The Birth of Venus is probably Botticelli's most famous

painting. The picture hung in the country villa of the Medici

along with "Primavera", indicating that the work was
commissioned by the Medici family. Venus rises from the
sea, looking like a classical statue and floating on a seashell,
in what is surely one of the most recognisable images in art
history.
On Venus' right is Zephyrus, God of Winds, he carries with
him the gentle breeze Aura and together they blow the
Goddess of Love ashore. The Horae, Goddess of the Seasons, waits to receive Venus and spreads out a
flower covered robe in readiness for the Love Goddess' arrival.
Botticelli has taken some inspiration from a hymn by the classical poet Homer, however it is an unusual
subject for the time, as most Renaissance artists used themes from the teachings of the Catholic church
for their paintings. The mythological works by Botticelli, The Venus, "Primavera", and "Pallas and the
Centaur", typify his pagan phase.
The model for Venus is thought to be Simonetta Cattaneo de Vespucci, a great beauty and favourite of
the Medici court.
Botticelli also used Simonetta as the model for several other women in his paintings supporting the view
that he was actually in love with her. In fact Simonetta died at the young age of twenty-two and
Botticelli expressed a wish to be buried at her feet. It is thought that Simonetta was born at Portovenere
in Liguria, romantically this is the birthplace of the goddess Venus.

The Meaning Behind the Painting

A gorgeous vision, certainly, and stunning to behold. But art critics and historians can’t help but
ponder the greater meaning behind The Birth of Venus. Perhaps the most dominant view is that
the painting was inspired by Neoplatonic thought. This latter body of philosophy was a revival
and slight reinterpretation of the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

In the Middle Ages, intellectuals across Europe were rediscovering the works of the ancient
Greeks with great enthusiasm after the long oppression of the Dark Ages. They were also
applying their own meanings to what the Greek masters were talking about. Artists such as
Botticelli were inspired by this and also Greek mythology. This was a break from the long
dominance of art based on Christian themes and the dogma of the Catholic Church.

Physical Beauty and Intellectual Love

According to Neoplatonism, great physical beauty was a direct springboard to spiritual beauty
and intellectual love. The stunning Venus perched on a half-shell is a ravishing beauty with
lengthy locks of luxurious reddish-blonde hair. Her skin is pale and her stance is rather demure.
Her head is tilted coquettishly. She shyly covers her genitals with a flourish of her tresses. Her
right hand is poised at her breasts.

Those who viewed the painting in the 15th Century may have had their minds lifted to the ideal
of Plato’s higher forms of love, as prompted by the physical beauty of the female body.
Botticelli’s Biography

Botticelli’s full name was Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, but he was commonly
known as Sandro. His work is assigned to the “Florentine school” and he is known for the “linear
grace” of his work. He was born around 1445 and achieved his peak in the decade of 1480s when
he produced The Birth of Venus, and another masterpiece, Primavera.

By 1502, Botticelli’s skill, career and talent was considered to have faded, his best years well
behind him. However, with works such as The Birth of Venus under his name, Botticelli had
gained an enduring reputation as one of the great masters of the “Golden Age” of Renaissance
painting. Although his works fell out of favor among art experts in the 19th Century, Botticelli
has never really lost his position as a timeless genius.

It should be noted that the interpretation of The Birth of Venus as extolling the virtues of Lorenzo
de’ Medici is not widely accepted. That the painting was inspired by Plato simply makes more
sense. The images in the painting lend themselves much more readily to a Neoplatonic view.

As we all know, he meaning of art is ultimately in the eye of the beholder, and the greatest works
invite multiple interpretations – with none of them necessarily being completely right or wrong.

Today, The Birth of Venus is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Yet another interpretation of the Birth of Venus (whose title derives from Vasari but whose
action perhaps better represents the Arrival of Venus) is provided here by its author, Charles R.
Mack. This interpretation has not been adopted by Renaissance art historians in general,[8] and it
remains problematic, since it depends on the painting being commissioned by the Medici, yet the
work is not documented in Medici hands before 1550. Mack sees the painting as an allegory
extolling the virtues of Lorenzo de' Medici.[9] According to his reading of the painting, the scene
was inspired by the text in a Homeric hymn published in Florence in 1488 by the Greek refugee
Demetrios Chalkokondyles:

Of august gold-wreathed and beautiful

Aphrodite I shall sing to whose domain
belong the battlements of all sea-loved
Cyprus where, blown by the moist breath
of Zephyros, she was carried over the
waves of the resounding sea on soft foam.
The gold-filleted Horae happily welcomed
her and clothed her with heavenly raiment.
 Art History Behind Edvard Munch's Expressionist Painting The Scream
(1893)

The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream (1893) was painted at
the end of the nineteenth century during a unique transitional period in art history,
sometimes referred to as the fin de siècle. While artists were once interested in
painting their subjects objectively since their success was often measured by their
technical skill, by the end of the nineteenth century brave artists like Edvard Munch
were starting to use art to express inner thoughts, feelings and emotions instead,
often by painting with bright, exaggerated colors and simple shapes. Though reviled
by art critics and considered too radical in their time, artists like Munch and even
Vincent Van Gogh paved the way for Expressionism and the even more progressive
modern art movements of the twentieth century.
The Scream by Edvard Munch: Modern Art Analysis

