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Classical Roman Art
Beginning with the Greeks, “Classical” art—art that originated in the ancient Greek and Roman
worlds, especially sculpture—has cast a long shadow on Western Europe and later the Americas.
Although the spread of Hellenism during the age of Alexander the Greek to Persia and India, the
Romans paid special homage to the Greeks by copying them. So, too, did the Western Europeans
during the Renaissance who sought to position themselves as cultural descendants of the
Mediterranean cultures centered in Greece and Rome by consciously imitating them. As Republics in
the Americas emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries, civic leaders employed “classical” imagery to lay
claim to a political and cultural heritage, using art to project a particular political message, just as the
Romans themselves had done in their statuary and coins two millennia earlier.
Roman Sculpture
(source: Mason, Anthony. A History of Western Art. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2007.)
By 150 BCE, there was a new force in the Western world: the Romans. From their original base in
Rome, they first conquered all of Italy, and then they spread across the Mediterranean, taking
Hellenistic Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and then Greece itself in 146 BCE. The Romans were great
admirers of Greek culture, and particularly of Greek sculpture. They had known it for centuries
through trade and because there had been Greek colonies in southern Italy and Sicily since the 8th
century BCE. When the Romans wanted sculpture to decorate their public buildings and their villas,
they essentially wanted Greek sculpture. Greek sculptors were happy to supply the demand. Many of
them went to live in Rome. They even brought their blocks of marble with them, although after 50
BCE new marble quarries were opened at Carrara, in western Italy. The one distinctive contribution
that the Romans made in this field was in portrait sculpture, with their fondness for powerful,
sometimes unflattering likenesses.
The Republic: After the Roman had rid themselves of their Etruscan kings in 509 BCE, the state
was ruled as a republic (i.e., without a hereditary monarch). There were two classes of Romans: The
ordinary people (called plebians), and the nobles (the patricians). In the early centuries of the
republic any displays of wealth or power were frowned upon, and so little sculpture was
commissioned. But after about 200 BCE, habits changed. Rich and powerful patricians began to
build large villas, which they decorated with sculptures—portraits of themselves and their ancestors,
as well as impressive and inspiring images of athletes, philosophers, famous generals, gods, and
goddesses. Sculpture became a major business. In some cases, to save time, headless bodies with
ideal Greek features were mass-produced, so that individually carved portrait heads could be added
to them.
Roman copies of Greek sculpture: Hundreds of original Greek statues were shipped from Greece
to Rome, pillaged after conquest, or purchased by collectors. Copies were made of the best of them.
With bronze statues, copies could be produced from molds, but marble statues had to be individually
carved….
Roman Portraits: Uses and Re-Uses
(Source: Rosemarie Trentinella, Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Private portrait sculpture was most closely associated with funerary contexts. Funerary altars and
tomb structures were adorned with portrait reliefs of the deceased along with short inscriptions noting
their family or patrons, and portrait busts accompanied cinerary urns that were deposited in the
niches of large, communal tombs known as columbaria. This funerary context for portrait sculpture
was rooted in the longstanding tradition of the display of wax portrait masks, called imagines, in
funeral processions of the upper classes to commemorate their distinguished ancestry. These masks,
portraits of noted ancestors who had held public office or been awarded special honors, were proudly
housed in the household lararium, or family shrine, along with busts made of bronze, marble, or
terracotta. In displaying these portraits so prominently in the public sphere, aristocratic families were
able to celebrate their history of public service while honoring their deceased relatives.
In the Republic, public sculpture included honorific portrait statues of political officials or military
commanders erected by the order of their peers in the Senate. These statues were typically erected
to celebrate a noted military achievement, usually in connection with an official triumph, or to
commemorate some worthy political achievement, such as the drafting of a treaty. A dedicatory
inscription, called a cursus honorum, detailed the subject’s honors and life achievements, as well as
his lineage and notable ancestors. These inscriptions typically accompanied public portraits and were
a uniquely Roman feature of commemoration.
The express mention of the subject’s family history reflects the great influence that family history had
on a Roman’s political career. The Romans believed that ancestry was the best indicator of a man’s
ability, and so if you were the descendant of great military commanders, then you, too, had the
potential to be one as well. The intense political rivalry of the late Republican period gave special
meaning to the display of one’s lineage and therefore necessitated its emphasis, manifested in such
traditions as the cursus, wax imagines, and funerary processions….
