Water In Art Has Different Meanings In Civilization And Among Artists

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Here is an interesting link from a university. The subject is “Water in Art”.

In the Impressionist Period, artists spent hours painting water. As the light changed during the day, so did the reflections and colors in the water. Van Gogh spent hours, all day, with his canvas and brushes, painting and repainting the changing colors of the water at the seaside. During this period in art history, the Impressionists looked at painting water in a scientific way, as they worked at learning how to blend colors to illuminate the picture, as a reflective effect.

At that time, this was not the standard teaching in art schools. Art schools preferred to teach the same methods of the past to art students. They looked at the Impressionist painters as the “hippies” of that period and didn’t take them seriously. Art schools looked at these “renagades” as going down an unsuccessful path.

Even the subject of “water” can hold different meanings among artists. Water can be viewed scientifically or purely asthetic.  Civilizations have always looked at water as “life-giving”.  It is always important for artists to be able to express their ideas. This allows people to see there is always a new way of looking at things. Water is a popular subject because it can be very interesting artistically, scientifically, and so important to life in general.