art-en

REFLECTIONS ON ART

	Presentation I have dedicated my whole life to art; creation, teaching, criticism, etc., and constantly, without any kind of inhibition, I reflect on it. With this study, I allow me to situate myself freely in any historical moment; theme, movement, century, technique, creator, etc., etc. and accepting the relativity of my reasoning to reflect on it. Having taught art history during numerous courses forced me, among other things, to analyze the works, not only from an historical point of view, but also for the aesthetic. Art is an exciting activity and I would like, with my comments, in addition to making you discover aspects of the commented works, to influence you with my passion. Art, as a manifestation of sensitive states, is a recent concept. Nevertheless, art, as we study it in the so-called history of art, has had a very specific function in the history. It was in the 20th century, however, when art has been freed from a specific function; social, religious, etc. and has become the creator's free means of expression. If we do the exercise of putting ourselves in the place of an artist from a certain historical moment, we will see that we would hardly understand art as it has developed since the beginning of the 20th century, which has been limited to be the expression of a creator for the joy and enjoyment of the viewer. This allows me to accept that we cannot extrapolate works, creators, concepts or others from certain historical moments with others. In order to better enjoy art and, in this case, the works that I present to you, allow me to advise you that, once you have read the text that I have accompanied each work, to reflect, looking at the work, not only on what I have written, but try to discover other values of the work according to your personal reading. Practicing the reading of art, allows to develop the interpretive capacities of the spectator.

GIOTTO DI BONDONE

(Late 13th century, early 14th century)

"Omaggio dell'uomo semplice" is part of the set of frescoes on the legend of Saint Francis which are in the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.

A fresco is a painting made on a surface covered with two layers of lime mortar, the first thicker, with slaked lime, sand and water, and the second thinner, formed by marble dust, slaked lime and water on which the pigments are applied, when this last layer is still wet. Fresco painting requires a strong and resistant surface, usually a wall.

The figure has been the basic component of painting throughout history before the fourteenth century. It is with Giotto that an architectural space opens up in the painting. However, there is a disproportion between figure and architecture in his work. We observe in this work how architecture is a symbolic element without maintaining a real proportion with respect to the figures.

After many centuries of flat pictorial tradition, it was Giotto, together with his contemporary Duccio, one of the painters who introduced perspective in painting. His perspective does not use the so-called conical system with vanishing points as Renaissance painting from the 15th century will do. On the contrary, Giotto makes use of parallel structures, a perspective that we now call technical and that uses industrial drawing. We see how the lines that determine the depth do so through parallel lines.

"Omaggio dell'uomo semplice" 1300.

270 cm x 230 cm

		THE TAJ MAHAL The Taj Mahal is a large mausoleum in the city of Agra in India. It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1630 in honor of his late wife, the empress Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, combines different styles; the Indian, the Persian and the Islamists with a clear romantic inspiration.
	India is, everyone knows, a country of poverty, but it is also a country that has some of the most beautiful buildings that human beings have ever created. Of all the buildings I visited, the one that impressed me the most was the Taj Mahal. Despite having been able to see it previously in photographs and other types of images, the direct view of the monument fascinates any sensitive visitor who approaches it. On January 4, 2005, sitting on the cold marble, quickly warmed by the sun's rays, I, spectator of all that magnificence, saw, coming from among the crowd of visitors and wearing an ultramarine sari speckled with golden spots, an Indian woman that stood out over the whiteness of the marble. She's happy, I said to myself in a silent voice. And suddenly, my imagination, spurred on by the sweetness of the moment, ran away almost four centuries ago to imagine how beautiful Mumtaz Mahal should have been, and how Sha Jahan must have loved her, to make him build this wonder that, still today and after centuries, breathe the lover's breath. The Taj Mahal is the transformation into an architectural jewel of the anguish suffered by the death of the beloved. The Taj Mahal is a cry of pure, diaphanous, transparent love. Rabindranath Tagore himself, in verses of high inspiration, describes the pain of Sha Jahan's heart translated into this architectural miracle: You knew, Emperor of India, Sha Jahan, that life, youth, wealth..... everything flows in the stream of time. Your only dream was to forever preserve the pain in your heart... In the form of this resplendent white Taj Mahal. Inside and outside the mausoleum, barefoot due to the respect that the place demands and surrounded by the whiteness of warm and cold marble, I was able to contemplate one of the most marvelous marble embroideries that man's hand has ever been able to weave. The structure of the entire mausoleum shows the absolute balance that only divine inspiration can have built. It seems improbable that, on a building of this magnitude, with thousands of people working for more than twenty years, there has been no written documentation about the author of the work, although, among some names, that of the Turkish architect Ustad Isa Afandi stands out. The fact is that the work is a jewel of universal architecture. Words can hardly express the impressions experienced in front of that jewel. My sensibility allowed me to enjoy the balance of the forms and the perfect harmony of the ensemble, as well as the absolute symmetry of all its elements. Regardless of the studies in the compositional, analytical or other field, regardless of the technical and constructive elements that made this building possible, there is something that can only be valued by the vibrations experienced in front of the mausoleum; the inspiration that generates a work of art can never be valued by technical parameters. The Taj Mahal was started in 1632 and finished twenty years later. A sarcophagus, containing the remains of Shah Jahan, is next to that of his wife Muntaz Mahal, the only elements that break the perfect symmetry of the entire building. Although in order to perfectly assess a three-dimensional work, you should take a tour, both inside and outside, observing the balance of all the elements that make up the facade, its variety of shapes and the symmetry by means of a plane that divides the building in its center.