With the establishment of the principate system under Augustus, the imperial family and its circle
soon came to monopolize official public statuary. Official imperial portrait types were principally
displayed in sebasteia, or temples of the imperial cult, and were carefully designed to project specific
ideas about the emperor, his family, and his authority. These sculptures were extremely useful as
propaganda tools intended to support the legitimacy of the emperor’s powers. Two of the most
influential, and most widely disseminated, media for imperial portraits were coins and sculpture, and
official types laden with propagandistic connotation were dispersed throughout the empire to
announce and identify the imperial authority. Scholars believe that official portrait types were created
in the capital city of Rome itself and distributed to the provinces to serve as prototypes for local
workshops, which could adapt them to conform to local iconographic traditions and therefore have
more meaningful local appeal. Coins by their very nature are easily and quickly dispersed, reaching
countless citizens and provincial residents, and thus the emperor’s image could be seen and his
power recognized by people all across the vast empire.
Conversely, in the instance of the “bad” emperors such as Nero and Domitian, whose reigns were
characterized by destructive behavior and who were posthumously condemned by the Senate,
imperial portraits were sometimes recycled or even destroyed. Typical effects of a damnation
memoriae, a modern term for the most severe denunciation, included the erasure of an individual’s
name from public inscriptions, and even assault on their portraits as if brought against the subject
himself. Imperial portraits of “bad” emperors were also removed from public view and warehoused,
often later recycled into portraits of private individuals or emperors of the following decades. A
recarved portrait is relatively easy to recognize; certain features such as a disproportionate hairline or
unusually flattened ears are typical signs that a bust had been altered from an earlier likeness.
African Art
Art can serve many purposes. The traditional Western view of Art is that it is to beautify. But art also
serves political, moral social and commercial purposes. Many of the objects in the MFA’s African art
collection had primarily non-aesthetic functions, meaning they were not created simply to beautify or
decorate or simply be looked at—but that they served other purposes and were “used” in ritual and
other fashion. The creators of this art probably didn’t’ think of themselves as “artists” but are
presented in an art museum that demands we see the artistic character inherent in the work. As
such, we see that they accomplish much of what other art does; that is they utilize craft and creativity
to convey something of the human experience. And, these works had a tremendous impact on the
19th century European modernists whose own work became more abstract as they sought to
represent the internal human experience—emotion, imagination, anxiety—not just the outer
appearance. Presented in this context, however, we may miss other cultural aspects of what these
objects represent.
Introduction to African Art
(Source: Susan M. Vogel, African Aesthetics, New York: Center for African Art, 1986). Introductory notes for Bayly Art
Museum, University of Virginia, 1994.
African aesthetics [design] generally has a moral basis, as indicated by the fact that in many African
languages the same word means “beautiful” and “good.” It is consistent with the use and meaning of
African art that it should be both beautiful and good, because it is intended not only to please the eye
but to uphold moral values. The ethical and religious basis of African art may explain why the
principal subject is the human figure; African art often appears in ritual contexts that deal with the vital
moral and spiritual concerns of the human condition….
The African masks are often dramatic portraits of spirit beings, departed ancestors, and invisible
powers of social control. Each mask was made according to a traditional style, and each was worn by
a trained performer. The African masks that hang on walls of Western art museums, detached from
their full-body costumes, were originally part of whole performance ensembles, consisting of
elaborately costumed dancers, vibrant music, and highly stylized dances. These complex ceremonial
events expressed important social, religious, and moral values for the whole community. With careful
attention to the masks’ artistic and symbolic detail, it is possible to perceive these same values within
the masks themselves.
Elements of the African Aesthetic
Resemblance to a human being: African artists praise a carved figure by saying that it “looks like a
human being.” Artists seldom portray particular people, actual animals, or the actual form of invisible
spirits. Rather, they aim to portray ideas about reality, spiritual or human, and express these ideas
through human or animal images.
Youthfulness: A youthful appearance connotes vigor, productiveness, fertility, and an ability to
labor. Illness and deformity are rarely depicted because they are signs of evil.