So what is the meaning and story behind The Scream? What makes Edvard Munch a different kind of artist is that he
reveals an honest, even ugly, glimpse of his inner troubles and feelings of anxiety through what he called his “soul
painting,” putting more importance on personal meaning than on technical skill or “beauty,” a traditional goal of art.
According to Munch’s personal diaries, the idea for the modern art painting The Scream came to him while looking
down over the Norwegian landscape from an elevation. While a mountaintop or a scenic view from a summit might
sound like a beautiful and inspiring landscape to paint, Munch’s personal experience and interpretation of “nature”
was very different than you might imagine.
"I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped
and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black
fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite
scream of nature."
Interpretation of Munch's famous The Scream Painting Quote

What does the famous Edvard Munch quote associated with The Scream painting mean? At first, Munch describes a
typical evening out in Norway, taking a walk at sunset with some friends beside the fjord. While an evening out
walking by the water might sound relaxing and enjoyable, for Munch it was almost a moment of an existential crisis.
Behind him in the background, two obscured people walk away in the other direction with backs turned, probably
the "two friends" Munch mentioned.

In the manner of a true Expressionist painter, Munch uses bright, spinning colors to express his chaotic emotional
state in that moment. Like Van Gogh's Starry Night, the landscape of The Scream painting almost vibrates with
swirling feeling and intensity. The artist comments on the "red" sky and the "bluish black fjord,” described almost as
an all-consuming black hole hell where "tongues of fire" savagely lick at the frazzled and overwhelmed person,
unidentifiable as either man or woman.
The Scream Meaning: Where is the scream coming from?

According to his quote, Munch was mentally overwhelmed during his crisis by the fjord, but some of the language
he uses also suggests a physical threat. While there is certainly something ominous about Munch's description of
The Scream landscape, the repeated use of the word "blood" in combination with the twirling, swirling, and whirling
warm tones used in the background suggest actual physical violence. What is the source of violence in this
seemingly isolated landscape in Norway? Where does the “infinite scream of nature” come from? Art history
sources indicate that a slaughterhouse was within earshot of the spot illustrated in The Scream painting. The
proximity of the slaughterhouse could very well account for Munch's repeated mentions of "blood" in connection
with the painting. The haunting screaming sound of dying animals could account for the “infinite scream of nature”
that Munch heard.
Edvard Munch: Anxiety of the Artist

Was the slaughterhouse the only source of anguish in The Scream? Like Vincent Van Gogh, throughout his life
Edvard Munch struggled with insanity—both on a personal level and through his family. In fact, his sister was
hospitalized for insanity at the time The Scream was painted in 1893. Along with a slaughterhouse, the very mental
asylum where Munch's own sister was recently hospitalized was located very nearby, too. Was the screaming
Munch heard actually coming from the insane asylum where his sister was staying? The true meaning behind The
Scream may very well come back to the decidedly ugly, even hideous, sounds of living beings undergoing both
physical and emotional suffering in the modern age.
Screaming Man or Woman?

Who is the person in The Scream? Munch’s quote makes it seem quite clear that the painting is a self-portrait of
the artist himself. While his experience by the fjord may have inspired the painting, the hairless fetal person in The
Scream painting is unrecognizable as either a male or female and has a gaunt, skull-like face. Due to the ambiguity
of the subject's gender, the sexless person depicted in the painting may be Munch, or it actually may be Munch’s
sick sister, hospitalized in the asylum nearby. In fact, it could be anyone...
The Scream Meaning (1893) by Edvard Munch

What is the meaning of Edvard Munch's 1893 modern art painting The Scream? When it all comes down to it,
a "scream" is above all a sound and an auditory sensation. The screaming of both the dying animals and the cries
overheard coming from the nearby insane asylum, however faint they may have been, give an added and potent
personal meaning to the painting's simple title. While the painting may have autobiographical significance, one
reason why The Scream painting is still so famous even today is because it is so universal in its meaning. Anyone
can look at The Scream and feel something.

[The women I paint should have] a rounded face, not of the oval type often
presented to us in newspapers and magazine illustrations. The eyes should be
exceptionally lively, not the dreamy, sleepy type that characterizes the Mongolian.
The nose should be of the blunt form but firm and strongly marked. … So the ideal
Filipina beauty should not necessarily be white complexioned, nor of the dark
brown color of the typical Malayan, but of the clear skin or fresh colored type which
we often witness when we met a blushing girl. - Fernando Amorsolo

The "Planting of the First Cross" by Philippine National Artist

for Painting Vicente S. Manansala (b. 22 January 1910, d. 22
August 1981) is a cherished part of the National Museum's
visual arts collection. From the museum's notes:

The painting depicts the planting of the cross in Cebu in

1521 with Ferdinand Magellan, Spanish soldiers and the
natives with intricate tattoos known as pintados. The
original cross can still be found in a special kiosk in Cebu
City. This mural painting is one of the best representations of historical artwork in the collection.
Manansala’s rendition is an amalgamation of the traditional and modern techniques in painting. It also
manifests his mastery of transparent cubism. The artwork was commissioned by the national
government in celebration of the 400 years of Philippine Christianization held in Cebu in 1965.