Art and Culture

From an artistic and social point of view, this painting is undoubtedly a masterpiece by Julius Voegtli. Only very few European artists of his epoch succeeded in creating such a convincing, poignant, and politically impactful portrait of an African soldier. It is a “document of humanity,” an eloquent testimony against racism, colonialism, and war. The face of the Spahi expresses

The picture shows a bust-length portrait, done in watercolor, of a younger woman wearing what is the traditional regional folk costume of Bern – the Bernertracht or the Berner Sonntagstracht. Like many human characters drawn by Voegtli, she is looking directly at the viewer while her hair is partially covered with a black veil. In this portrait, all colors are

This watercolor painting depicts the nude figure of the artist’s wife, Anna. She is seated in profile on a bed draped in white cloth. She is leaning on her left arm and her face is turned away from the viewer; only her ear, neck, and pulledback dark hair are visible. The artist uses blue, yellow, and red elements to adddepth

“Liberty Leading the People” (French: “La Liberté guidant le people”) is a masterpiece painting that captured the essence of the French Revolution, which was a defining moment in European history. The painting is an allegory that depicts the symbolic figure of Liberty leading a group of people, with a French flag in her hand, in a march towards freedom. The

Woodall’s (1997) view in her introduction to Portraiture: Facing the Subject can be applied to Julius Voegtli as well: Physiognomic interpretation was predicated upon a “symptomatic” relationship between external appearance and an invisible, internal self which was the ultimate subject of interest. The work of Courbet, Manet and the Impressionists interrogates this presumed identification between individualized physiognomy and a distinctive,

“The Girl from Ticino” is a small-format masterpiece painted with a striking empathy. On her back, the young woman is carrying an empty wicker basket, with which she carries the harvested hay from the alpine pastures to the farm in the valley. Undoubtedly, this is hard work, especially for a slender woman, but she does not show evidence of her

Once again, Voegtli has painted an aquarelle, titled “Ticino Girl in the Back Courtyard.” Most likely, it’s the same young woman that he had already immortalized in “Ticino Girl” (Picture 46). This time it’s almost impossible to recognize her face; however, she again is wearing a red headscarf, a blue dress – this time with white sleeves and loose sandals.

In a pure blue sky stands strong a white mountain named Matterhorn, one of the most famous peaks of the Alps. It is, at first glance, an honorable depiction of the strength and power of the mountain which, on the one hand, goes up to the highest place in the sky and, on the other hand, is rooted deeply in

Ecophobia is defined by Estok (2011) in Ecocriticism and Shakespeare as “It denotes fear and loathing of the environment” – in much the same way that the term “homophobia” denotes fear and loathing of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals (p. 24). It is a recent term in ecology studies and defines a part of Western culture. It has its roots back

The monumental format of this painting “Golgotha” reflects the importance of the theme in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Chagall paints it in 1912, in his workshop in La Ruche, with as much energy as wisdom. Titled originally dedicated to Christ, it is exhibited that same year in Berlin’s Walden Gallery. The large dimensions of the canvas reflect the magnitude that this

The violinist invades the central space of this large painting, a format over which reigns supreme: dancing in support of the foot on the roof of a house, and around it you can see a hamlet reminiscent of Vitebsk, where Chagall spent his childhood and youth. Uprooted in Paris, the artist goes into the memories of his native Russia, to

“Umwelt” is a German word for “kingdom” or “world.” It is a biological term coined by Uexküll (1934, p. 5) to denote the world as seen by an animal. The term brought about a revolution in human culture and affected Heidegger’s criticism on Western civilization and human-centeredness. Throughout history, Western philosophy has looked at man as the center and the

There were two versions of the subject (the one not illustrated here, a wooden panel is also in Brussels, in the collection of David and Alice van Buuren; it also shows Daedalus in flight), although scholars are of the opinion that it is are two copies of a lost Bruegel original. The works have a special place in Bruegel’s oeuvre