African Art
(Soucre: Phillips, Tom, Ed. Africa: The Art of a Continent. Munich: Prestel, 1999.)
….But in Africa itself, the great diversity of societies and cultural forms was not homogenised [made
the same] by the slave trade. Over the last millennium, as Islam spread across north Africa and into
west Africa, and down the east African littoral; over the last few centuries, as Christianity came (with
its multiple inflections) in the footsteps of European trade and colonisation; over the last century, as
colonial empires bound African societies increasingly tightly into the new global economic system and
into the modern order of nation states; over the last decades, as the global spread of radio and
television and the record and film industries has reached its tentacles into villages and towns all over
Africa; there have, of course, been enormous forces bringing the experiences of African societies
closer together. But despite all these forces, the central cultural fact of African life, in my judgement,
remains not the sameness of Africa’s cultures, but their enormous diversity.
There is no old word in most of the thousand or so languages still spoken in Africa that well translates
the word ‘art’. This, too, is not too surprising once you think about it: there is, after all, no word in
17th-century English (or, no doubt, in 17th-century Cantonese or Sanskrit) that carries exactly that
burden of meaning either. The ways of thinking of ‘art’ with which we live now in the West (and the
many places in the world where people have taken up this Western idea) began to take something
like their modern shape in the European Enlightenment [1700’s]. [Many artists since that time have
worked] to challenge every definition of art, to push us beyond every boundary; to stand outside and
move beyond every attempt to fix art’s meaning. Any definition of art now is a provocation….
Sculpture
….The proportions of a sculpture do not as a rule coincide with actual anatomic proportions. Greatest
attention is accorded the head; second in importance is the trunk. This hierarchy of emphasis reflects
the importance accorded to those parts of the body: the head is the domicile of the soul, and the
trunk—with representation of male and female organs—points to the significance of fertility, the
guarantee of the community’s continuing existence. In most cases, the arms and hands are fixed at
the hips, with the legs short and carved with less attention to finish.
The ancestor figure: from the conceptual to realism
One of the major forms of veneration in central Africa is that of ancestors. The origin this is to be
found in the human need for the maintenance of the family, clan or ethnic group. To this end, appeal
is made to the supernatural. The spirits deemed appropriate to serve as intermediaries are those
ancestors from whom one stems. They provide a constant example to their descendants….A large
number of central African peoples bury the remains of their dead, and some—as, for example, the
Luba with their leaders—do this at hidden locations. Behind this is the idea that the soul of the
deceased becomes free from its mortal remains and can float around. Since this might have negative
consequences, there arose the need to create designated places where the spirits could reside:
waterfalls, rocks, trees etc. Among certain peoples, leaders have sculptures made of their own
ancestors. These function for them as a ‘door to the supernatural’, through which the desires of their
community may be communicated by means of prayer.
Power statues [including nail figures]
In addition to reliquary figures and representations of ancestors and culture-heroes, a large number of
Central African peoples make use of objects—including sculptures—upon which or within which
substances are applied that their users believe to contain supernatural properties. Among the Kongo
peoples such ingredients are given the name bilongo… called ‘power objects’ or, in the case of
sculpture, ‘power statues’.
Power statues are frequently encountered among the peoples living in the region of the former Kongo
Kingdom….The priest or healer—in Zaire, usually known as nganga—was expected to activate the
bilongo by accurately executing ritual practices, with the aim of neutralising misfortune and adversity.
Upon completion of the ritual, the client or patient expected to be relieved of the negative influences
with which he has been beset.
….When during rituals the statue comes into use, its form may still be subject to modification and
embellishment. Such is the case with the ‘nail figures’, named far the multitude of nails that are
hammered all over their bodies. This treatment may be applied when, far example, two feuding
groups have decided to bury the hatchet. By way of empowering the ceremony, nails are hammered
into the statue. Such treatment is also used to activate the bilongo which has been applied to the
statue for a specific purpose.
….Most African sculpture owes its creation to religious, economic and social needs. The creator of
such objects is not making art for art’s sake, but for use by the community or an individual as a
medium for contact with the supernatural. Perhaps this is why the traditional African sculptor does not
work directly from nature, rather basing his design on age-old tradition. His way of creating can thus
be described as conceptual....The traditional African artist in the first place expresses that which he
knows about things, rather than representing a direct reflection of that which he perceives
visually….Once the mask or statue is carved, it is consecrated and, thus endowed with ritual powers,
is ready to function. Such sculpture becomes bound in an ambiguous relation with man: it is
potentially both an ally and an enemy, and the powers it possesses must be courted with prayer and
offerings.