THE TAJ MAHAL

The Taj Mahal is a large mausoleum in the city of Agra in India. It was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1630 in honor of his late wife, the empress Arjumand Banu Begum, better known as Mumtaz Mahal.

The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world, combines different styles; the Indian, the Persian and the Islamists with a clear romantic inspiration.

India is, everyone knows, a country of poverty, but it is also a country that has some of the most beautiful buildings that human beings have ever created. Of all the buildings I visited, the one that impressed me the most was the Taj Mahal. Despite having been able to see it previously in photographs and other types of images, the direct view of the monument fascinates any sensitive visitor who approaches it.

On January 4, 2005, sitting on the cold marble, quickly warmed by the sun's rays, I, spectator of all that magnificence, saw, coming from among the crowd of visitors and wearing an ultramarine sari speckled with golden spots, an Indian woman that stood out over the whiteness of the marble. She's happy, I said to myself in a silent voice. And suddenly, my imagination, spurred on by the sweetness of the moment, ran away almost four centuries ago to imagine how beautiful Mumtaz Mahal should have been, and how Sha Jahan must have loved her, to make him build this wonder that, still today and after centuries, breathe the lover's breath.

The Taj Mahal is the transformation into an architectural jewel of the anguish suffered by the death of the beloved. The Taj Mahal is a cry of pure, diaphanous, transparent love. Rabindranath Tagore himself, in verses of high inspiration, describes the pain of Sha Jahan's heart translated into this architectural miracle: You knew, Emperor of India, Sha Jahan, that life, youth, wealth..... everything flows in the stream of time. Your only dream was to forever preserve the pain in your heart... In the form of this resplendent white Taj Mahal.

Inside and outside the mausoleum, barefoot due to the respect that the place demands and surrounded by the whiteness of warm and cold marble, I was able to contemplate one of the most marvelous marble embroideries that man's hand has ever been able to weave.

The structure of the entire mausoleum shows the absolute balance that only divine inspiration can have built. It seems improbable that, on a building of this magnitude, with thousands of people working for more than twenty years, there has been no written documentation about the author of the work, although, among some names, that of the Turkish architect Ustad Isa Afandi stands out. The fact is that the work is a jewel of universal architecture.

Words can hardly express the impressions experienced in front of that jewel. My sensibility allowed me to enjoy the balance of the forms and the perfect harmony of the ensemble, as well as the absolute symmetry of all its elements.

Regardless of the studies in the compositional, analytical or other field, regardless of the technical and constructive elements that made this building possible, there is something that can only be valued by the vibrations experienced in front of the mausoleum; the inspiration that generates a work of art can never be valued by technical parameters.

The Taj Mahal was started in 1632 and finished twenty years later. A sarcophagus, containing the remains of Shah Jahan, is next to that of his wife Muntaz Mahal, the only elements that break the perfect symmetry of the entire building.

Although in order to perfectly assess a three-dimensional work, you should take a tour, both inside and outside, observing the balance of all the elements that make up the facade, its variety of shapes and the symmetry by means of a plane that divides the building in its center.

THE ROMANTICISME

Romanticism is a social, cultural, artistic, literary movement, among others, that occurs at the beginning of the 19th century and that manifests the exaltation of individual feelings against the neoclassical order of the 18th century.

Le Radeau de la Méduse of Théodore Géricault (1818-1819).

