Friday, April 25, 2008

Emotionalism


M.C. Escher is probably one of the most interesting artists I have ever seen. Born in the Netherlands in 1898 he was a sickly child and placed in a special school at age seven. He was never much of a student and even failed the second grade, but he always excelled in artwork. He also took lessons in carpentry and piano for a while during his childhood. He was in love with the country, Italy, and had always admired the landscape there. He experienced both World Wars and was actually forced to move back to the Netherlands because of World War II.
This painting uses the idea that Escher is famous for, The Droste Effect. This is where a picture seems to go on forever, getting smaller and smaller, like placing two mirrors in front of each other. In this picture, the subject of the painting is actually an art gallery, or a print gallery. This painting is extremely complicated, maybe because of the fact that he uses geometry in a lot of his works. Also this painting is a great example of emotionalism with the painting so confusing that it brings out a wide variety of feelings. Some people might have a sense of crazyiness, confusion or even sillyness. Everybody views art in their own way depending on their ideas and opinions. This paticular painting is an optical illusion, asking you, "Are you inside, or outside?" What do you think?
Credit: M.C. Escher's "Print Gallery" (c) 2004 The M. C. Escher Company - The Netherlands. All rights reserved. Used by permission

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