Most of the objects widely admired as Kongo art fall into the category called nkisi (plural: Minkisi)….A
Nkisi as a ritual programme may include the nganga, the initiated expert who performs the ritual; his
or her costume and other paraphernalia; the client; the prescribed songs to sing and rules to be
observed; sacrifices, invocations, dancing, and drinking. Minkisi; as found today in museums are no
more than selected parts of the material apparatus necessary for the performance of rituals in pursuit
of particular goal. Most of them date from between about 1880 and 1920. Colonial administrators
repressed the use of minkisi which, though they continue in active use to this day, no longer take the
public and visually explicit forms of the past.
….The outer attachments of some minkisi may consist of beautifully carved miniatures that serve as a
reminder of their powers. Several of them represent in miniature the musical instruments that would
be played during the activation of the nkisi ;such as a slit-gong, a clapperless bell, and a doubleended wooden bell.
From the MFA website:
In the fifteenth century a powerful kingdom grew up among the Kongo peoples. Prestige objects and
emblems affirmed the wealth and status of the king and his court, including carved funerary
sculptures that were placed on graves as memorials. Intended as conceptual likenesses, ntadi exude
the composure appropriate to a person of importance.
Ritual specialists (nganga) commissioned artists to carve figures such as this one which are physical
containers for spirits from the other world. Once the figure was completed, the nganga-a counselor or
mediator skilled in treating afflictions of the body and spirit-activated it. Now it had the power to heal
and protect and to punish wrong doers. The nganga hammered nails or blades into the work to seal a
vow or to awake its power to solve a problem or dispute. This figure’s open mouth suggests the
uttering of judgments, and the abdomen and eyes contain mirrors to deflect danger.
Buddhist Art
Buddhism and Buddhist Art [excerpt]
Source: Dehejia, Vidja. “Buddhism and Buddhist Art”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, 2000. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/budd/hd_budd.htm (February 2007)
In the earliest Buddhist art of India, the Buddha was not represented in human form. His presence
was indicated instead by a sign, such as a pair of footprints, an empty seat, or an empty space
beneath a parasol.
In the first century A.D., the human image of one Buddha came to dominate the artistic scene, and
one of the first sites at which this occurred was along India’s northwestern frontier. In the area known
as Gandhara, artistic elements from the Hellenistic [spread of Greek culture] world combined with the
symbolism needed to express Indian Buddhism to create a unique style. Youthful Buddhas with hair
arranged in wavy curls resemble Roman statues of Apollo; the monastic robe covering both shoulders
if arranged in heavy classical folds, reminiscent of a Roman toga. There are also many
representations of Siddhartha as a princely bejeweled figure prior to his renunciation of palace life.
Buddhism evolved the concept of a Buddha of the Future, Maitreya, depicted in art both as a Buddha
clad in a monastic robe and as a princely bodhisattva [person who has achieved enlightenment but
remains in the physical world as a moral example] before enlightenment. Gandharan artists made
use of both stone and stucco to produce such images, which were placed in niche-like shrines around
the stupa of a monastery. Contemporaneously, the Kushan-period artists in Mathura, India, produced
a different image of the Buddha. His body was expanded by sacred breath (prana), and his clinging
monastic robe was draped to leave the right shoulder bare.
A third influential Buddha type evolved in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India, where images of
substantial proportions, with serious, unsmiling faces, were clad in robes that created a heavy swag
at the hem and revealed the left shoulder. These southern sites provided artistic inspiration for the
Buddhist land of Sri Lanka, off the southern tip of India, and Sri Lankan monks regularly visited the
area. A number of statues in this style have been found as well throughout Southeast Asia.
