I just saw this post.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Art
LouvrePigeon — 7 months ago(August 28, 2025 03:20 AM)
I just saw this post.
Why are paintings seen as being a different medium from movies? I mean they both tell a story visually.
Its making me wonder because when I went to The Louvre and saw The Rape of the Sabine Women I felt right away that the scene was talking about a major histoircal event without even knowing the background behind that painting. ANd same with so many other arts in the Louvre. Like for example II guessed a lot of the Mona Lisa woman's personality jsut by looking at it afor a few minutes and surprisingly I got a lot of it spot on when comparing what Wikipedia said about eh woman Leonardo based it on!
So I'm wondering if paintings used to not be seen as just still 2D images made out of colored liquids but were seen as a storytelling medium in the distant past? Esp after reading that above comment and how it reminded me of my experiences with Mona Lisa and the rest of the Louvre esp The Rape of the Sabine Women? -
Paul P. Powell — 7 months ago(August 28, 2025 04:05 AM)
They are different in many fundamental ways but yes you are largely correct. In many instances paintings, were deployed as a narrative medium.
It makes perfect sense in epochs when the populace was illiterate.
So …- Cavemen painted stories of thrilling hunts on the ceilings of Lascaux & Altamira.
And in the dark ages you had: - Medieval tryptchs (enamel panels which often hang above the altar in churches).
In the Renaissance there was: - The paintings of quattrocento artist, Hieronymus Bosch
('Garden of Earthly Delights' frex –you've probably seen it some time or other )
the famous 'chain of fools'. This too is a case where the viewer's eye must follow a trail of detail from one end of the canvas to the other. - But the most powerful example I've ever seen is in the cathedrals of the Roman campagna district. Tuscany country. It is eye-popping and jaw-dropping. I literally stopped dead in my tracks as if someone had thumped me on the back with a Louisvile slugger, I was that stunned when I glanced around the walls. I cant do it justice here in this reply but you're surrounded by life-size paintings of renaissance citizens exactly at eye-level to your own height. Get what I mean? It's as if you've suddenly stepped back into a throng of dead souls. Famous saints; famous sinners. It's like being in a holograph; the churchmen used the walls of the church to relate Biblical tales.
- Not to even bother mentioning other works like the Sistine Ceiling or the Parthenon friezes.
Anyway so yeah you're certainly correct in your guess.
However –in other regard to areas such as optics or angles –film and painting can be drastically at odds.
That's muh lecture for this evening. Thanks for raising such an interesting question.
Paul P. Powell, Pool Player
- Cavemen painted stories of thrilling hunts on the ceilings of Lascaux & Altamira.