5/11/2022

ARTS 1A: Discussion 5

Carel Fabritius The Goldfinch, 1654 Nils-Udo La Couvée (The Brood), 2018 Oil on panel Carrara marble, earth, forest

We know very little about the ideas of Carel Fabritius, who painted The Goldfinch. However, we do know that many seventeenth-century Dutch artists tried very hard to imitate nature, to the extent that a specific Dutch phrase used by artists survives from that period: the goal of making art “naer het leven” or “directly from life.” In an interview with John K. Grande in 2011, Nils-Udo explained how he had “[t]he idea of planting my work literally into nature—’of making it a part of nature’, of submitting it to nature—its cycles and rhythms”. He also stated, “By elevating the natural space to a work of art, I had opened myself to reality, to the liveliness of nature—I had overcome the gap between art and life.” If both artists tried to “overcome the gap between art and life” and represent nature as faithfully as possible, in what ways were they successful? In what ways were they not successful? Be specific in your analysis of details of these works of art as you address these questions.

* * *