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"La stanza rossa" di Henri Matisse

La stanza rossa o Armonia in rosso è un olio su tela realizzato da H. Matisse, uno dei principali esponenti dei Fauves, nel 1908 ed è conservato nel Museo dell’Ermitage a San Pietroburgo. Il pittore nel dipinto raffigura la sala da pranzo di un’abitazione borghese con una tavola imbandita e, al lato sinistro del tavolo, una sedia impagliata davanti ad una finestra (o un quadro?) che fa da cornice al paesaggio esterno caratterizzato da un giardino verde con alberi in fiore ed un’abitazione di colore rosa in lontananza. L’orizzonte è molto alto e separa il poco cielo blu. La donna raffigurata a destra del dipinto, probabilmente una domestica, sistema della frutta all’interno di un’alzata posta sul tavolo. Lo stile utilizzato per la realizzazione dell’opera rispecchia alcuni canoni del movimento dei Fauves. La mancanza di un centro focale sul quale soffermare lo sguardo, l’assenza di linee di contorno ben definite e dei piani verticali e orizzontali, sono solo alcuni elementi che stanno

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"Sera nel corso Karl Johan" di E. Munch

Sera nel corso Karl Johan è un olio su tela realizzato nel 1892 da E. Munch. Il dipinto del pittore norvegese fa parte della serie di quadri incentrati sulla “paura di vivere” e viene esposta per la prima volta a Berlino nel 1902 con il titolo Strada suscitando numerose critiche. L'opera rappresenta una passeggiata serale sulla via principale di Cristania, l’attuale Oslo, Karl Johan Street ed è divisa in tre aree di colore: i frontali delle case e del Parlamento, le figure nere in corteo e il cielo blu scuro sullo sfondo. Sulla sinistra, la folla è caratterizzata da figure vestite di nero con facce bianche cadaveriche che procedono in modo meccanico come automi o zombi inarrestabili verso l’osservatore. La folla di persone è una sorta di corteo rappresentativo della società borghese, uomini col cilindro e donne con eleganti cappellini, tutti con gli occhi sbarrati e i visi informi e contratti in una fissità inquietante. I volti delle figure sono ridotti a maschere, elemento sotto

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Henri Bergson: il pensiero

Henri Bergson è considerato uno dei maggiori esponenti dello Spiritualismo, una corrente filosofica antipositivista che privilegia come strumento di indagine la coscienza ed insiste sul primato dello spirito (inteso come divenire) rispetto alla materia. Una delle teorie più originali del filosofo francese è la distinzione tra il tempo della scienza e il tempo della vita (durata). Il tempo della scienza è costituito da istanti che si differenziano quantitativamente; esso è: definito in base a momenti distinti l'uno dall'altro: reversibile in quanto un esperimento può essere ripetuto più volte; astratto, esteriore e spazializzato; paragonato dal filosofo con una collana di perle. Il tempo della vita, paragonato ad un gomitolo di lana, è irreversibile poiché è costituito da momenti irripetibili che si compenetrano e si sommano. Esso è qualcosa di concreto e di interiore, e si identifica con la durata. Mentre il tempo della scienza è una costruzione formale di tipo fisico-matematic

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The Industrial revolution and its consequences

The new ideas of freedom for the individual gave rise to the philosophy of economic liberalism. In the 18th century, economic liberalism took a new meaning: it meant free trade and unrestrained economic activity summed up in the expression “let do”. This concept was illustrated by Adam Smith in his work The wealth of nations . He said the basis of a nation’s wealth is the work of its population, which must be left free to act as it wishes. The Industrial Revolution took place in England from 1760 to 1840. It was a process of change from an handicraft economy to an industrial and manufacturing economy. In fact, the agricultural revolution was an essential prerequisite of the Industrial Revolution: with a remarkable increase in agricultural productivity and a growing availability of primary products, the labour force moved from agriculture to industry. Fundamental to the Industrial Revolution were some technical innovations: the use of new materials like iron and steel as a result of the

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"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel T. Coleridge

Introduction The Rime of the Ancient Mariner , written by Samuel T. Coleridge , is a ballad typically Romantic in that it has analogues with other tales in folklore and ballads. It may be defined as a mixture of Gothic romance, travel literature which supplies the exotic, and traditional ballad. This poem is full of important themes that are still contemporary like the love for nature, the respect of the environment. For its modernity, the British heavy metal band Iron Maiden pays homage to Coleridge by writing Rime of Ancient Mariner , a song contained in the album Powerslave inspired by the poet's poem. The poem is divided into seven parts and the plot is summed up in following lines. The story An old Mariner meets three guests going to a wedding. He stops them and, through his “glittering eye”, obliges them to listen to his tale. The Mariner tells them how the ship he sailed in, once it had crossed the Equator, was driven by storms towards the South Pole. Suddenly, an albatross

