Why are there many works showing naked human bodies in western oil painting art?

Friends who like oil painting art can easily find that there are many works showing naked human bodies in a large number of western classic oil paintings handed down from generation to generation. Many of them are masterpieces of world famous oil painters. For example, Rita and Swan by Leonardo da Vinci, Genesis by Michelangelo, Three Beauties by Raphael, Sleeping Venus by giorgione, Pastoral Ensemble by Titian, Adam and Eve by Diu Lei, Earth and Water by Rubens, Nada by Rembrandt and venus at her mirror by Velazquez.

Frankly speaking, works of art with naked human bodies seem to be out of tune with our real life and aesthetic habits, and are rarely seen in oriental paintings. People can't help asking: Why are there so many naked works of art in western oil paintings? The author tries to analyze and thinks that there are three main reasons:

First, historical and cultural reasons

We say that any art has its historical background and cultural soil, and so does western human body art, including human body oil painting.

As early as 2500 years ago in ancient Greece and Rome, there was a cultural custom of worshipping the human body in the West. At that time, people thought that the beauty of the human body was the most beautiful existence in the world and the best gift from the creator to mankind. And think that the gods in the sky look like people and bodies. Therefore, craftsmen and artists use jade, marble and other stones to carve male bodies with masculine and heroic characteristics and female bodies with feminine and graceful characteristics into statues for people to worship and appreciate, such as The Pie Thrower, The Broken Arm Venus, The Athlete Wipes Sweat, and laocoon, which are considered as the earliest human body sculpture art in the West.

From the 4th century to13rd century, it was called "the long and dark middle ages" by western historians. During this period, feudal religious theocracy ruled, and western culture and art were silent or even broken. /kloc-In the 4th century, under the influence of many factors, the West launched the Renaissance movement with the slogan of reviving ancient Greek and Roman culture and art, with the aim of opposing the imprisonment of religious theology and advocating the liberation of human nature. The repressed artists use culture and art, including painting, to express the normal desire of human nature, people's pursuit of a better life, and people are the masters of the world and their thoughts and feelings.

At that time, oil painting materials had just been successfully developed. How to use this new painting material to better express the theme of "Renaissance"? In view of the background that religious theocracy was still dominant at that time, painters took ancient Greek and Roman myths and legends and biblical stories as themes, took ancient Greek and Roman human sculptures as models, carefully studied and explored scientific and rigorous oil painting techniques, and created a large number of realistic human oil paintings, which were widely welcomed by people. During this period, many human body oil paintings were preserved and handed down, becoming the classics in the world famous paintings.

The Renaissance, which lasted for more than 200 years from 14 to 16, became a milestone in opening modern western civilization. During this period, the western painting art, especially the human body painting art, got unprecedented development, not only created a large number of works, but also formed a systematic theoretical system. After the Renaissance, the art of human body oil painting was included in the art teaching courses of the Western National Academy of Fine Arts. In the19th century, human body oil painting was further secularized and became a common form and theme of western oil painting, which was generally accepted by the people and regarded as a cultural phenomenon in the west.

Second, the reality and market reasons

Objectively speaking, the development of western body oil painting is not smooth sailing, and there are many obstacles at the beginning. For example, to suppress the restrictions of the church and eliminate disputes among the people. /kloc-Velasquez, a Spanish painting master in the 0/7th century, painted thousands of paintings in his life, but he only painted a human oil painting (venus at her mirror), which is still sheltered by the king and is not allowed to show to his grandfather. But it goes without saying, because, first, human body oil painting really perfectly shows the beauty of the human body, which is irreplaceable and charming, and many people can't refuse it; Secondly, people are generally curious about the real human body. This is an important factor for the survival and development of human body oil painting in the West. Another important factor is that there is a market for human body oil painting.

The so-called "the world is full of benefits, and the world is full of benefits." Painters who paint also have to dress, eat and support their families. Many times, painters paint to survive and live. /kloc-Many body oil paintings from the 0/4th century to the 0/9th century were customized by royalty, dignitaries and painters. For example, many body oil paintings in the Italian Renaissance were customized by medici family, a big consortium at that time. French/KLOC-Angel, the master of human body oil painting in the 0 ~ (th) century, customized The Maid in Palace by Princess Caroline of Naples, the sister of King Napoleon. Wait a minute. Because some people like it and the price is high, many painters are eager to create human oil paintings.

Third, the reasons for painting techniques and styles

It is generally believed in the industry that figure painting is the most difficult to describe among various objects depicted in oil painting. Because people's facial features and body structure are more complex, and people are vivid and have rich and varied action expressions, people are the most familiar. In figure painting, figure painting is the most difficult, especially female figure painting, from dignified, beautiful, gentle and charming smile to rhythmic body curve, which is beautiful, but more difficult to describe.

Therefore, painters and calligraphers generally regard figure painting, portrait painting and figure painting as an indispensable "compulsory course" and "hard training" to improve the figurative ability of painting modeling and show the style of painting techniques. Angel said: A painter who can't draw human body oil painting well is not a real painter. Based on this understanding, human body oil painting has become a painting theme that western painters are committed to pursuing and willing to express.

To sum up, due to historical reasons, cultural reasons, practical reasons, market reasons, and oil painting techniques and styles, there are many nude works in western oil paintings.