LE RADEAU DE LA MEDUSE

I take as an example one of the pictorial works that have impressed me the most since I saw it for the first time in Paris (Louvre Museum): Le Radeau de la Méduse by Théodore Géricault (1818-1819).

It is a large painting 4.91 m x 7.16 m that represents the historical event that took place in 1816 when a frigate was shipwrecked off the coast of Africa.

We observe that there is a strong diagonal compositional direction from the bottom left to the top right with a main center towards which all the lines are directed, which coincides with the vertex of a pyramid (The character holding up a shirt). We place our sight anywhere in the painting and everything induces us to go towards the main center. A painting can have several centers of interest. Here we only consider one. The character, unlike almost everyone else, has dark skin to contrast with the clear sky.

A work of art can be enjoyed intuitively, but analyzing the plastic elements can allow us to better enjoy the work.

Other characteristics of this painting are the strong action and movement of the characters, as well as the studies of anatomy.

Anatomy, with the drawing of the human figure as a model, has been one of the subjects of the Academy of Arts.

Let us note that the painting has all the characteristics of romantic painting; the theme, exaltation of movement, the strong contrast of chiaroscuro, among others.

As always, throughout history, the new artistic movements have not been accepted by the already established ones. Let us think that Impressionism was not accepted by the academics of the late 19th century. Neither abstract painting for all those who still seek figurative images in painting today. This has also happened in the world of music and literature.

THE GOLDEN RATIO (THE GOLDEN NUMBER)

The golden ratio, also known as the golden number, golden proportion, or the divine proportion, is a ratio between two numbers that equals approximately 1.618. Usually written as the Greek letter phi (f).

It is accepted as an aesthetic relationship and applied to numerous works of art.

Although we have no record, it is a relationship known since ancient times.

The sum of two segments (a+b) is to the large segment (a) as the large segment (a) is to the small segment (b).

Although we find this relationship in numerous ancient works of art, there is nothing to suggest that it was used rationally or mathematically.

We find it in the Sumerian civilization and in the pyramids of Egypt (Pyramids of Giza) among others, but we do not believe that it was used consciously.

The golden ratio has been considered the best aesthetic ratio.

Some of its properties were already known in ancient Greece, discovered by the Pythagoreans; however, we do not know if they knew of its aesthetic properties. In the Parthenon and other Greek buildings we find the golden ratio.

Golden ratios can also be found in Roman architecture, but their conscientious use has not been proven either. Personally, I consider that it was not until the Renaissance that the golden ratio was applied in a conscious, geometric, mathematical way.

The golden section is considered an aesthetic rule in the artistic process, especially in architecture and painting, which brings perfect harmony to the work.

THE GOLDEN SECTION IN THE GIOCONDE (THE MONA LISA)

The Mona Lisa is one of the masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Regardless of the golden section or divine proportion, the painting shows an absolute balance of all the elements involved. Try to see the painting without considering the rectangles with the golden proportions and observe the depth of the look and the enigmatic smile, as well as the delicate chromaticism. Try also to see the measure of the shapes and the weighting of the chromaticism. What blues! What sensitivity!

The rectangles maintain the golden section, the aesthetic relationships that structure the proportions of the different parts of the portrait. The sides of the golden rectangles keep the golden ratio. Here we see three rectangles, one vertical and two horizontal and all of them keep the golden ratio. I don't know if Leonardo made the mathematical applications of the relationship, but it is evident that the perfect proportions that we see in the painting can only be obtained consciously.

THE TECHNIQUES OF THE WORK

Leonardo used oil painting on board. Oil paint uses pigments and linseed oil as a binder. Linseed oil has a yellowish color and in order that it does not stain the pigments, it is necessary to clarify it. It can be clarified chemically or naturally. I had prepared many of the oil paints that I used clarifying it by exposing to solar radiation. The pigments can be of many and very different origins, but they must have the property of being resistant to light.

For this work, Leonardo used the technique called "sfumato" which consists of applying very thin and transparent layers in order to achieve delicate tones. Observe the chromatic saturations of the work. What chromatic sensitivity!

The Gioconde (Mona Lisa) Oil on table.

79 cm x 53 cm.

Louvre Museum

The richness of art in all its manifestations throughout history is exciting. There has been the artist, whose work has manifested itself in an absolutely impulsive (thoughtless) way. There has been the cognitive, reflective, intellectual artist. Leonardo da Vinci was a cerebral artist, a universal genius; philosopher, humanist, mathematician, symbol of the Renaissance.

