Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

          This painting was painted by Caspar David Friedrich in the year 1818. This sets this painting right in the era of romanticism. Romanticism was a movement of artistic and intellectual ideas that was primarily set up in the second half of the 18th century and was in response to the recent industrialization of Britain. It did not approve of science and many new technologies that proved harmful to nature, and believed that science could not rationalize nature (Romanticism). They believed that nature was something that could not be tamed, nor understood, yet must be respected. These elements show up quite clearly in this painting, as you can see how everything in the background is covered by fog, giving it an air of mystery and a taste of the unknown. We cannot see the man’s face or the front side of his body, giving a sense of emotion, which romanticists strive for in their respective works of art. As such, the emotion gleaned from this type of painting is somewhat close to the sense of mystery one gets when seeing something they don’t quite understand.
          This relates very well with the unknown, and the theme of the unknown is something which many romanticists would appreciate. The feeling of humility would coincide with mystery of romanticism and the power of nature. Compared to the ‘mystical power’ of nature, men are humble as they are in the presence of the unknown. The unknown is something which men must respect, and the same as nature.

In the Woods

          In the Woods, was a painting by Paul Cezanne in 1885. This means that it is set right after the Impressionist age, but could not be called clear Post-Impressionist art, but rather, a mix of the two styles. Impressionism is the specific style that uses the elements of emphasis on light and visible brush strokes, unusual angles and including movement. Post-Impressionist art is more relating to the continued use of vivid colors, thick paint and heavy brush strokes but inclined to use more geometric shapes and out of the ordinary color (Post Impressionism). This painting is somewhere in between because it uses the thick heavy brush strokes of impressionism, yet does not have an emphasis on light. Yet this painting still symbolizes the unknown.
          In this painting, Cezanne wants to capture a moment in time, using impressionism to do so. He captures a relatively simple scene of the woods, yet in these woods lays an air of mystique. This painting helps symbolize the unknown in nature, and shows how there are things no man could understand in our own world.

Gas Pillars in the Eagle Nebula (M16): Pillars of Creation in a Star-Forming Region

          This is not really a painting but a picture captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in the Eagle Nebula, which is 6500 light years away. The image, called the Pillars of creation in short, shows three beautiful pillars of dust and interstellar gas. One can see the stars erupting at the tip of each pillar, which is about the same size as our solar system. Unfortunately, the pillars of creation were destroyed about 6 thousand years ago by a supernova, but because of how long it takes for the light to travel, we only see the supernova wave headed towards the pillars.
          This was not captured to respond to anything politically but instead to help scientist learn about the anomalies in our universe. This, along with many other pictures captured by Hubble, show humans the distant reaches of our universe and help us understand what is around us. This is an excellent example of the unknown, because using this, we can see what we could not ten to a thousand years ago in the past, and shows us what is out there. There are so many things that humans don’t understand, about science, religion, art, philosophy and these all pertain to the unknown. Yet with more pictures like these coming out, humans can gain a better understanding about the world around them.

The Amazement of the Gods

          

          This painting was painted by Hans Von Aachen, and it is unknown when but people speculate between 1590 and 1600. This painting was set in an age where the primary style was mannerism. This style lasted from the end of the Italian renaissance to the emergence of the Baroque style. This style was made to agree with the harmonious ideas of many renaissance painters such as Da Vinci and Raphael (Mannerism). It is famous for its stressing of intellectual ideas and putting artificiality over realism in the works of art. This painting shows all the Roman gods standing in awe as Jupiter chooses to love Minerva and abandons Venus. With this painting, Aachen is trying to show how gods are human-like and how they too can fall prey to the whimsical needs of their emotions.
          This painting can also be interpreted as a glimpse of the unknown. Humans today don’t fully know if there is a god or not; if there is, then how many are there? Are they all-powerful or are they just greater than us? Did they create the universe or are they as clueless to how it was formed as we are. These types of questions can somewhat be explained through this painting, as we see the gods as human-like, who too feel the need to satisfy their emotions. This puts them as not all powerful, but more so than we. This shows us what we do not understand and what we may not for hundreds of years more to come. This is the unknown.

The Abbey in the Oakwood

         

           This painting too was painted by Caspar David Friedrich in 1809-1810 and is again of romanticism ideals. Romanticism was a reaction type of style that reacts to the industrial revolution, and how nature has taken all the damage by man’s greed. One can tell this is a romanticist painting because of the emphasis on emotion, seeing how the colors give you chills and the sense of awe that Friedrich put around the woods to evoke a powerful emotion. Also, because it gives a sense to the horror of the scene, showing that that is just how nature is, is a giveaway to its romanticist roots(Romanticism). One can also notice how the use of mellow colors gradually shifts from light to dark, giving it an eerie appeal. In this painting, we see a sort of group of monks, some holding a coffin, walking towards a grave by the light of two candle lights, near a church and some crosses in the distance. This also brings a sense of death as we see the monks bring the coffin to the graves. Death and the unknown might as well go hand in hand, for they are often confused as interchangeable. Humans simply do not know what is after death, if anything and will go to extreme lengths to avoid death for they believe they will cease to exist and be forgotten.




          This painting also describes the unknown of the woods, but also ties in the dark and the sense of fear and horror that has been known to accompany the dark. In this, we cannot discern what is in the distance, if anything. We just see the monks, the church and the grave. This gives us a sense of fear because we simply do not know what else there is in the woods. There is no light to guide the way, and no trail or anything. It is preserved the way it was made, and has not been explored and mapped. This raw feeling of the dark and mysterious relates very well to the unknown.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Unknown. "Romanticism - New World Encyclopedia." Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia. Web 11 May 2011. <http://www.newworldencylopedia.org/entry/Romanticism>


Unknown. "Mannerism - New World Encyclopedia." Info:Main Page - New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia. Web 11 May 2011. <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mannerism>.


Unknown. "Post- Impressionism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web 11 May 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Impressionist>.


Unknown. "Impressionism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web 11 May 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism>.

A video describing the Unknown in the world around us