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1350 BCE
Mycenaean Citadels & Lions Gate
Citadels were strong fortified structures made of large stones that could withstand invasions. The Mycenaean citadel's Lions Gate has two lions inscribed into the top stone of the gate. -
1000 BCE
Hindu Pantheism
In Hindu Pantheism, there is a belief that divinity is found within all things. This essentially means that "God is all, and all is God", and everything is an expression of God. For this reason, the method of worship is very open and chosen based on an individual's ideal practice. -
750 BCE
Achilles
In the Iliad, Achilles is the strongest warrior of the Greek army. His beauty is found in the realness of his character, even though he's only half-human. A youthful man, he freely expresses his emotions and displays grand bravery and courage. Achilles is a well-developed character with depth that readers can sometimes relate to. -
300 BCE
Greek Goddesses
Goddesses like Aphrodite, Venus, Aglaea, Helena, and Adonis. They all represent various things but are unified in their regard to beauty. -
1150
Gothic Architecture
Gothic architecture is beautiful in its unique and recognizable design. Consisting of high points, tall grand arches, and copious details in and out, this form of architecture combines both form and function. -
Shakespeare
Shakespeare was a writer of plays and poems. He wrote tragedies in which the main characters suffered immense losses and pains. His most famous pieces are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He beautifully expressed strong emotion in his writings that are studied to this day. -
Baroque Architecture
There are so many forms of architecture and each brings its beauty to our landscape. Baroque architecture is a good mix of form and function. It's a very artistic style that includes domed ceilings, rows and rows of pillars, lavish interior design, and grand pieces of art in the building and integrated with the building itself. The Royal Palace of Caserta (pictured above) was designed for King Charles III of Bourbon by Luigi Vanvitelli, a very famous Italian architect. -
Romanticism
Romanticism was the expression of an individual's emotions and feelings through various avenues of writing and art. There is beauty in every person's expression of sentiment. -
She Walks in Beauty by Lord Byron
A major English Romantic poet, Lord Byron wrote many poems, but "She Walks in Beauty" is our current focus. Byron's subject is a woman, and judging by his comments, she is a woman of interest. The poem highlights that this woman's inner beauty contributes to her outer beauty. -
Impressionism
Impressionism is a form of art void of solid lines and heavily-detailed figures. Its purpose is to capture what a moment looked like in the artist's head, foggy and missing certain features. Well-known impressionist artists include Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, and many more. -
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism had a few similarities to Impressionism in that the same mediums were used and the art was done with bold brushstrokes, but it differs in its goal and methods. It focused on depicting its subjects, leaving behind the importance of proper natural lighting. It used geometric and distorted shapes to give form to its subjects along with random, unnatural colors. It was usually done indoors whereas Impressionist art was normally made outside in nature. -
Modernist Poetry
Modernist Poetry was a very free form of expression, void of rhyme scheme. It was very experimental, with poets using inventive methods of writing to create symbolism. Emily Dickinson's “Hope” is The Thing with Feathers is a great example of this form of poetry and its objective. -
Expressionism and Jackson Pollock
The beauty of expressionism is its goal: to convey the artist's inner thoughts and feelings. This art form depicts a subjective reality with distorted angles and views and loud colors in a 2D manner. Jackson Pollock(1912) was a big expressionist painter whose art spread for his "dip technique" painting in which he laid his canvas flat on the ground, throwing paint on it and adding brush strokes. -
Imagist Poetry and "Autumn"
Imagism was a poetic movement in which poetry freely expressed emotion with clear imagery. It uses simple language to paint a scene within the reader's imagination. An example of this is T.E Hulme's “Autumn”. It says, "And round about were the wistful stars / With white faces like town children." Here you can imagine little faces in the sky where stars brightly shine. -
Surrealism and Salvador Dali
Surrealism is an art form made up of illogical scenes. Its drive was to unlock the unconscious mind to create dream-like art. Some of the most influential surrealist artists were Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo. The Persistence of Memory by Dali is a wonderful example of this art form. Clocks are draped about in the middle of a desert as though they're melting, and crystal clear waters fill the background with a small mountain in the distance. -
Jazz Music
Jazz music is sort of like a combination of 3 styles: vocal blues, ragtime piano playing, and swing music. It's usually improvised and often has strong notes that play before a beat. Originating in New Orleans' African-American communities, it has roots in African and European Music. The beauty of jazz is the artist's freedom of expression in that no piece is ever played the exact same way twice. -
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor. She began by creating her own open-air school in the slums of Calcutta, India. With no financial support to begin with she relied on Divine Providence or God's intervention. Soon though, many volunteered to help and would also provide financial support, growing the program and reaching far past India's borders. She began her own order “The Missionaries of Charity” which aimed to help the poorest of the poor around the world. -
Rock Music
Originating in the U.S., rock music had a denotation of chaos and unruly people. Its true intention was to express a person's freedom from all social and moral constraints, with its loud, restless instruments. People of many different ages enjoyed rock music as it emerged and it's a widely recognized and accepted genre of music today! Some of my favorites are Welcome To The Jungle by Guns n Roses and Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce. -
Feminist Art and Judy Chicago
Feminist art seeks to share the beauty of feminity while shedding light on the lack of recognition and equality for women in art and society. The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago is a well-known feminine art piece that brings recognition to 1,038 women. With 39 place settings on the table beautifully honoring a different woman's accomplishments and character, there are 999 other women's golden names inscribed on the white tile below the table. Its an incredibly detailed piece of art. -
The Internet
A spectacular 20th-century invention, the internet connected the world! Although accessing wasn't as common when it first started, soon the vast majority of the population had an item connectable to the internet. Being able to access an immeasurable amount of information at your fingertips was revolutionary and almost incomprehensible, but it worked. There is beauty in the connection the internet has been able to bring us all and the endless information available.