Great Themes in Art 2: DREAMS AND VISIONS

PASSCODE 121072

In advance of the imminent publication of my Guide to the Great Themes in Art, I will be delivering a new series of talks on the themes in the book, discussing each in the context of the changing social circumstances, artistic periods and individual styles of the artists.
A clear overview of the development of art history from the middle ages to the 20th century will emerge as you attend this series .

The themes are all familiar to us today:
Love and Marriage
The Body
Animals
Food
Sickness and Healing
Death
Making a Living
Leisure
War
Nature
The Self ( Identity )
The Other
Faith
Dreams and Visions
Mythology
Domesticity
Time

Read about this theme[ here ](The history of dreams and visions in art, is at first sight a history of men and women asleep in a variety of uncomfortable and improbable positions... But the theme of dreams and visions is also one in which two levels of reality meet - the physical reality of the dreamer - or the person experiencing a vision - and the reality , whether explicitly shown or implied, of the dream or the vision experienced. How these two realities relate to one another, is what differentiates the treatment of this theme at different points of art history. Visions are usually experienced by saints and people of the church in Christian art, to express God’s intercession in the handling of their affairs and to persuade the faithful of the worthiness of the Saints of their godly status. And so in 15th century Flanders equal focus is given to the physical reality of the dreamer and his vision. Represented by highly detailed technique of oil on panel, this gives credence to the vision and convinces the spectator that the equally realistic protagonist is more than an ordinary mortal. Dreams and visions can become a vehicle for allegory - in dreams moral choices can be put before the dreamer or philosophical statements made (see Raphael and Goya). When the protagonist experiencing a vision is a woman, however saintly, her experience seems to occasion an erotic undertone, both in the Renaissance and in the Romantic period (see Veronese and Fuseli). In the most theatrical painting style, the Italian Baroque, visions are a perfect excuse for special effects infused melodrama ( see Luca Giordano) and at the opposite end of the scale, nothing is spelt out but everything suggested, either by means of light (see Carpaccio) or by means of symbolic use of colour and line ( Gauguin). 4.)

The history of dreams and visions in art, is at first sight a history of men and women asleep in a variety of uncomfortable and improbable positions... But the theme of dreams and visions is also one in which two levels of reality meet - the physical reality of the dreamer - or the person experiencing a vision - and the reality , whether explicitly shown or implied, of the dream or the vision experienced. How these two realities relate to one another, is what differentiates the treatment of this theme at different points of art history. Visions are usually experienced by saints and people of the church in Christian art, to express God’s intercession in the handling of their affairs and to persuade the faithful of the worthiness of the Saints of their godly status. And so in 15th century Flanders equal focus is given to the physical reality of the dreamer and his vision. Represented by highly detailed technique of oil on panel, this gives credence to the vision and convinces the spectator that the equally realistic protagonist is more than an ordinary mortal. Dreams and visions can become a vehicle for allegory - in dreams moral choices can be put before the dreamer or philosophical statements made ( Raphael and Goya). When the protagonist experiencing a vision is a woman, however saintly, her experience seems to occasion an erotic undertone, both in the Renaissance and in the Romantic period ( Veronese and Fuseli). In the most theatrical painting style, the Italian Baroque, visions are a perfect excuse for special effects infused melodrama ( Luca Giordano) and at the opposite end of the scale, nothing is spelt out but everything suggested, either by means of light (Carpaccio) or by means of symbolic use of colour and line ( Gauguin).