The succeeding Gupta period, from the fourth to the sixth century A.D., in northern India, sometimes
referred to as a Golden Age, witnessed the creation of an “ideal image” of the Buddha. This was
achieved by combining selected traits from the Gandharan region with the sensuous form created by
Mathura artists. Gupta Buddhas have their hair arranged in tiny individual curls, and the robes have a
network of strings to suggest drapery folds (as at Mathura) or are transparent sheaths (as at
Sarnath). With their downward glance and spiritual aura, Gupta Buddhas became the model for future
generations of artists, whether in post-Gupta and Pala India or in Nepal, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Gupta metal images of the Buddha were also take by pilgrims along the Silk Road to China.
Over the following centuries there emerged a new form of Buddhism, which involved an expanding
pantheon and more elaborate rituals. This later Buddhism introduced the concept of heavenly
bodhisattvas as well as goddesses, of whom the most popular was Tara. In Nepal and Tibet, where
exquisite metal images and paintings were produced, an entire set of new divinities were created and
portrayed in both sculpture and painted scrolls. Ferocious deities were introduced in the role of
protectors of Buddhism and its believers. Images of a more esoteric nature, depicting god and
goddess in embrace, were produced to demonstrate the metaphysical concept that salvation resulted
from the union of wisdom (female) and compassion (male). Buddhism had traveled a long way from
its simple beginnings.
The Image of the Buddha
Source: Wangu, Madhu. Buddhism. Facts on File. New York, 2002.
The first image of the Buddha appears on a coin struck by King Kanishka. The coin image shows a
standing Buddha dressed in a monastic robe. A halo surrounds his head, and he has a topknot of hair
and elongated earlobes. One hand is raised in a blessing.
Kanishka’s empire was the birthplace of sculpture depicting the Buddha. There were two different
styles. In Gandhara in the northern part of the empire, the style reflected the Greco- Roman heritage.
Buddha was dressed in robes that were draped in Greek fashion. His head was sculpted with wavy
hair.
Another style, influenced by Hindu art, appeared in Mathura in the south. The Mathura Buddhas were
clothed in a light Indian dhoti, or long skirt. The hair was straight and tied in a topknot. Molded out of
sandstone, these images were closer to Indian sculpture styles, with soft, gentle curves. The Buddha
is smiling gently. From these two traditions, the classical Buddhist image arose. It has certain
characteristics that make it immediately recognizable, in spite of different national and ethnic
traditions.
In general, the Buddha image is smiling. The smile of the Buddha suggests an experience of
unearthly beauty. It represents an ideal of calm and inner peace. Often the eyes are closed, but the
Buddha is not sleeping-he is looking within. Many times, the Buddha is shown sitting on a lotus
throne. The lotus plant has a deep symbolic significance in Buddhism. The roots of the plant are
embedded in the mud underwater, but the flower blooms above the water. Just so, the Buddha lived
in a corrupt world but kept his purity.
The Buddha’s holiness is also indicated by marks called lakshanas. It was believed that the Buddha
had 32 lakshanas, which were signs that he was an enlightened one. The one most often seen in his
portrayals is the halo that surrounds either his head or whole body. Called the prabhamandala, it
indicates his divinity. The topknot or protuberance (the ushanisha) on top of his head signifies the
super brain with the supreme wisdom that Buddha attained at his Enlightenment. The long earlobes
indicate that as a prince, Buddha wore heavy gold and precious-stone earrings; thus they are a
reminder of the Buddha’s renunciation of material things. Finally, the urna, or mark on the forehead,
is a sign of spiritual insight. On some statues, the urna may be inset with a precious stone.
The Buddha figure was portrayed in various positions, or asanas, appropriate for teaching, blessing,
or meditation. His hand gestures (mudras) were also conventionalized. The right hand held palm
outward with the fingers pointing upward is a teaching gesture. The hand position signifying deep
meditation shows the hands on the lap, palms up, with the right hand over the left.
Images of the Buddha spread beyond India. In China, the earliest Buddhist art was influenced by the
Gandhara style. These Buddhas were done in gilt bronze with heavy concentric folds in the robes.
Instead of the traditional seminudity of Indian gods and goddesses, Chinese sculptures were covered
by scarves, shawls, and skirts. In time, the image of the Buddha took on a distinctly Chinese
appearance.