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Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born in the London Borough of Stoke Newington in 1660 into a Puritan family. His father, James Foe, was a member of the butcher society, but a candle merchant; Daniel changed his surname from "Foe" to the more aristocratic "Defoe" around 1703, going so far as to claim on a few occasions to be a descendant of the De Beau Faux family. He received a practical education in accordance with Puritan values in Newton Green Academy. In 1692 Defoe went bankrupt, paying for the economic disaster even with prison. He managed to revive his financial condition with disparate activities: a brick factory, a consulting service for the government, and some publications as an essayist. Defoe's essays, of a political and economic nature, contained cutting-edge recommendations: they suggested, among other things, the creation of a central bank (which became a reality in 1694), a pension system, insurance companies, and new bankruptcy laws. After the death of William

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Tema sui cambiamenti e sulla circolazione delle idee nel Settecento

Nell’Europa del Seicento la rivoluzione scientifica consentì un grande sviluppo delle conoscenze umane che nel Settecento determinò, successivamente, la nascita di un movimento di idee: l’Illuminismo. L’illuminismo e la rivoluzione scientifica determinarono, poi, la base del moderno progresso civile, economico e sociale. Questo processo iniziò con il padre del Razionalismo Galileo Galilei, il quale elaborò il metodo scientifico basato sulla verifica sperimentale delle ipotesi fatte dallo scienziato. Galileo rappresenta lo studioso che riconduce i fenomeni naturali a una serie di dati quantificabili, al fine di elaborare le leggi che li regolano. La mentalità razionale nata dalla rivoluzione scientifica ha avuto riflessi importantissimi anche sugli studi relativi al comportamento dell’uomo ed alle sue idee. Questo nuovo aspetto ha condotto l’uomo ad accrescere la sua fiducia nel potere della ragione, elemento che caratterizzerà l’Illuminismo. Questa corrente letteraria si impegnò partic

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The rise of the novel

The 18th century novels reflect objects, language, values and situations of the 18 century. This genre has as main characteristics the need for realism, abundance of realistic details, chronological sequence of events, the novelty of the stories in order to answer the demand by the middle class, relating ordinary experiences. In some novels, the characters were recognizable as people belonging to the middle class. For example, Robinson, the main character of Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe , is a middle class hero full of enterprise and commercial wisdom. Moreover, we can see in novels a lot of ideals of bourgeoisie such as the faith in God’s favour, temperance, economy, sobriety and modesty. The novel’s realism is shown in two elements: time and place. For example, in Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe records his hero’s experiences from year to year, day to day, and the author concerns space as a geographical entity with the names of real seas, ships and harbours. In 18th century

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The Augustan Age (summary)

The first half of the 18th century is referred to as the Augustan Age . The British ruling class looked upon themselves as the true heirs of the Roman empire as an empire that was comparable with the Roman Empire (see British Empire ). For this reason, classical outlook and imperial pretensions of ancient Rome under the Emperor Augustus were resumed. Neoclassicism spread in all cultural sectors and became a way of life. The Augustan artists shared a belief in reason as capable of imposing some order on an otherwise chaotic world. In philosophy, David Hume is the leader of Scepticism: this rational tendency is also apparent in the analysis of religion conducted by the Deists, a group of thinkers who rejected the revealed religion in favour of natural religion . Upper-class women came to achieve a central role. In their literary salons, women took part in the political, social and literary debates. The middle class had been important after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 at the point

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Ausmerzen - lo spettacolo teatrale di Marco Paolini che ricorda in modo inedito il Giorno della Memoria

Il 26 gennaio 2011 il drammaturgo e scrittore Marco Paolini rappresentò nell’ex ospedale psichiatrico Paolo Pini di Milano il suo spettacolo Ausmerzen . “Ausmerzen” è una parola di origine contadina e significa “sopprimere”; infatti a marzo, prima della transumanza, i contadini sopprimono gli animali più deboli, quelli che rimangono sempre indietro rispetto al resto del gruppo. Ispirandosi a questa usanza, la Germania nazista decise di sopprimere 8 milioni di persone perché erano ritenute “deboli” e che “pesavano sulle casse dello Stato”. In questo racconto teatrale, Paolini non si è soffermato su quanto accaduto nei campi di concentramento, ma su quanto li ha preceduti: Aktion T4 . Questo è il nome del programma nazista che dal 1933 al 1946 autorizzò prima la sterilizzazione e poi l’eutanasia di persone affette da disabilità fisiche o intellettive, al fine di preservare la sanità e l’integrità del buon sangue tedesco e la razza ariana; infatti, questo programma si basava sugli studi d

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Chitarra e programma. Statue d'epouvante

