Mourning the End of My Humanities Class

So, my Humanities class is over. I do not think I have ever been this sad to say I am done with a class. Ever. I loved my teacher, and even though the class was two hours long three days a week and had an assignment due almost every class I loved everything I learned. I feel like I got cultured in that class. So, because I am so sad that it is over I am going to show some of my favorite pieces of art or music we talked about and tell you why I like them. 

I will attack the music part first. Mother I Will Have a Husband. Go listen to it if you ever need a good laugh. "Mother, I will have a husband... Mother, I will sure have one, in spite of her, that will have none." Second, Bradenburg Concerto No. 2. I honestly just think this is beautiful. Well done, Bach. Listening to La Mer by Debussy, if you close your eyes, it is almost like you are on the beach listening to the waves. Then, Nocturne by Chopin. I could fall asleep to this every night and feel wonderful. And, I know this is weird, but I really want to go and see the opera La Traviata when the Utah Opera performs it next year. It is in Italian, and I love the story it tells. Bucket list... 

Now for the art. I have told you that I love the painting Madonna of Loreto by Caravaggio. You know why too, but I will put it up again because it is really my favorite. 

Renoir... I love how he depicts the different classes doing the same thing. Dance in the City (upper class), Dance in the Country (middle class), and Dance at Bougival (lower class) are all beautiful even if the women look strangely alike... And, I love this Rodin statue called The Kiss. I am kind of upset with BYU for not displaying it when they had it... I know old people would be like, "What is happening to The BYU?!" (They always call it the BYU. I don't know why.) I think it deserves to be shown. Anyone who can work marble like that and make something this beautiful deserves the credit. 

 Cassatt with Maternal Kiss just reminded me of my momma. Got to love a little ginger baby. 

 Eakins and Maude Cook. Not everyone is perfect, but there is beauty in everyone. 

 Salvador Dali and Christ of St. John of the Cross. I usually don't like Dali, but I like this one painting of his. The Angle is just beautiful, Christ has no nails showing this sacrifice was made willingly. 

Once again, Renoir made the list with Portrait of Irene Cahan d'Anvers. His technique with her hair allows him to be on the paintings I love list more than once. It looks real. Then come Love Letters and Reverie by Boucher. The story behind these is sketchy, but the paintings are lovely and kind of whimsical with the weird cloud trees and all. 

 Monet with Boulevard des Capucines and Nympheas. These are beautiful and prove to me not everything always has to be perfect to be beautiful. If you get up close to these paintings, they are awful. You have to move back to appreciate the true beauty. 

 Irises and Starry Night by Van Gogh. Just classics. 

 Okay, so Renoir made the list three times. I'm really not showing favoritism, but the lighting in this next painting is remarkable. Seriously. Also, I am pretty sure he was sexist. Have you realized that men are always turned away or not in the picture at all? Suspicious. Without further ado, this is Le Moulin de la Galette which depicts a nice Sunday afternoon. I wish my Sunday afternoons looked like this much fun!

The Scream. Let's face it. If you have nightmares tonight, this will be there. I hate this painting. It is beyond disturbing. I do like the meaning it has though. Munch wanted to show an overwhelming sense of anxiety. This is an external conveyance of internal feelings. The whole painting rather than just the person is a scream. I know I have felt like this before, so I can connect with it... I would rather keep it internal though. 

The Empire Light by Magritte. Weird lighting, but I just love it. You don't always have to follow the rules. 

 The Milkmaid by Vermeer shows that simplicity is beautiful too. 

New York Movie shows that one can feel alone surrounded by tons of people.  

 Georgia O'Keefe... I never really liked her before because she was Mrs. Demmick's favorite. Well, I got past that and realized how beautiful her paintings are (before she went to New Mexico that is). They remind me of some photos I have taken from Thanksgiving Point. She said she wanted the busy New Yorkers to see flowers the way she saw them. 

The last artist we learned about was Pollock. I would not necessarily like his work in my house, but I like the meaning behind it. He said rather than just painting an object, he liked the idea of expressing how he felt. A technique is just a means of arriving at a statement. Now, look at this and tell me you have not felt like this at some point in time... 

So, these were the ones that stood out to me the most. I hope you can enjoy them as much as I did. Don't ask yourself if you would want it. Ask yourself if you can look at it and enjoy/connect with/ understand it.