The 3rd of May in 1814 and Today
"The 3rd of May 1808"The name will lead you to think that it was painted in 1808, but it was actually painted in 1814 by Francisco de Goya. This painting is known as an "Anti-war" painting. Goya used the contrast between light and dark areas to help draw attention to the citizens and their plea for the weapons to be put away. The light and dark areas also depict good and bad. The main man in white and yellow (very light colors) show the innocence the citizens have. The French government is painted in darker colors. This is to bring out the image that they are causing damage and chaos. They are being shot at for no reason. Sadly, this painting is still relevant today. Our government is shooting and killing innocent citizens. Having a painting from the renaissance depicting what is still happing shows that we as a society still have lots to learn.
We can learn from the paintings. They act as windows into the past. We are able to see the history and its stories. This helps make what we learn more relevant and real. Seeing history repeat itself like this should be a rude awakening and make us want to move forward. The citizens in the painting are protesting, and we know all about protesting. Today, there is a protest being held for a range of causes, and some resulting in police brutality. The most relevant example of this is the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Like the painting, we are standing together to make our concerns and comments heard.
Hello Lenard, I really enjoyed reading your reading your blog and I think you did a really good job of finding a romantic piece that is relevant today. I think your analysis of the color scheme used is spot on, and helped me realize that the citizens being drawn in the light of the lantern while the soldiers are in the shadow is also really important to the piece. I agree wholeheartedly that this work is still relevant today, and that we as a society should pay more attention to the events of the past.
ReplyDeleteHi Lenard,
ReplyDeleteI found your observation of the painting to be very accurate of how the light side is consider the innocent and dark side of painting is the bad people. I really like how you connected the painting to modern day because people are still being killed and harm without do any harm to anyone else. I find this post to be very relevant and like how you say that the paint is the "window from the past," because it brings up the point of people should not make the same mistakes that they have made in the past.
Sincerely Raj
Hello, Lenard, I love your depiction to modern-day events I believe that throughout history humanity I supposed to learn from the mistake however I becomes harder to understand what we could improve on as a society if we keep ourselves in a deceitful reality or culture despite the fact that we all tend to believe that we are being taught facts. With this portrait depicting capital punishment I see that happening to African Americans today which is states that we haven't learned from our past as a civilization.
ReplyDeleteHey Lenard, I really enjoyed this analysis. The depth with which you were able to explain the meaning of the coloring, and highlight different aspects of each specific color while also displaying the connection to Romanticism was very interesting. I also think that your connection to modern day protests was clearly thought out and written. Look forward to future posts.
ReplyDeleteHey Lenard! I loved reading about how you viewed the meaning of this painting. I thought the idea that you brought up of how it is like a window to the past was very interesting. I think that this was a major reason for art in general. This is why we take pictures, to make memories last longer and allow old memories to pop up again when you see an old picture. I also liked how you talked about the contrast between light and dark and your interpretation on that.
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