Art as the Best Way to Express Religious Ideas and Values

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Art as the Best Way to Express Religious Ideas and Values

It is very difficult to agree or disagree with this statement because

there are many other good ways to express religion, such as music,

dance and literature. Each of these ways is very different from one

another but I feel inclined to agree with this statement because art

lasts for a long time and because it can portray complex ideas in a

quick and simple way. Also even if people are illiterate or if

languages change then the paintings and issues will still be

understood because of the use of symbols, whereas if they were written

down then thoughts may be lost or misunderstood.

Symbols are used a great deal in religious paintings. We went to the

Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to look at religious paintings that use

symbols to portray different issues and thoughts.

There are many common symbols in these paintings such as doves,

symbolising the Holy Spirit and important people wearing blue or if

they were religious figures not wearing blue then they would have a

gold halo over their heads. Colours are used an awful lot as signs.

Blue means the figure is an important or religious person. Red is a

sign of danger and suffering as it is the colour of blood and this is

what we associate with the suffering of Christ on the cross. White

symbolises purity. Gold is used regularly when depicting heaven

because it shows richness and wealth, which is what people seek in

life and would make them go to heaven.

In the painting by Montagna entitled "Madonna and Child" Mary is

clothed completely in blue apart from a thin strip of material of

white material. The child is naked and is holding a goldfinch. The

finch is symbolic because a bird was supposed to have plucked a thorn

from Jesus' head; this species of bird has been used as a symbol

because the red spot on his head is supposed to be where Jesus' blood

fell on him.

"The Adoration of the Shepherd's" is a nativity scene, though not what

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