ART
The Five Senses
BelvedereFive Senses? More like the two senses. The 2/5 senses are my favorite art piece I have seen so far, hence why I was so mad that I only was able to see 2 of them. But they have all five! Where are they? In some basement being hidden from my eyes. Perhaps the reason I enjoy these so much is because they are a part of an art form called aestheticism, which is art simply for arts sake. It was created because it was pretty, there is no deeper political or social meaning behind it. I can't explain why I just really like these paintings and I wish I was able to see all five.
Austrian artist Hans Markart painted these between 1872-1879. Markart is known for using unusual items to achieve vibrancy in his paintings, including urine and concrete. The paint ingredients which make the paintings so vibrant and beautiful will lead to their eventual destruction. These unusual paint ingredients are eating away at the canvas in which it is painted, creating a nightmare for those in charge of its restoration and upkeep. Gretl says if we come back in 40 years they may not be as vibrant as they are today, which makes me think how vibrant were they initially? It's okay I am glad I got to see at least two of them when I did.
All five of the five senses. I am their biggest fan.
Napoleon Crossing the Alps 1801-1804
BelvedereI walked into this room and went omg! This is here!? I've seen this in textbooks. This is one of a series of five nearly identical paintings of Napoleon. Napoleon refused to sit for this painting because he did not want the artist to capture any of his flaws, he wanted this painting to be iconic rather than replicative. It is to represent the idea of Emporer Napoleon rather than Napoleon himself. Napoleon loved the painting so much that he demanded four more be created. One of these always hung in Jaques-Louis David's studio to serve as a guide, in case Napoleon decided he wanted another one.
This painting represents Napoleon successfully helping his troops through the St. Bernard Pass in the Alps. In the bottom left corner of the painting, you can see three names. Only three people have successfully militarily traversed this pass; Hannibal, Charlemagne, and now Napoloean joining them. This is a quintessential romantic painting, it feels as if the winds themselves sweeping Napolean's cape are helping the troops through the pass.
The Kiss
Gustavus Klimt (Gustyphilis Nick Cannon Klimt)
BelvedereKlimt painted this work between 1907-1908, most likely as a self-portrait of Klime with the woman he was in love with, Emile Flöge. Most people romanticize this photo and view it as a loving couple and a beautiful work of art depicting love. However, some context is needed to analyze this piece truly. Klimt, like a lot of people in this time, had syphilis and before vaccinations, syphilis was pretty much a death sentence. Emile Flöge and Klimt were essentially lifelong partners, however, it is believed that a sexual relationship was never present, especially evidenced by the fact she outlived him by 36 years. Klimt often had many many models in and around his house, as well as the many many children he fathered, and to top it off about one hundred stray cats that hung around. But this is not where his heart truly lies. A sexual relationship between him and his soulmate was essentially impossible and this can be interpreted through the body language in the painting. The woman is pressed up against the man, seemingly not because she wants to, but because there is nowhere else to go. Her toes are gripping the edge, trying not to fall off, and her face and hands appear disinterested in the physical connection. This painting most likely demonstrates the reality of the relationship between Klimt and Emile Flöge.
Tuberculosis
Belvedere
I suppose this one is less about the actual art and more about the parts of life that inspired the art and the beauty standard, which I found interesting. This begins the age of undress; there is a departure from the thick corsets and high-neck tops, and fashion shifts into a lower cut, more breathable corset. The interesting thing is that this is simply for practical reasons. 1 in 6 young adults died from tuberculosis during the late 18th century. These low-cut corsets, which I am labeling Bridgerton corsets because that is what they all wear in the show, shifted into fashion because they allow the woman more room to cough. TB hit the youth population the hardest, so they were dying as they became young adults, which resulted in the beauty standard of the time coinciding with symptoms of the disease. A woman was considered truly beautiful if she was thin, pale, and had red rosy cheeks.
The Kunsthistorische Museum
I absolutely fell in love with the architecture of this building, it is a building that I passed pretty much every day, I took advantage of that sight. Built in the Ringstrasse period in 1891, the Kunsthistorische, unlike most art museums, was specifically built to house the Habsburg's collection of art. Since the museum was built specifically for the pieces in the collection, it holds an 1890s mindset of the best way to display things, which modern art historians may not agree with today. Personally, I think they killed it in the 1890s, and it looks great to me. This museum was created to demonstrate their wealth, power, and cultural significance through the display of their impressive art collection. The collection has remained pretty much untouched since the building was built, housing primarily Habsburg art, other art pieces are displayed in different museums.
My favorite little fact about the construction of the museum is that the stairs are representative of the Alps. All of the art in the rooms North of the 'Alps' or the stairs is art that has been produced north of the Alps, and Italian art is displayed south of the 'Alps'. That is just so cool that they built the museum in this way. The inside of the museum is reminiscent of a Florentine Renaissance palace, where Renaissance art is often argued to have started.
Where did the Renaissance really start?
Kunsthistorische
Today Gretl argued that the Renaissance began in the north, especially as there was more humanist influence with the spread of Lutheranism and the invention of the printing press, compared to Catholic Florence. Jan van Eyck, a Flemish painter, helped to revolutionize two-dimensional painting by making the oil pigment more packed. He aims to capture reality in the two dimensions of the canvas. He is also the one who began the 3/4 portraits.
The goal of the Renaissance was to 'rebirth' and study classical antiquity through the intellectual movement of Humanism, which embraced human achievements in education, classical arts, literature, and science. The advantage the Italians did have was proximity to these artifacts from antiquity. Since these Italian artists and scholars were so close, they had fewer barriers to recreating and expanding upon the works of classical antiquity. In the North, it was also illegal to use nude models, making it difficult to create Greek and Roman art, which primarily featured nude individuals. This led to some male painters and sculptures north of the Alps trying to paint a woman's body from memory, or imagination, I don't know.
Counter-Reformation Art
Kunsthistorische
Even though the Reformation started in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on that door, the Counter-Reformation did not start until the 1540s. Rubens, a Flemish painter known for his large Catholic works, often altered pieces that resembled the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. Many of Ruben's works are displayed here as his baroque style and Catholic message appealed to the tastes of the Habsburgs. Rubens is about as baroque and artist as you can get, and the Habsburgs wanted to be as baroque as possible. The messages in his paintings reflect the dominant taste and culture of the Catholic Habsburgs. His paintings attempt to hold onto a dignified message of the Catholic Church, trying to convince people to return to the true religion. The painting shows raising people from the dead through an ordained priest, representing the divine.