Although we have only recently left the 20th century and have not yet come
to terms with its art; however, our quick dip into the early years of 20th-
century European art will reveal the vitality, inventiveness, conviction, and
passion of modern art.
Art history is, obviously, the study of the visual arts of a particular period
or civilization. But it also a guide to looking—a foundation for viewing art
with understanding and pleasure. We will focus on ¿ ve elements: subject,
interpretation, style, context, and emotion. Although we will address them
singly, these elements always overlap and intermingle. My aim is for you to
begin to see how and why works of art affect us, that you begin to look at art
consciously, and that you realize that looking at art requires time.
Every work of art has a subject. The way the subject is expressed in art is the
artist’s interpretation, and the artistic means of interpretation is the artist’s
style. Note that this is not the same as the style of a period, though it is
related; within the Gothic period style, for example, each artist still has a
personal style. The context can be of the moment (the events of an artist’s
life), of contemporary political events (the French Revolution), of the
historical period (the Renaissance), or of long-term cultural determinants (in
Europe, Christianity). Emotion is harder to de¿ ne, because it is so instinctive
on the part of both artist and viewer. We may easily misinterpret the intended
emotion, and the further the art is from our own time, the more easily we do
so. For this reason, our own emotional response must always be measured
against what we can learn of the artist and the period.
First, let’s focus on subject. Artists of the Renaissance and the Baroque were
especially fond of subjects drawn from Classical Greek and Roman culture,
including mythology. The myths are so common in art that we must know
these stories, if only in summary. Our ¿ rst examples are two famous works
with mythological subjects.
First, we see Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne (c. 1522). This brilliantly
painted work is vivid in color and motion. It is possible simply to revel
in the physical beauty of the painting, but we miss out on a much richer
experience if we don’t know the myth. Bacchus is the god of wine, but in
the Classical world, his passion was understood as the opposite of reason.