Just started reading Brontë's Jane Eyre. I’m early into the book but unlike other classics that people are on about all the time, the aesthetics begins in page one. Like kaboom, beautiful sentences, page one, let's go.
I'm surprised, you guys overlooked the essay by Edmund Burke about the Sublime...that, analysis is the one the describes the best, the contemplating of the "awe" at a safe distance...the overwhelming forces of nature(God's concept included), as to embrace Fear and anxiety, from an aesthetics point of view...
The secret of the painting Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is not the landscape, nor the character depicted with his back on the top of the cliff. In fact, I think, the painter forces the observer of the painting to immerse himself in it, to feel part of that world whose main characteristic is uncertainty. Will the fog dissipate or not? Will it be possible to return to the plain safely before dark or not? These uncertainties that invade the observer are equivalent to the present time in which the painter lived and produced the work. Fog can be understood as a representation of the "smoke of war", something that causes immense confusion in those who participate in battles or suffer their consequences as powerless observers. The painter seems to suggest to the observer that it is necessary to maintain tranquility and elegance both in the face of the power of nature (the character in the painting) and in the face of the uncertainties caused by the Napoleonic wars (the observers of the painting at the time). War is a historical phenomenon that cannot be controlled by those who do not have the power to decide the destinies of their countries, just as no one controls nature. The artist, however, has complete control over the theme he intends to address and the process of creating the work. And he can use it to provoke a positive and appropriate emotional reaction in observers. This is the key to understanding this picture.
what a disappointment, including these vandals who go around in this documentary as though they are nothing less than criminals, is such a slap in the face to those who actually appreciate and revere art. this lady with a curtain as "art work" compared to one of the greatest German artists. No wonder why nobody respect the art scene anymore.