Often, he has been described as the human archetype and symbol of the Renaissance, a universal genius, a humanist philosopher with boundless curiosity, and a great creative force. He has been considered one of the most outstanding painters of all time, and perhaps the most versatile and talented person in the greatest number of different fields.

WASSILY KANDINSKY. Composition VII ( 1913). 200 cm x 300 cm.

Oil on canvas (1913). 200 cm x 300 cm. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

It was at the beginning of the 1910s when Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian painter, delves into a painting without figuration that from then on we call abstract.

Abstract painting does not take objects from the real world to capture their shapes in the painting. It must be understood that photographic media helped to create abstraction and, from that moment on, many were the artists who adapted it.

Pure abstraction can use geometric forms or absolutely free forms. Although there are some geometric shapes in this painting, the vast majority are free forms.

Figuration has been the plastic element that has dominated the entire history of painting. In abstract painting, objects have completely disappeared, and it is limited to what we call pure painting, that is, shapes and colors on a surface.

The viewer cannot demand from a work what he wants to see, but accept it by doing his personal reading. The readings of the same work that can be carried out by different spectators can be totally different.

When looking at this painting, do not look for what you want to see. Do not try to search for images of real world objects. Try to enjoy what the work offers you: shapes, colors, composition. Also, analyze the spirit of the forms, with the great wealth of plastic elements. Do the same with the colors. Let's take an example: red. Despite having a large number of reds, they have many and very different shades.

LAOCOON AND HIS SONS

In front of this group of sculptures, the only expression that appears to me is: Great! How could this have been sculpted?

It represents the death of the Trojan priest Laocoon, punished by the gods to be strangled by sea serpents along with his two sons.

It was carved from a single block of marble.

The work is framed within a pyramidal composition, and the best viewing position is from the front; the work depicts human emotions at their most pathetic expression. It is an example of Hellenistic sculpture of extreme drama.

The expression of guilt and the great drama of Laocoon, who contorts in painful agony, are shocking. Within the group, the two monstrous snakes that twist to kill, according to the punishment imposed by the gods, are part of the visual composition of the group, and with its curved lines it achieves the union between all the characters, which helps to show the dynamics that emerges from the group.

There is the will to exaggerate the theatrical effect of the anatomy, and the moral pain of Laocoon is added when witnessing the death of his two sons. The work describes Laocoon as a spectacle of human nature subjected to the greatest pain it is capable of enduring. Observe the anatomy of the whole body, especially that of Laocoon.

His chest rises from trying to contain the pain and because his belly is compressed you can see the shape of his viscera. His children look at him asking for help, and he manifests his paternal tenderness with eyes that turn towards heaven imploring the gods.

The opening of his mouth has a movement that expresses outrage at the idea of undeserved punishment.

In Greek myths, it is related that, during the siege of Troy, two serpents are sent by Athena or by Apollo and attack the Trojan priest of Apollo, named Laocoon, and his two sons. The versions that relate this episode are numerous, and it is disputed whether the group of sculptures is based on Virgil's story, in the Aeneid, where Laocoon and his two sons die.

Virgil, in book II of the Aeneid, recounts the attack of the serpents: They rush towards Laocoon and writhe against the tender bodies of his two children, tearing their miserable members with their teeth.

Laocoon head

Laocoon and his sons is a sculptural group from the Greek hellenistic period. 1st century AD.

It measures 242 cm in height, made of white marble.

Vatican museums

Creator: Various names are considered:

Agesandre; Atenodor of Rodas; Polidor od Rodas

Two versions of the mythological story: Laocoon was the priest of the temple of Apollo Timbri in Troy and warned unsuccessfully not to let the famous Trojan horse pass, since it was a trap set by the Achaean Greeks. The gods punished him to death for throwing fire at the horse, and they sent two sea serpents to kill him and his children.

There is another version that explains that it was a punishment from Apollo because Laocoon had married Antiope in front of the statue of the god, which constituted sacrilege.

	Here I have presented six examples drawn from the wonderful world of art. I have commented on the different works. The exercise for years of teaching has developed in me the pleasure of expressing my thoughts. Starting in March, the Contemporary Art Center of the Rodríguez-Amat Foundation will be open again and I, personally, will have the pleasure of showing you the exhibited works and, at the same time, talking to you about art. As always, the visit is absolutely free, but it will be necessary to arrange the visit by phone: 697 76 18 74 in order to be personally available. Starting in March, the Art Center will once again receive resident artists. For information, click the following link: : Residence of artists

Contemporary Art Center, the Rodríguez-Amat Foundation: : The Rodriguez-Amat Foundation