Laocoön And His Sons: Art Analysis
When analyzing art, one must understand three things: how it is made, what it is showing, and how the two create meaning. By fully understanding these things, a deeper appreciation for the artwork can be formed. How can someone know what to look for when analyzing art? Certain components like lines, colors, light, scale, and movement are a few among many to be aware of. Knowing the history of the artwork and/or the artist can hint to the meaning as well. One work of art, Laocoön and His Sons, once analyzed reveals its meaning. Paying careful attention to the various elements of art and understanding the history behind sculpture point to its significance and value. This detailed and realistic statue of a struggle for life shows how difficult
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On this display, a 360º view was available, so getting numerous angles was extremely easy. As I was circling around, I distinctly noticed how different the art looked based on what position I was looking. From some points of view, the faces of the three figures could not be seen at all, where from others the anguish was quite clear. If someone were to only have one viewpoint, they might completely misinterpret the story that is being conveyed. Along with the direction from where someone is looking, lighting played an important role into how differently the statue could look. There was an overhead light shining down on the face of the central figure, Laocoön, which casted shadows on the two other figures. As the perspective changes, the way the light and shadow appear also change. This makes the appearance of the statue look differently. Looking at the work from the left side in the front the light accentuates the face and showed agony of the face. Whereas the face of one son is concealed and the other is shadowed slightly. From the right side in the front, the face of Laocoön is halfway shadowed and one figure is completely turned away where the face of the third is dim. Looking straightforward at the sculpture, the central figure’s face is not very distinguishable.
On this display, a 360º view was available, so getting numerous angles was extremely easy. As I was circling around, I distinctly noticed how different the art looked based on what position I was looking. From some points of view, the faces of the three figures could not be seen at all, where from others the anguish was quite clear. If someone were to only have one viewpoint, they might completely misinterpret the story that is being conveyed. Along with the direction from where someone is looking, lighting played an important role into how differently the statue could look. There was an overhead light shining down on the face of the central figure, Laocoön, which casted shadows on the two other figures. As the perspective changes, the way the light and shadow appear also change. This makes the appearance of the statue look differently. Looking at the work from the left side in the front the light accentuates the face and showed agony of the face. Whereas the face of one son is concealed and the other is shadowed slightly. From the right side in the front, the face of Laocoön is halfway shadowed and one figure is completely turned away where the face of the third is dim. Looking straightforward at the sculpture, the central figure’s face is not very distinguishable.