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The Ultimate Art History Guide to Cinema

When cinema was in its infancy, it was referred to as, ‘the moving picture.’ For much of its history, the medium has struggled to with its relationship alongside the rest of the fine arts- separate and yet always connected. As their medium matured, directors found an opportunity to shine new light on the great styles and works of the past, this time interpreted by the lens of the camera. By doing this, directors created something new out of the old mold of art classics. Below are resources exploring the link between artistic periods in history and their use in cinema.

Ancient Art

The art of the ancient world are the products of the earliest civilizations. Among these are China, Mesopotamia, Greece, India, Egypt, and Rome. Each civilization can be identified, in part, by its unique aesthetic sensibilities. The following films incorporate these artistic styles to add a sense of drama and 'otherness' to set.

Jesus Christ Superstar -- 1973, The Temple


The Spy Who Loved Me -- 1977 Egyptian hypostyle hall

Death on the Nile -- 1978 situ monuments up and down the Nile Valley

Time Bandits -- 1980 Mycenae

  • Mycenae: A lot of good detailed information about Mycenae

Olympia -- 1938 the Parthenon

  • Parthenon: Great Source on the history and aesthetic intuition behind the Parthenon

Topkapi -- 1964 Byzantine Art

Medieval Art

Medieval art is usually understood as religious in nature; however, many other crafts flourished at the time such as fine textiles, glass making, and various kinds of sculpture. The following films bring the soul of Gothic art into light by refreshing it with the lens and tying it with plot.


The Vikings -- 1958 Bayeux Tapestry

The Name of the Rose -- 1986 Romanesque and Gothic art


Becket -- 1964 15th-century "Pestkreuz"

Metropolis -- 1926 tower of Babel

The Renaissance

The renaissance is heuristically characterized by ‘rebirth’ but some scholars today grant that it was a natural progression from advances in medieval times. The arts were starting to become more secularized and a far wider number of subjects and styles were explored across mediums: paintings, sculpture, and architecture. These films use renaissance art to illustrate the majesty of what was considered a glorified period for the West.


Prince of Foxes -- 1949 Simone Martini's Maesta

Reservoir Dogs -- 1992 Mantegna's St. Sebastian

Antonia -- 1995 Botticelli's Venus

The Pirate -- 1948 Reni's Portrait of Beatrice Cenci

Baroque & Rococo

Baroque and Rococo art are known for their extravagance, gratuity, and aristocratic playfulness. The styles are dominated by naturalism, opulence in pastoral scenes or, on highly complex architectural. Works during time displayed works. All of film below use the embedded art to illustrate wealth and extravagance and to portray common western notions of ideal man.


Solaris -- 1972 Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son

Last Year at Marienbad -- 1961 rococo ceilings from pavilions in the park of Nymphenburg palace

Amadeus -- 1984 exteriors and interiors of Blenheim Palace

  • Amadeus, 1984: Good essay comparing and contrasting the real Amadeus to the reconstruction of him on film
  • Blenheim: Photo’s and information on the palace

The Moulin Rouge -- 1952 Toulouse Lautrec's prints

Modernism

Modernism is a broad term used in many subjects following both certain cultural persuasions and movements. Most generally, it is the rejection of the concept of absolute certainly, a thought that pervaded enlightenment thinking. It is also the rejection of the creator of medieval times. Modernism challenged us to rethink our world without absolutes and boundaries, a environment most suitable for the rise of cinema.


Vincent and Theo -- 1990 19th Century galleries and salons

Surviving Picasso -- 1996 The works of Picasso

The End of Violence -- 1997 Hopper's The Nighthawks

Art History, Aesthetics, and Cinema

The relationship between film and the fine arts can be parsed out in many ways: as the relationship between the actor and the set, such as in The Spy Who Loved Me and Death on the Nile; it can be understood as an object of intrigue, as in Reservoir Dogs and Mantegna's St. Sebastian, or serve as part of the plot as in Surviving Picasso and Vincent and Theo. In all of these films, by various mechanisms, the art weaved its way into the film, and thus with the visual experience as a whole. It is also worth noting that some uses of art in film is sometimes intended to be reflective, to invite the viewer to challenge the ideas and motifs portrayed by the use of art -which acts as a stand in for an archetype or concept.

In conclusion, the film fundamentally changes the art by involving it as part of the moving image, reigniting the luster of old works by creating something new.