| Creator | Title | Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) | Theme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sculptor: unknown | Winged Victory | One of the great expressions of the Greek Classical and Hellenistic spirit -- that men (and women) are larger than life and triumphant. While the image is partially a fantasy since the woman is winged and probably represents a goddess: Nike -- this concretization depicts a "god" in the form of a human woman, thus glorifying women. |
The grandeur of being alive and free. |
| Painter: Peale, Charles Wilson | Staircase Group (aka Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale) | Perceiving accurately is important and playing with the artistic medium is fun. | |
| Director: Daldry, Stephen | Billy Elliot | Life is dirty but one can clean up. | Go after what you love. |
| Architect: Guarini, Guarino | Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo (Royal Church of St. Lawrence) | The world is perfected. The joy of seeing complexity that is simplicity, i.e., that the rich complex vision arises from simple elements which because of their arrangement provide layers of visual thrills. | Complex, soaring geometric order. |
| Director: Hudson, Hugh | Chariots of Fire | A complete feeling of openness of the world to greatness of your own choosing. | Life is achievement. |
| Sculptor: Buonarotti, Michelangelo | David | Man is a strong, indomitable creature who has the intelligence to overcome terrible odds. | [requires assumption of some context of this work -- not a "cold" introduction to it]: A man able to face a daunting task, with tremulous calm and determination. This is the depiction of the David/Goliath story of the Bible in which David takes on the much more formidable Goliath and wins. |
| Author: Webster, Henry Kitchell | Real Adventure, The | Life is wonderful as long as you realize that life has to be earned the hard way. | Creating your *self* is the only way to live. |
| Miron - Parish | Tzena Tzena Tzena | Joyous celebration | Joyous celebration |
| Author: Steinbeck, John | East of Eden | Life is filled with great and important choices. | The battle between good and evil, guilt and innocence. Takes the position that we are influenced by many things, but ultimately we have free will. |
| Painter: Ghirlandaio, Domenico | Old Man with a Young Boy | Human companionship or family closeness is real. | Quiet familial love. (A grandfather (perhaps) gazing upon a grandson, and vice versa, in a clear moment of happy communion.) |
| Painter: Van Rijn, Rembrandt | Feast of Belshazzar | The only way to know the sense of life or world view of the painting is through it's history, since the image is very mixed. Shows an opulent and sumptuous world, but the people are obviously distressed over something. Assuming one knows its history, you could conclude it is an exercise in depicting the dangers of the worldly pursuits and wealth. | |
| Sculptor: Buonarotti, Michelangelo | Pieta | Resignation in the face of tragedy. | Recognition and acceptance of a great personal loss. |
| Director: Coppola Francis Ford | Godfather | Life demands death; life is a horror of killing and retribution. Life is tragedy and malevolence | Behind beauty and success lies corruption and death. |
| Landscape Designer: Steele, Fletcher | Blue Steps of Naumkeag | elegance and grace | The man-made enhances nature -- it is what makes nature beautiful |
| Composer: Coward, Noel | I'll See You Again | Life is bittersweet | Sweet memories of love last forever |
| Author: Shute, Nevil | Trustee from the Toolroom | A feeling of gentleness, kindness and generosity towards good people in the world. |
The importance of pursuing one's personal values.<br> |
| Architect: Wright, Frank Lloyd | Johnson Wax Building | Day to day life can be exalted and pleasurable. |
To Work should be a condition of grandeur and joy.<br> |
| Rodin, Auguste | Shade, The | Life is a gruesome trial. There is no hope. | The world destroys man. (Some unknown evil force is destroying this young strong man.) Given that the sculpture is titled as a "Shade" and is related to the Group sculpture "Gates of Hell", one can presume the evil is some unnamed condition that can overpower life and cause destruction of the good. |
| Director: McCarey, Leo | Ruggles of Red Gap | Happiness and fulfillment is in yourself. | Personal declaration of independence from servitude |
| Director: De Felitta, Raymond | Two Family House | Feelings of benevolence and optimism about life. Happiness comes from making choices for your own good. | Going after what you want in life; Don't be stopped by conventional standards of the people around you. It takes courage to be selfish. |
| Painter: Mondrian, Piet | Composition with Red Yellow Blue and Black | [Seems mute] | |
| Author: Shute, Nevil | Far Country, The | Life can be bright, happy and successful, but hard decisions must be faced and dealt with. | A good and happy life is made up of self-directed actions, self-chosen goals. A less important theme is: |
| Director: Tran, Anh Hung | The Taste of Things | test test test test |
tentative: the ideal world of physical creation of food shared by soulmates. |
| Shute, Nevil | Landfall | Heroes and Heroines are self-made, by anyone at any level of intelligence who seriously pursues what is important in their lives. |
Truth will triumph -- with perseverance. |
| Sculptor: unknown | Niobe | Human action is beautiful. | Life is movement. |