Georges Braque (Argenteuil, 13 maggio 1882 – Parigi, 31 agosto 1963) è stato un pittore e scultore francese, che assieme a Pablo Picasso è stato l'iniziatore del cubismo. Dopo aver trascorso l’infanzia e la giovinezza a Le Havre, Braque si trasferì a Parigi, dove fu apprendista presso un maestro decoratore ed ottenne l'abilitazione nel 1901. Dopo essersi formato all'École des Beaux-Arts di Parigi e subendo l'influenza dell'opera di Henri Matisse, cominciò a dipingere alla maniera dei Fauves, ricorrendo all'uso di colori brillanti e sfruttando la libertà della composizione: fanno parte di questo periodo opere quali Paysage à l'Estaque (1906). Il 1907 fu un anno determinante nella formazione dell'artista che visitò la retrospettiva su Paul Cézanne presentata in occasione del “Salon d'automne”, venne in contatto con Picasso, il quale era impegnato nella realizzazione di Les demoiselles d'Avignon e cominciò a nutrire un considerevole interesse per l&

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Similarities and differences between “The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by R.L.Stevenson and “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley

In 1886 Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) wrote The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , one of the most important psychological realism and crime novels in English literature. This novel talks about Henry Jekyll, a highly- reputed scientist who is obsessed with the idea that man’s evil tendencies can be separated by man’s good side, giving birth to two human beings: one wholly good and one wholly bad. Discovering a drag that causes this division, he takes it and finds that it turns him into a new person, Mr Edward Hyde, who is physically deformed and has an evil nature. With time, Hyde’s evil nature grows to the point that he commits murder and is ready to do more. Jekyll is frightened by this and tries to rid himself of Hyde forever, but finds that he has lost control over him. So, seeing he has no way out of this situation, Jekyll kills himself, leaving a long letter in which he explains his case. The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde treats one of the greatest modern m

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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in 1812. When he was ten the family moved to London where attended regular schooling until 1824. When his father was sent to a debtor’s prison, Dickens was forced to work in a factory at the age of 12. Prison, the poor quarters of London, the life in the city streets and the other boys working at the factory remained in his mind and influenced his novels. At the age of fourteen he worked as a clerk in a legal office and he also began to write for the comic newspapers and entered serious journalism. He adopted the pen name “Boz” and in 1836 two series of Sketches by Boz , short articles describing London people and scenes, were published. He wrote his first novel The Pickwick Papers relating the adventures of a group of eccentric people travelling on the English roads, where the comic and picaresque elements are mixed. Between 1836 and 1837 he achieved great success in Britain and in the US thanks to the publication of The Pickwick papers . The 18

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"In vedetta" o "Il muro bianco" di G. Fattori

Giovanni Fattori (Livorno, 6 settembre 1825 – Firenze, 30 agosto 1908) è considerato il maggior esponente dei Macchiaioli . Egli partecipò alle battaglie risorgimentali e tra il 1859 e il 1862 realizzò il suo primo quadro di soggetto risorgimentale Il campo italiano dopo la battaglia di Magenta . Fattori, entrando in contatto con i Macchiaioli, semplificò la sua pittura per giungere a quell'effetto di macchia che caratterizza il suddetto gruppo di artisti. I suoi primi quadri presentano soggetti storici nella più pura tradizione romantica. Essi sono trattati senza nessuna concessione eroica o aulica, presentando in maniera impietosa la realtà cruda di uno scontro militare: quello dei tanti uomini che restano feriti e che vengono raccolti da un carro guidato da monache. Nei suoi dipinti ricorrono i soggetti militari (battaglie o soldati) e il paesaggio, in particolare la maremma toscana. Uno dei quadri più importanti della sua produzione pittorica è In vedetta o Il muro bia

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William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in the Lake District, an area of supreme natural beauty. After Grammar school, Willian went to St John's College, and left England for a walking tour of France and the Alps. The Parisian environment led him to accept the anarchist and libertarian ideals of many rebellious and anti-monarchist thinkers of the time (for example William Godwin, Mary Shelley ’s father). Inspired by the same ideas, he repudiated not only the Christian faith but also the institution of the family and marriage, weaving relationships with different women, and in particular with Annette Vallon. He fell in love with Annette, who bore him a daughter, Caroline, in 1792. In 1793 Wordsworth openly expressed his political convictions in A Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff , in which he advocated atheism and the revolutionary cause, advocating the execution of Louis XVI of France. However, the affirmation of Robespierre's regime of Terror and, then, the Napoleonic imperialis

