Pinacoteca di Brera

On Wednesday we visited the Brera Museum called Pinacoteca di Brera. There are a lot of old Italian paintings related to the church, as well as a small portion of early 20th century paintings, and other paintings following the Renaissance. 

Two paintings especially stood out for me, both depicting Jesus at a supper. One was "Supper at Emmaus" by Caravaggio. The dramatic lighting effects that he implemented (called chiaroscuro, where there seems to be one light source creating dramatic contrasts in the image) lends much gravitas to most of his works. Another painting that stood out was Peter Paul Ruebens painting of the last supper. This one contrasted with the Leonardo version that I saw the previous day. One interesting element that I enjoyed is that Judas, Jesus' betrayer, is looking out at the viewer, almost as if he is the focal point of the painting.

Other interesting paintings I saw were of St. Francis by one of my favorite painters, Dominico Theotocopolous, otherwise known as El Greco. His paintings stand out for me because he had a very unique style that cannot be placed in one school or another. That said, this small painting was not one of his finer ones. Although I would have liked to buy a postcard of the painting, the museum did not have one, and even in their souvenir book, it was not included.

One final painting that stopped me for a few moments was a painting of St. Jerome by Jusepe Ribera, a painter I had never heard of. It was in the same room as the Caravaggio, perhaps because it helps illustrate the influence that Caravaggio and his chiaroscuro style had on other painters. However, the image of a frail old man staring at a skull he holds in his hands forced me to sit down and stare at the painting for several minutes.

Another side effect of going to an art museum with many different people is that many different opinions are heard about good art and bad art, and what art is supposed to be, and what artists are supposed to be doing. I find it humorous that non-artists would have such strong opinions on what another person's job is, especially never having performed that job themselves. I also find it humorous when people offer their strong opinions as if they were the last word on the subject, especially when it comes to modern art, and with claims that this period of art was far superior to that period, and the peaks and valleys that the evaluative quality of art has experienced through history. It seems to me that for any proper evaluation of art, or anything for that matter, one must look at the work in context of its place and its creation in history and location and social context. Rarely do I hear people talk about this; instead, it is "this looks ugly," or "This looks beautiful." Surely those are some of the reasons to enjoy art, and if one only focuses on what he finds beautiful, he may have a wonderful life. However, there is also so much more to explore within paintings, music, architecture, sculpture, and everything else. And so it seems to me that when I ask more questions about this or that, or explore curiosities a little deeper, there may be much more that can be enjoyed.