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The Art of Everything – Virtual Tour

The Art of Everything

Art of Everything – Virtual Tour

Take a Virtual Tour on the Art of Everything

The Art of the Kiss

Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, sexual arousal, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and peace, among many others.

In some situations, a kiss is a ritual, formal or symbolic gesture indicating devotion, respect, or sacrament. Take a Virtual Tour of the Kiss in Art

The Art of Love

Love encompasses a range of deep emotional and mental states. Love ranges from the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest of pleasures. Most commonly, love refers to a feeling of a strong attraction and emotional attachment. The core components of love are intimacy, passion, and commitment.

The word ‘Love’ is used to refer to the love of a mother, which differs from the love of a spouse, which again differs from the love of food or a pet. Love also has religious or spiritual meaning.

This diversity of uses and meanings, combined with the complexity of the feelings involved, makes love unusually difficult to define consistently. Take a Virtual Tour of the Art of Love.

The Art of Philosophy

The Art of Philosophy explores the depiction of Philosophy and the Philosophers. In this context, a philosopher is someone who is a “lover of wisdom.”

A philosopher is someone who focuses on resolving existential questions about the human condition. Famous philosophers have challenged what is thought to be common sense, and did not stop asking questions, and reexamines traditional ways of thought.

In a modern sense, a philosopher is an intellectual who has contributed in one or more branches of philosophy. A philosopher may also be one who worked in the humanities or other sciences which have since split from philosophy proper over the centuries, such as the arts, history, economics, sociology, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, theology, and politics.

The Art of War

“The Art of War” in this context, is the artistic representation of the conflict between groups or between just two people and can range from extreme violence to non-physical aggression.

Art Galleries are full of Art representing and commenting on War. War is generally characterized by extreme violence, aggression, destruction, and mortality. Total war is warfare that is not restricted to purely legitimate military targets and can result in massive civilian or other non-combatant suffering and casualties.

While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature, others argue it is a result of specific socio-cultural, economic, or ecological circumstances. Below we examine how Art through the ages has interpreted War between states and individuals.

The Art of the Dance

The Art of the Dance has aesthetic and symbolic value. Dance has a unique function, whether social, ceremonial, competitive, erotic, martial, or sacred. Other forms of human movement are sometimes said to have a dance-like quality, including martial arts, gymnastics, cheerleading, figure skating, and many other forms of athletics.

In many cultures, performances and Dance serve a purpose within that particular culture. This meaning is not furnished by any one individual but is often the result of a rich heritage and a cosmological relationship within the culture. In “The Art of the Dance,” we explore how artists have depicted and interpreted the “Dance.”

“Diana the Huntress” in Art

Diane was the goddess from Roman and Hellenistic religion and mythology. Diane was the patroness of the countryside, hunters, and the Moon. She is equated with the Greek goddesses Artemis and absorbed much of her Greek equivalent’s mythology, history, and attributes.

Since the Renaissance, Diana’s myths have often been represented in the visual arts, and her most frequent sole depiction is as the huntress. Take a Tour of “Diana the Huntress” in Art.

“The Fall of Icarus” in Art

In Greek mythology, Icarus and his father were attempting to escape their prison, employing wings that his father constructed from feathers and wax. Icarus’ father, however, did warn him not to fly too low nor too high. He warned him not to fly low as the sea’s dampness would clog his wings. And not too high as the sun’s heat would melt the wax in his wings.

Icarus ignored his father’s instructions and flew too high, and the wax in his wings melted. Icarus’s father, Daedalus, looks on unable to help his son as he falls past him. His son’s calamity left Daedalus heartbroken, but instead of giving up, he flew to the island of Sicily.

“Cupid and Psyche” in Art

The great beauty of Psyche made the love goddess Venus jealous, so she sent her son Cupid to shoot Psyche with an arrow so that she may fall in love with something hideous. Cupid instead accidentally scratches himself with his dart and falls deeply in love with Psyche.

After many challenges, Cupid grants Psyche immortality so they can be wed as equals. Thus Psyche became the goddess of the soul and the wife of Cupid, the god of love.

“Saint John the Baptist” in Art

John the Baptist (late 1st century BC – 28–36 AD) is called a prophet by several faiths and is honored as a saint in many Christian traditions. John used baptism as the central symbol of his pre-messianic movement. John baptized Jesus, and some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John.

According to the New Testament, John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas sometime between 28 and 36 AD after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife and then unlawfully wedding the wife of his brother.

“Diana and Callisto” in Art

In Greek and Roman mythology, Zeus / Jupiter, the king of the gods, lusts after a beautiful young woman named Callisto, a nymph of Diana. Juno, Jupiter’s jealous wife, discovers that Callisto has a son named Arcas, and believes that Jupiter is the father. Juno then transforms Callisto into a bear so she can no longer attract Jupiter.

Callisto, while in bear form, later encounters her son Arcas. Arcas almost shoots her, but to avert the tragedy, Jupiter turns his son Arcas into a bear as well and puts them both in the sky, forming Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

“Leda and the Swan” in Art

The ancient story from Greek mythology tells how the Greek king of the gods Zeus, in the form of a swan, was chased by an eagle, and he sought refuge with Leda. The swan gained her affection, and the two mated. Leda then produced two eggs from which four children emerged.

Helen of Troy was one of the children, who became the most beautiful woman in the ancient world and whose face launched one thousand ships.

“Oedipus and the Sphinx” in Art

Oedipus was a tragic hero in Greek mythology. Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy in which he kills his father and unknowingly marries his mother. As part of his journey, which brings disaster to his city and family, Oedipus encountered a Sphinx.

The Sphinx would stop all travelers and ask them a riddle. If the travelers did not answer the riddle correctly, they would be killed and eaten. If the answers were correct, they would be free to continue on their journey.

“Achilles on Skyros” in Art

Achilles on Skyros is an episode in the myth of Achilles, the Greek hero from the Trojan War. The core myth describes that rather than allow her son Achilles to die at Troy as prophesied, the nymph Thetis sent him to live at the court of Lycomedes, King of Skyros.

Achilles was persuaded to disguise himself as a girl at the court of the King of Skyros. Thus he joined the daughters of the King as a lady-in-waiting to evade the prophecy. Achilles then fell in love with one of the princesses and had an affair with Deidamia, one of the daughters of King.

“The Cyclops Polyphemus” in Art

Polyphemus is the one-eyed giant from Greek mythology. He is one of the Cyclopes described in Homer’s Odyssey. His name means “abounding in songs and legends,” and he has been widely depicted in the arts.

Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the book of the Odyssey. Later Classical writers presented him in their poems as romantically involved with the nymph Galatea.

“Ulysses and the Sirens” in Art

“Ulysses and the Sirens” depicts an episode in the epic poem Odyssey by Homer in which the infamous Sirens lured unwary sailors towards perilous rocks and their doom by singing their enchanting songs.

Ulysses was curious to ear the Sirens song, and so, on the advice of Circe, he had all of his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and then allowed himself to be tied to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he would beg.

Madonna and Child in Art

The Art of Boxing

How to Sound like you Understand Art

Teaching art or teaching to think like an artist?

Why You Don’t Like Art History

Why Art is Important

Everything is ART

Steal Like An Artist

Art in the Age of Instagram

Everything is Connected: Art and Conspiracy

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“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
– George Orwell

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Photo Credit: 1) Johann Zoffany / Public domain; Tribuna of the Uffizi  by Johan Zoffany – Royal Collection

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