The Korean Buddha at Sokkuram Grotto, on Mt. Toham, is one of the great achievements of Asian
art. Carved entirely from the rock face of the mountain, a towering Buddha gazes outward toward the
sea. The Buddha is seated in the pose of Enlightenment. His legs are folded in the “lotus position,”
the left hand lies palm up in the lap, and the right hand rests palm down on the right knee. The
morning sun glints off a jeweled urna on his forehead. The pose was designed to create a spiritual
experience in the viewer.
At Bamiyan in Afghanistan, a mammoth Buddha was carved out of a huge cliff. This was the Buddha
Vairocana, the cosmic and omnipresent Buddha. The statue’s immense size indicated his role as
savior of the world. In 2001, the Taliban regime of Afghanistan ordered the destruction of the statue,
one of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic treasures. Countries around the world protested the order, but the
statue was reduced to rubble. A priceless part of Afghanistan’s Buddhist history was lost forever.
Another Buddah Viairocana was created in Nara, Japan. In the eighth century the Japanese emperor
asked for contributions for this Buddha to fulfill a vow made when an epidemic of smallpox swept the
country. The casting of the bronze image was an enormous task. Fifty-three feet high and weighing
more than 200 tons, it was gilded with 500 pounds of gold. Taking pride and joy in their achievement,
the Japanese dedicated the statue in the Todaiji Temple in 752 CE, exactly 200 years after Japan
received its first image from Korea. At the dedicatory ceremony—called the “eye-opening”—the Great
Buddha was presented to the people in the grandest celebration Japan had ever seen.
The Reclining Buddha of Sri Lanka is also of enormous size. This position represents the Buddha’s
death, or Parinirvana. Unique to Thailand are walking Buddhas, some with undulating arms that
represent another of the Buddha’s asanas, the resemblance of his limbs to the trunk of an elephant.
Whatever the pose, the Buddha figure has brought out the best in Asian artists. Most of these works
were done by anonymous Buddhist monks, whose sculpting was an act of devotion. The growing
pantheon of bodhisattvas and buddhas of the past and future heightened the inspiration for the art.
Modern Art, 19th-20th century Europe
Impressionism
(Source:Impressionism: Art and Modernity | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
In 1874, a group of artists called the Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers, etc.
organized an exhibition in Paris that launched the movement called Impressionism. Its founding
members included Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Camille Pissarro, among others. The group was
unified only by its independence from the official annual Salon, for which a jury of artists from the
Académie des Beaux-Arts selected artworks and awarded medals….While conservative critics
panned their work for its unfinished, sketchlike appearance, more progressive writers praised it for its
depiction of modern life….Their work is recognized today for its modernity, embodied in its rejection
of established styles, its incorporation of new technology and ideas, and its depiction of modern life.
Claude Monet'sImpression, Sunrise(Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris) exhibited in 1874, gave the
Impressionist movement its name when the critic Louis Leroy accused it of being a sketch or
"impression," not a finished painting. It demonstrates the techniques many of the independent artists
adopted: short, broken brushstrokes that barely convey forms, pure unblended colors, and an
emphasis on the effects of light. Rather than neutral white, grays, and blacks, Impressionists often
rendered shadows and highlights in color. The artists' loose brushwork gives an effect of spontaneity
and effortlessness that masks their often carefully constructed compositions….
Post Impressionism
(Source: Encyclopedia of artists. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.)
Post-impressionism was the name given to the art that followed impressionism. The word has tome
loosely define any number of reactions against impressionism between about 1880 and
1905….These artists rejected the naturalistic aims of impressionism and sought instead to convey the
essence of their subject through simplification of form. However, all pursued quite separate paths.
Seurat concentrated on the scientific analysis of color known as neoimpressionism. Cézanne was
concerned with the structural analysis of nature rather than with fleeting moments….Gauguin rejected
naturalism in favor of subjects fueled by the imagination. He was interested in religious and symbolic
themes, and drew inspiration from “primitive” cultures and non-European art, such as Japanese
prints, Egyptian art, and Polynesian sculpture. He wanted his art to express strong emotions, which
he achieved by using bold, often unrealistic colors. Van Gogh also used color for expressive and
symbolic purposes, but in a highly personal and uninhabited manner. He painted quite ordinary
subjects, such as his bedroom a vase of flowers, or a landscape, transforming the scene into one of
violent intensity using vivid color, thickly applied paint, and rapid, frenetic brushstrokes.
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