Thinking About Art: Different Art Forms

What we call art in all its forms – painting, sculpture, drawing and engraving – appeared in human groups all over the world in the period known as the Upper Paleolithic, which is roughly from 40,000 to 10,000 years ago. In Europe, sophisticated and powerful paintings from this period have been discovered in caves such as Lascaux in France. In 1994 possibly even more astonishing works were found in the Chauvet cave in the Ardèche Valley, also in France. Cave paintings consist of pigments such as colored earths rubbed onto the rock. In some cases they appear to have been mixed into a paste first. The paintings mostly represent animals but there are some human images.

Art is a complicated thing to define and condense it’s meaning into one sentence. Art is the expression of human creative skills and imagination applied to a form of art most commonly visual such as painting or sculpting, however some artists choose to express their work through songs or poems. Some art works are considered mastered by famous artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso or Vincent Van Gogh, they were all successful painters and more.

Painting is the practice of applying paint, color or other mediums to a surface typically a canvas using a brush or other device such as knives or airbrushes. This painting was done by Edward Hopper, painted at The Art Institute of Chicago in 1942. It is called Nighthawks. The size of the painting is 30 x 60 inches, done on canvas with oil paints. The mood this painting sends to the audience is the feel of loneliness, and late night emptiness. Some of the things being presented here, that I've observed; there are two men and a lady sitting around a large rounded counter with coffee mugs in front of them. I would assume it's a coffee shop that they are in, but could possibly be a bar as well. The coffee shop has a large glass window wrapping around the whole shop, and onto the corner. There is a sign above the place, that says Phillies, probably the name of the shop, or maybe they sell cigars as well. It looks like part of the sign is cut off so we cannot see if this sign has more written on it.

Noticing the sidewalk next to the coffee shop, it seems unusually pretty. Also, across the street from the shop, is a large building that appears to be closed, there are no lights on, and no people inside. Back to the coffee shop, there is a person inside behind the counter who looks to be filling a cup to serve a drink. He looks like he might be conversing with the man and the woman sitting together at the end of the counter. The man sitting by himself, looks like he might be sad or lonely, maybe deep in thought. He appears to be looking down, which gives him a sad appearance.

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by the Italian artist Michelangelo. It is a 5.17 meter (17 feet) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favored subject in the art of Florence. Originally commissioned as one of a series to be positioned high up on the facade of Florence Cathedral, the statue was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo Della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September, 1504. Because of the nature of the hero that it represented, it soon came to symbolize the defense of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. The statue was moved to the Academia Gallery in Florence in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.

In conclusion Art is a method of communication and a way to tell a story, very few people have the ability to create such stunning and beautiful pieces which is why it is rare to find good art. Both the painting Nighthawks and the statue of David are art pieces created with passion and talent.