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” Friedrich Nietzsche ”

On By aestheticart19In Historical Figures, Paintings, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Friedrich Nietzsche

Author: Edvard Munch

Date: 1906

Style: Expressionism

Genre: portrait

Media: oil, canvas

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE SHORT BIOGRAPHY
1844-1900

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Rocken, Saxony (the present-day Germany) on Oct. 15, 1844. He came from a line of Protestant churchman – his father and grandfathers were Lutherman ministers. He studied Classical literature and language at the universities in Bonn and Leipzig. At the age of 24, Nietzsche became a professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland.
After reading the works of the German philosopher Schopenhauer, Nietzsche became a philosopher and began living a life of solitude. He agreed with Schopenhauer that there is no God and life is filled with pain and suffering, but Nietzsche came to his own conclusion that humans must get everything out of life and set out to find out how to best do that.
Nietzsche was totally against religion, in particular Christianity.
Nietzsche proclaimed that “God is dead” in his most famous work, “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” (1883-1892) saying that most people do not believe in God and religion is no longer the foundation for morals. “Thus Spake Zarathustra” was not successful when it was first published, but is now considered a masterpiece in world literature. In 1896, the composer Richard Strauss composed a tone-poem called “Also Sprach Zarathustra” based on Nietzsche’s words.Nietzsche’s works “Beyond Good and Evil” (1886) and “The Genealogy of Morals” (1887) dealt with the origins of moral values. Nietzsche believed that in early civilization the theory of perpetual elimination of the weak by the strong and the incompetent by the competent was correct. But then the Judeo-Christian religion disagreed and said that thought was wrong and the weak and meek shall inherit the earth. What happened was the geniuses, innovators and creators were made equal to the common masses. Nietzsche believed that Christianity’s emphasis on the afterlife make humans less capable of handling life right now.
Nietzsche believed that religious “morality” killed the genius of innovation and could end culture and civilization. Since there is no God, there must be HUMAN creations and realizations. Humans have the “will to power” in politics, culture and everywhere. Nietzsche’s ideal was the super-human-being or the “OVERMAN” or “SUPERMAN”, which is a superior individual who controls his/her passions and uses them in a creative way. The SUPERMAN’S will to power would set him/her apart from the herd of inferior masses. Nietzsche was famous for his much quoted line “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
In 1889, Nietzsche tragically suffered a nervous breakdown and was overcome by mental illness in his mid forties, allegedly brought on by tertiary syphilis. The actual breakdown started in Turin, where Nietzsche collapsed with his arms around the neck of a horse that was being whipped by a coachman. He became hopelessly insane and on August 25, 1900 at the age 56, Nietzsche died.

” Odin ”

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( Statue of Odin in Hannover, Germany )

Odin is one of the most complex and enigmatic characters in Norse mythology, and perhaps in all of world literature. He’s the ruler of the Aesir tribe of deities, yet he often ventures far from their kingdom, Asgard, on long, solitary wanderings throughout the cosmos on purely self-interested quests. He’s a relentless seeker after and giver of wisdom, but he has little regard for communal values such as justice, fairness, or respect for law and convention. He’s the divine patron of rulers, and also of outlaws. He’s a war-god, but also a poetry-god, and he has prominent “effeminate” qualities that would have brought unspeakable shame to any historical Viking warrior. He’s worshiped by those in search of prestige, honor, and nobility, yet he’s often cursed for being a fickle trickster.

” Hylas and the Nymphs ”

On By aestheticart19In Paintings, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Title: Hylas and the Nymphs

Artist: John William Waterhouse

Year: 1896

Type: Oil on canvas

Hylas and the Nymph is an oil on canvas painting undertaken by Baron François Gérard in about 1826 showing a story from Greek mythology. 

The painting Hylas and the Nymph depicts the moment when the Greek hero Hylas is abducted by a Naiad Nymph.

Hylas was an Argonaut, who had joined the crew of the Argo alongside his friend Heracles. When the Argo stopped for water in Mysia, the Naiad fell in love with the beautiful Hylas. Heracles would be abandoned by Jason when he stopped to look for his companion, but Hylas was never found by Heracles. 


”The Death of Socrates”

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The Death of Socrates

Artist: Jacques Louis David

Date: 1787

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 51 x 77 1/4 in. (129.5 x 196.2 cm)

The Athenian courts executed the Greek philosopher Socrates (469–399 B.C.) for the crime of impiety: his behavior toward the gods was judged to have been irreverent, and he had exerted a corrupting influence on his young male followers. Socrates declined to renounce his beliefs and died willingly, discoursing on the immortality of the soul before drinking from the cup of poisonous hemlock. In a prison of unrelieved severity, David depicted a frieze of carefully articulated figures in antique costume acting out in the language of gesture the last moments of the moral philosopher’s life. Because, shortly before the onset of the French revolution, the painting gave expression to the principle of resisting unjust authority, it is among David’s most important works. The canvas is also his most perfect statement of the Neoclassical style.