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Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born in 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire, a little town in the south of England. She was one of the eight children of the rector of the village George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. In the early years, she was brought up by a wet nurse and her father taught her French and Italian language. In 1783, according to family customs, Jane and her sister Cassandra went to Oxford and later to Southampton, in order to improve their education with Mrs. Ann Cawley. Between 1795 and 1798 she wrote first drafts and versions of novels such as Juvenilia , three collections of novels and parodies, which, with humorous or gothic tones, emulated the literature of the time and entertained the narrow circle of relatives. All the novels, in fact, are dedicated to friends and relatives. In December 1795, Jane Austen met Thomas Langlois Lefroy, the grandson of some of Steventon's neighbors, and they fell in love. The Lefroy family considered Reverend Austen's daughter socially inadequate fo

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Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was born in 1797 in London from two important intellectuals of the time: William Godwin, a radical philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a pioneer feminist who wrote one of the first books on the rights of women, A Vindication of the Rights of Women . Ten days after Mary’s birth, her mother died. So, Mary grew up in an intellectual household with her father’s famous friends and among Godwin’s ideals. Here, in 1814 she met Percy Bysshe Shelley , a poet and an ardent admirer of her father. Percy B. Shelley was an important poet of the Romantic movement and was already married at the time. For this reason, her father was against their relationship and tried to keep the two lovers apart. Therefore, when she found out she was pregnant, they ran off to Europe, but they had to return home due to lack of money. In this period, Mary wrote History of a six weeks: Tour through part of France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland . Once home, though, Shelley had to go into hiding to avoid

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"Ode to the West Wind" by P.B. Shelley

Introduction Ode to the West Wind is one of the most famous lyrics written by Percy Bysshe Shelley , who is considered, together with Lord Byron and John Keats, one of the most important poets belonging to the Second Romantic generation. This poetry was written in 1819 during his stay in Florence and was published together with Prometheus Unbound in 1820. It contains five stanzas and a final couplet that describe the West Wind effects on nature. In this poetry, the West Wind, a natural element, becomes a symbol of the poetic inspiration and of radical change for man and society brought into the world by poetry and the prophetic figure of the poet. Inspired by Pindaro, Orazio and John Dryden, in this lyric Shelley reconciles the Romantic sensitivity and his rebel spirit with some features of the ode, a particular literary genre, in order to express and celebrate human feelings with a high language. The five stanzas and the final couplet transmit sensations and impressions generated by

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Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin in 1854. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, before winning a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. After graduating, Wilde moved to London and during the years 1878-81, he was considered a refined and provocative writer and, through his Oxford connections, was introduced to the upper class. Because of his flamboyant personality he became the leader of the Aesthetic Movemen t, and was invited to the United States for a series of lectures in 1881. Oscar Wilde lived fully during the Victorian Age , so-called for British Queen Victoria, a sovereign who gave Great Britain a long period of stability and prosperity, obviously not without negative aspects. In this period, in fact, the Irish writer acquired the role of external observer of reality, which was characterized by Puritanism, opium trade by India, purity appearances and frequent adulterers. In his comedies, he comments in a sarcastic way the superficial lifestyle of the upper class and the n

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Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1972 into a rich family in Horsham, Sussex. According to family tradition, he went to school at Eton and, then, to Oxford. At Eton he came to regard the tyranny and repression in the outside world and he rebelled against it. At Oxford, Shelley collaborated in writing a pamphlet called The necessity of Atheism (1811), for which he was expelled from the university. In London he married Harriet Westbrook, with whom he will have two children, and they lived together for three years, moving from place to place. During this period, he wrote his first poem Queen Mab (1813), in which he revealed his aversion to institutions and hatred against tyrants, Christian orthodoxy and the conventions of current morality. He collaborated with the radical philosopher William Godwin, whose libertarian ideas were decisive on his cultural formation and imagination as a writer. The first two novels Zastrozzi (1810) and St. Irvyne (1811) show a tendency to the "Gothic&

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Le condizioni lavorative in Italia dagli ultimi anni dell’Ottocento all’entrata in vigore della Costituzione

Inizialmente, l’Italia appariva decisamente arretrata dal punto di vista industriale rispetto agli altri Paesi Europei a causa, da una parte, della frammentazione politica ed economica che bloccava lo sviluppo di un efficiente mercato interno, dall’altra per la carenza di materie prime (ferro e carbone) che erano alla base dei nuovi processi industriali. In particolare, durante il periodo del Risorgimento, il processo di industrializzazione venne condotto principalmente dall'alto e guidato da imprenditori delle regioni settentrionali, con il risultato di aumentare il divario con le regioni meno sviluppate, le quali si trovarono nella condizione di subire la concorrenza delle regioni più avanzate del Nord ed a pagare la pesante pressione fiscale. Dopo l’Unità d’Italia, il quadro economico ed industriale del Paese mutò profondamente; a fini semplificativi è possibile distinguere tre fasi: il ventennio successivo all'Unità (1861-1880), durante il quale, il Paese gettò le basi dell

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