Blog Post #2 -- The Lonely Palette Episode 65. The Birth of Venus || Written by: Noah Ciolino

I, once again, listened to The Lonely Palette for this blog post. I listened to episode 65. about Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. This painting depicts the birth of the goddess, Venus (I know, shocking, right?). She stands, naked, atop a large seashell in the center of the painting. Her hair blows to the right as she grabs a handful, covering her bottom privates. There are two Gods on the left and one on the right, helping frame Venus as the center-piece of the artwork. A forest begins to present itself behind the God on the right as the ocean expands from the center and leftward.

The narrator for this episode spends most of the time trying to describe what makes the painting so famous. Perhaps it’s the beauty in the painting? The eloquence of the figures stature with her red hair flowing across the blue sky and open ocean. Maybe it’s what the painting represents? The neoplatonic form of beauty, standing in the middle of a giant seashell to grant us her beauty. Is it the crossing between Christianity and Greco-Roman mythology? Many of the Greco-roman Gods frame the piece, depicted as angelic beings from the Bible. 

The episode dives deeper into each of these topics by looking back on history and seeing where it’s brought us now. Why is this painting still so relevant? Perhaps it’s the craftsmanship that’s cemented itself in our brains? This brought up a question that’s plagued me for a while now: Why are these paintings so important in the modern day? Why don’t we accept these paintings as a relic of the past and celebrate modern paintings just as heavily?

Stop me if you’ve already heard this story. Someone goes to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa in person and think “That’s it?” I’m sure most people have heard of this before — I’ve found that it’s a rather common occurrence. And, to be honest, I’m in the same boat. While I haven’t gone to the Louvre before, I often see the Mona Lisa and question why it’s as popular as it is in today’s age. I understand the historical significance of it, of course, but I’ve seen plenty of paintings that arguably outshine the Mona Lisa. Painters and artists that have created works of art that hold more significance in the political climate of the modern day. Why is it, then, that we focus on historical paintings so much? 

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer and, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Almost every art class I’ve been in has had these paintings on the wall. Those paintings stood out to me as it was my first introduction to them, but after seeing them for the billionth time, I was growing tired of them. The art no longer felt like it had a meaning. Personally, my art style is very modern and cartoony. While many of my art teachers were fine with this, I never saw a representation of my style reflected on the walls. In fact, most people never saw a reflection of themselves on the walls. It’s always been famous painters with life-like pieces.

Teachers should have both historical paintings — for their artistic importance — and modern artworks for the young artists to look up to. Being able to see artwork with a unique, modern style similar to yours hanging in an academic setting gives students hope that they can become great artists. A good variety is always important within a classroom. 

““Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand.” (Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, pg. 111)

Modern art is what drives us forward. If we continue to look at the past we’ll never be able to discover something new. While historical art can continue living on in Museums, being taught modern art and its significance is equally as important. I wish to see a time where there’s an artist everybody knows — or maybe even an art piece everyone knows — that’s in our modern era. 

I feel like the closest we’ve gotten to this being possible is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Even if you haven’t listened to it, you definitely have at least heard of it. I hope in our future we can continue to find modern artworks and artists to fill our vocabulary and walls up. We need to celebrate more modern artists in academic and societal settings in order to keep pushing uniqueness and artistic journeys forwards.