Profanum – Paintings

Obrazy z serii Profanum nawiązują do najlepszych przykładów arcydzieł sztuki światowej i są wizualną interpretacją obrazów wielkich mistrzów takich jak Rafael, Rubens, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Giorgione, Cezanne, Konczałowki czy Braque. Obrazy te były tworzone przez prof. Z. Leś. W badaniach nad rozumieniem bardzo jasno widoczny jest zakres znaczeniowy „sacrum” i „profanum”. Teologia to nie mitologia i w dzisiejszym świecie „kultury” zacieranie granic pomiędzy tymi sferami poznania prowadzi do swoistej pandemii bezrozumności czy też wszędobylskiej głupoty. Mitologiczne tematy to bezmiar naszych mrocznych ludzkich tęsknot, pragnień i pożądań skrytych we wnętrzu symbolicznych form i alegorycznych obrazów. Desymbolizacja wsparta na alchemii znaczeń tylko w niewielkim stopniu przybliża nas do celu stąpania po pewnym gruncie ikonicznej hermeneutyki. Ten mroczny świat nieogarniętego symbolu i alegorycznej formy można rozjaśnić tylko przy pomocy teologicznej wiedzy lub też mistycznego doświadczenia, tak niestety niedostępnego dla ogromu demograficznego zatłoczenia. Mimo pozoru swej nieistotności znaczeniowej „pejzaż” czy „martwa natura” przemawiają niekiedy bardzo silnie językiem ikonicznej polifonii. Tutaj to już tylko platońskie oko i zmysł widzenia niewidzialnych zjawisk w postaci postbergsonowskiej intuicji.

MYTHOLOGICAL SCENES

1. Sandro di Botticelli „The Birth of Venus” („Narodziny Wenus”)

In the centre of the painting, the newly-born goddess Venus stands nude in a giant shell. At the left the wind god Zephyr blows at her, with the wind shown by lines radiating from his mouth. He is in the air and carries a young female, who is also blowing, but less forcefully. Both have wings. Their joint efforts are blowing Venus toward the shore, and blowing the hair and clothes of the other figures to the right.

This painting is among the most famous paintings in the world and icon of the Italian Renaissance.

2. Giorgione „The Sleeping Venus” („Śpiąca Wenus”)

In the painting “The Sleeping Venus” a Greek goddess Venus is presented with the semi-erotic positioning of the arms, one of which is raised, the other being placed near the groin. An innovation in this painting is the use of a landscape to frame the sleeping goddess. Giorgione was the first painter to widely paint landscapes with figures.

SCENY MITOLOGICZNE

1. S. Botticelli „The Birth of Venus”                                 3. Giorgione „The Sleeping Venus”

4. Rembrandt „Danae”

This is one of Rembrandt’s most significant paintings inspired by love. It shows the mythical character of Danae, a princess of Argos, whose father shut her up in a tower, as he was foretold that he would die at the hand of, as yet, unborn grandson. However, Zeus attracted by the girl’s beauty, came to her in the form of a shower of gold. She is presumably depicted as welcoming Zeus, to her bad. Later she bore him a son, Perseus. The splendid bed forms a precious setting for her figure and the golden light pouring from the depth and indicating the approach of Zeus, creates a glowing warm atmosphere around the young woman. Her beauty lies not in bodily perfection, but in the sense of the anxious expectation of love.

5. Rubens „Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus” („Porwanie córek Leukipa„)

The painting depicts the mortal Castor and the immortal Pollux abducting Phoebe and Hilaeira, daughters of Leucippus. Castor the horse-tamer is recognisable from his armour, whilst Pollux the boxer is shown with a bare and free upper body. They are also distinguished by their horses – Castor’s is well-behaved and supported by a putto, whereas Pollux’s is rearing.

4. Rembrandt „Danae” 5. Rubens „Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus”

1. Rubens „The Battle of the Amazons” („Bitwa Amazonek”)

The is one of the finest Ruben’s paintings, crowded with figures and incidents. It depicts Amazon’s retreat in a battle with the Greeks under Theseus on a bridge over the River Thermo-don. A firm arch of figures contains the whole mass of violent movements and warm colours and dominates the masonry bridge, on which the Athenians overtake the Amazons as the battle moves in one direction, from left to right. The bride is to small for the figures, and horses and riders topple, hurtle or slither from it. Horses snort, prance and bite. Weapons are raised and thrusts made and parried. On the crown of the bridge, from which dangles the arm of a headless body, a man on foot tug the Amazon standard from a rider already thrust through with a spire.

The water too is full of figures, falling, swimming, shielding themselves from falling bodies and flailing horses. Every figure adds to the narrative, while on the skyline a city burns, its smoke sweeping up behind the seething mass of bodies and continuing its motion into the sky.

2. Rafael „The School of Athens” (“Szkoła ateńska”)

“The School of Athens” is one of a group of four main frescoes on the wall of the Stanza in Vatican that depict distinct branches of knowledge. Plato and Aristotle appear to be the central figures in the scene. The rhetorical gestures of Plato and Aristotle are kind of pointing (to the heaven, and down to the earth) is popularly accepted as likely. Plato’s Timaeus – which is the book Raphael places in his hand – was a sophisticated treatment of space, time, and change, including the Earth, which guided mathematical sciences for over a millennium. Aristotle, with his four-elements theory, held that all change on Earth was owing to motion of the heavens. In the paining Aristotle carries his Ethics, which he denied could be reduced to a mathematical science.

The architecture contains Roman elements, but the general semi-circular setting having Plato and Aristotle at its centre might be alluding to Pythagoras’ monad.

1. Rubens „The Battle of the Amazons” 2. Rafael „The School of Athens”

STILL LIFE

1. Paul Cezanne ”Still life with a Curtain” („Martwa natura z zasłoną”)

In this painting the curtain is dividing the background into two parts. We can see many objects within this work and the peaches, and other fruits; they luck of innate detail. The contrasting of different masses, modelled by resonant light, creates a dynamic composition, and gives an element of tension to the space. At the same time, the painting is dominated by a balance of form and colour which creates an impression of unity and stability in this material world.

2. Piotr Konczałowski ”Still life with olives” („Martwa natura z oliwkami”)

Piotr Konczalowski is very famous of his still life paintings. The presented masterpiece, still life with olives, is one of the best paintings by Konczalowski.

3. Georges Braque „Still life” („Martwa natura”)

Braque worked alongside Pablo Picasso as the two developed the new style of cubism around 1910.

This painting is typical in Braque’c career, when he incorporated elements of cubism into still lies and other subjects. The presented objects emphasize the interplay of pattern and texture.

1. P. Cezanne ”Still life with a Curtain” 2. P. Konczałowski ”Still life with olives”

3. G. Braque „Still life”

LANDSCAPE

1. Iwan Ajwazowski „The Shipwreck on Northern sea” („Burza na morzu północnym”)

The painting “The Shipwreck on Northern sea’ is one of the last works by Ivan Aivazovsky in the Romanticism style. It represents dramatic depiction of a sea storm with the survivors from a shipwreck. The colours are dark with a white stripe of moonlight across the middle of the canvas.

1. I. Ajwazowski „The Shipwreck on Northern sea”

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