Whenever Picasso had a choice between absurdity and hope, he often gave signs that he could not resist the latter.
Picasso led the way for even more bizarre paintings and sculptures. Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) took Picasso’s vision to the next level. Mondrian tried to react against the confusion of life by returning everything to simplicity, but it was a grotesque simplicity, for there was nothing left of the former days. One example of this is seen in his painting titled Broadway Boogie Woogie (See Figure 63), or the painting by Kenneth Noland titled April Tune (See Figure 64). As one can see, although these works are certainly simple, neither of them can be identified as that which is described by the title. Although we could list many more works of modern art, it would be redundant. For them, everything has been destroyed.
So it is with art. Each picture tells a story, but a story much deeper than what most people who travel through the world’s art museums usually grasp. The same story can be seen in architecture, music, movies, books, and just about any medium of popular interest that man uses to express his ideas. The men and women who create them are making a comment about mankind, not merely entertaining us with interesting images. Unfortunately, we can see from the images and meaning of modern art that modern society has indeed lost its way, and it may never get it back.
Robert Sungenis
Catholic Apologetics International
January 2004
Note: This essay is copyrighted. Reproduction, by any means, is strictly prohibited without written consent from the author.
Catholic Apologetics International