Light in Art

Symbolic Light

• One of the beauties of light as a tool in painting is the way it can be used to build up symbolism.
• Shimmering gold paint and gold leaf was a popular method for highlighting holy symbols.
• ==Gold intensively reflected light, and by layering different light effects, early artists were able to create works that were thick with symbolic meaning.==

Shape and Space

• ==Light is essential when artists wish to build a sense of perspective.==
• ==Light and shadow lend a painting depth and without this, work would feel incomplete.==
• Leonardo Da Vinci was one of the first artists who scientifically study the properties of light during the Renaissance.
  • He observed and recorded the effect of different light levels on objects and the effect that distance has on how light and shadow is perceived in landscapes.
  • He used his findings to create perspective and space in his art.
  • “Sfumato” is a particular technique that has been attributed to Da Vinci and features in some of his most famous works.
  • The word roughly translates to ‘to evaporate like smoke’ and was an effect that involved smudging the borders between objects to create a feeling of focus and lack of focus.

Creating Emotion and Drama

• In addition to making objects visible, light has an amazing ability to provoke certain emotions in humans.
• ==Light levels can directly influence our mood and the sense of atmosphere in a space.==
• Caravaggio was one of the most famous artists to use light in an extreme way.
  • He is known for including one light source in his paintings.
  • He used it to create a sense of volume and mass, to give the characters in his work a solid and often unsettling presence.
• Georges de La Tour was another master of light to create emotions and drama.

Light as a Subject

• ==The first painting tradition that began to use light as a subject in its own right was during the 17th century, the Age of Enlightenment.==

• ==At this time, new scientific explorations into colors and light changed the way that artists used light in their art.==

• Artist like Johannes Vermeer began to give light a key role in their paintings. In many works of this time, the light speaks.

• In his still life works Heda is famous for, the light gives the objects their form and purpose.

  • Our eye is almost completely led by the direction of the light.

• ==For the Impressionists in the 19th century, light took on a different but similarly central role.==

  • ==This was the period in which many painters went outdoors and into nature to find inspiration.==
  • ==As a result, we see a rise in diffuse light sources that mimic natural light.==
  • ==Painters begin to focus more on the way in which sunlight affects a scene or a landscape.==

• Claude Monet is perhaps the best-known Impressionist in his use of light and color.

  • In many of his works, he uses water to make light a key feature in his paintings.
  • He explores reflections in the water, showing shapes to the viewer through

  their reflected image

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