A DESCRIPTION OF THE PIETÁ

The pietá  is a Renaissance sculpture of marble by Michelangelo Buonarroti housed in San Peter´s Basilica.This famous work of art depicts the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the crucifixion. The theme is of Northern origin, popular at that time in France but not yet in Italy. Michelangelo's interpretation of the Pietà is unprecedented in Italian sculpture. It is an important work as it balances the renaissance ideals of classical beauty with naturalism.

The virgin Mary appears younger than Jesus willfully, because this work was done in the Renaissance, and the beauty ideal was to represent the perfect beauty, youth... An entirely young and beautiful mother.

When Michelangelo did this work he was 24 years old, and many people thought that he wasn´t the real author. When Buonarroti knew it, he caught a chisel and put his name in the work.

The structure is pyramidal, and the vertex coincides with Mary's head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary's dress, to the base, the rock of Golgotha. The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully-grown man cradled full-length in a woman's lap. Much of Mary's body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural

(written by Carlos García, 1º B Bach)

ORAL PRESENTATION : our artists and their work

In OUR WEBQUEST you will be guided in the process of your ORAL PRESENTATION  about artists and their creations.

Vicent Van Gogh

Interesting facts about Van Gogh´s life. An excellent song to develop listening skills.

 

 

Clic here to view.

 

DESCRIBING PAINTINGS

HOW TO DESCRIBE A PAINTING: Edvard Munch – best of expressionism art

       The Scream by Edvard Munch

The Scream is a very interesting painting to discuss and mull about. The Scream gives the viewer infinite possibilities to interpret the painting and its subjects. Munch has juxtaposition various elements of despair and melancholy in this painting. The bright orange fiery sky shows a high level of movement and confusion, with undulating waves like a swirling whirlpool. The figures on the bridge are as melancholic as the Screamer. They may be on the way back home from work; their posses show a depressed and anxious stature. The third element is an eerie ship in the distance, which looks like it is aimlessly floating in the dark blue whirlpool. Lastly we come to the centre point of the painting a ‘being’ with a ghoulish face, screaming, and clutching a contorted face. The face depicts the despair the screamer is going through. It could be a sign of being left out and lonely in a fast moving world. It looks like the sound of the Scream is spreading through out the painting, enveloping everything in the same agony.

Munch’s Screamer tries to capture the anxiety of modern life, prevailing at the times. During the years at the end of the century the world was moving faster than one could realise. Society was being transformed politically, socially and technologically. Modern cities were growing rapidly, and with them a sense of isolation and alienation. New machines like the airplane, the automobile the telephone, and the radio were changing people’s lives. And advances in science and psychology were establishing the importance of emotions and the unconscious. Artists of the time like Munch, needed to express their feelings about these disturbing changes. 

Thus the Scream was painted.

The Scream is one of the best known examples of a new kind of painting called Expressionism. In this work, Munch doesn’t just paint what a person in pain might look like. He sees the world through the eyes of this agonized person. In The Scream, the entire landscape is distorted by pain 

and despair. A ghostly figure clutches its skull-like head in agony. Blood-red lines vibrate around it like shrieks of terror.

The painting was stolen back in 1994 but recovered in the same year. The painting is cared for by the Museum of Oslo, Norway. Recently ‘The scream was declared on the highest paintings auction in western art, beating the price of Picasso’s ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’. The painting was acquired by a telephone bidder for $119.9 million.

More Info: http://www.edvard-munch.com/

FAMOUS PAINTINGS

What do you think is the most famous painting in the world?
Watch the video to learn more.







Hand out Task 1 to your teacher. 

OUR BOOK REVIEWS

Review written by Noé Ramundo ( 2º B Bach.)

It’s mainly a fantasy story with some terror details which make it an intriguing tale and it is one of the most- if not the most- famous terror books ever written.

SETTING:It takes place around the end of the nineteenth century mainly between Transylvania, where the castle of count Dracula is situated, and England, where the main events occur.

CHARACTERS:

Count Dracula, Jonathan Harker (lawyer and Dracula’s castle guest), John Seward (doctor in a lunatic asylum), Van Helsing (also doctor and Seward’s friend), Mina Murray (Jonathan Harker’s fiancé), Lucy Westenra (Murray’s friend), Arthur Holmwood (Westenra’s fiancé) and Quincey Morris (Holmwood’s friend).

PLOT:

Jonathan Harker is a lawyer who visits Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania to arrange the purchase of a house in England. There, Harker discovers some strange behaviours in his host, as he only appears during the day and he sleeps in a coffin. Moreover, there live three weird women who try to bite him. Little by little, he finds out that Dracula is retaining him in the castle, but finally he manages to escape, as Dracula had left the castle.

There, in England, Mina Murray, the fiancé of Harker, is spending her holidays at the house of her friend Lucy, who, during a night, is attacked and bitten by Dracula. When Harker returns to England, he marries to Mina; but Lucy is starting to feel quite ill, so her fiancé, Arthur Holmwood and another friend, Quincey Morris, ask for help to John Seward, a doctor. But the health of Lucy gets worse, so Seward asks for help to his old friend Van Helsing, who discovers that Lucy is becoming a vampire and drinking the blood of little children, so Van Helsing decides to kill her.

Afterwards, Jonathan discovers that Dracula has moved to England, so he and all his partners (Van Helsing, John Seward, etc) start to look for Dracula and try to kill him.

But one night, Dracula manages to enter in the lunatic asylum where Sewars works and Mina is sleeping, and he makes a blood interchange with her. Because of that, Mina starts to have some dreams about the thoughts of the Count, so they find out that the Count is trying to come back to Transylvania. After a long travel, they manage to catch the Count in his way back and kill him, by putting a stake in his heart and cutting his head.

THEME:

It’s more a fantasy story than anything, but if I had to tell the main idea I would say the importance of overcoming your fears and fighting until the end as hard as it seems a work

CONCLUSION :

I found it very enjoyable most of the time because, although the story can sometimes become a little slow, it keeps you on attention from the beginning to the end.

I would recommend it if you are keen on fantasy and mystery stories, because it won’t disappoint you.