Adoration of the Magi by Sandro Botticelli is a Renaissance painting located in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence Italy. Botticelli painted many of these adoration paintings on commission but the Adoration of the Magi seems to be the most popular. This painting is on a wooden altarpiece and shows different people looking at one another with different expressions on their face. Botticelli is in the bottom right hand corner looking you the observer.

The painting is Tempera on Wood and uses distinct bright colors to represent the wealth of the people who are in it. This adoration has biblical connotations and uses historical traditions for example making the Virgin Mary where a blue cloak. All of the figures were designed to create geometric design on the panel. Botticelli does not pay much attention to linear texture. This painting was commissioned for a funerary chapel in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

The bright vivid colors attracted me to this work; I found it interesting how the artist played off of mostly reds and blues and I liked how my attention was immediately drawn to the center of the painting. All of the people seemed to be involved in the miraculous birth of the Jesus. The greatest aesthetic strength of this painting is its use of vivid color, the aesthetic weakness I found was the lack of the artistic use of shadow. I believe this piece does have lasting value; it is undoubtedly a beautiful piece of art and has stood the test of time as a masterpiece. The painting has particular cultural significance to the city of Florence in Italy. It shows how this particular class of Florentines dressed and looked.

Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi is a beautiful painting depicting a noble Florentine family. It takes a historical moment (the birth of Jesus Christ) and incorporates the patron’s images. I found this painting to be rich in color and detail and a window into the period in which the patrons lived.

The Persistence of Memory

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali was created in Spain in 1931, it currently resides in The Museum of Modern art in New York City. Dali was painter of the surrealist school of thought which emphasized the “reality and intensity of the subconscious mind”. This work is said to symbolize Dali’s idea of the nature of time in a dream. It is probably his best known works and is recognized all over the world as an example of modern art.

Dali uses extremely realistic techniques in the landscape of this painting; the rocks in the background have almost a photographic look to them. This painting is oil on canvas and is 9 ½ by 13. The painting has the characteristics of the modern surrealist style in that it presents the idea of time in a dream like state. Space in this painting seems never-ending because of its aerial perspective.

I am attracted to this piece of art because of its uniqueness. It stands out and is attractive to me because it is so different than normal art but at the same time it is something I can relate to unlike other examples of modern art. This piece’s greatest aesthetic strength in my opinion is Dali’s use of space. The use of space creates an almost dreamlike environment which is effective in his interpretation of time in a dreamlike state. It’s greatest aesthetic weakness is that it can be hard to interpret what it means without knowing the history behind it. This painting does possess lasting value in that it expresses the ideas of the surrealist time period. It is a great example of the surrealist movement and what it set out to accomplish. The surrealist movement and Dali’s painting The Persistence of Memory reflects the cultural attitude of the time that desired something new and different from the preceding impressionist and romantic movements.

By John Schlismann