The Massacre of the Innocents.

"the principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have created- men who are creative, inventive, discoverers" - Jean Piaget

Art word of the week: Design & Composition

The elements of an artwork including texture, colour, and balance that harmoniously contribute to the idea of what the artist is portraying is defined as the design or composition of an artwork. If all these artistic aspects work well within the painting, it can be seen as having an overall solid design or composition 

(Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009).

The Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens had painted this in the seventeenth century and was part of the Liechtenstein Collection in Vienna, Austria.  This graphic yet creative painting seems to be widely known as the artist’s perceptions and learning’s from his time spent in Italy between 1600 and 1608.   If you delve the painting deeper, you can see the drama and emotive dynamism of the scene, as well as the rich and realistic colour, lines and shapes that were added to create depth to the painting.

My first initial reaction of this photo was disturbance, confusion, brutality, turmoil and hostility.  What really intrigued me most about the painting was the disturbing concept and idea in which the painting was revolved around: the slaughter of the innocents (women and children) who are essentially classified as the weaker and most vulnerable.  What’s also fascinating about this painting is the significant use of immaculate detail.  This profound set of intricate details gives the painting a realistic viewpoint, and it makes it seem like you are right there in the action, understanding and comprehending the essence of what is currently going on.
In terms of symbolism, it seems that the artwork portrays the struggle for “power” between the conflicting genders of man and women.  This is shown in the painting as the males are fighting against the females.  Also, the painting demonstrates elevation, as the men are on top of the women symbolizing their strength, dominance and masculinity within society.  In continuing this point, what’s really interesting is that although the men are portrayed in the painting as showing their dominance, it seems that the women are not afraid to go against this “dominance”.  In fact in seems that the women are trying to overthrow their power in society as strong men.  On another note, if you look at the painting from the left of the painting it is light and when you move towards the right it becomes darker.  (Light- innocent and purity to Dark- cruelty, evilness).  This could be taken as a metaphor that society may be transitioning from a period of cooperation, peacefulness and beauty to the reality and cruelty of life, destructed by authoritative figures –men.

As an Early Childhood Educator...
 Bring children to an art museum for a field trip! Get children to experience art not only within the classroom, but outside the classroom. This sparks interests, and curiosity and widen's children's knowledge on art and its history! After the trip to the museum, create an activity that focuses on some of the key artists that the children had saw paintings of.

References

Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art & Creative Development for Young Children (6 ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.