Upon viewing the Uffizi Gallery, one work of art that I questioned was Titan’s Venus of Urbino. For starters, as I walked through the entire museum, I saw many of the greatest paintings that I have ever laid eyes on. Which speaks to the value of the artwork held in the gallery because my mother is an artist who has properly educated me on artwork itself. However, due to my excitement, when I found the overwhelming crowd surrounding the painting, I rudely bumped shoulders with many different people, received some questionable glares, and rushed to front of the viewers. Yet, upon finally seeing the masterpiece, I could not help but ask myself, “Why is this painting getting so much attention?” Yes, I do understand it’s history and have read many of the different interpretations of the work, but on a personal level, I did not think it deserved the hype it received. For starters, the colors of the painting are darker and set an eerie mood that Venus is situated in. The only light color on the canvas is Venus’ skin which forces any viewer to, upon first glance, focus on the naked lady laying in a sexual position as if she is waiting for her lover. The sexual emphasis of the illustration gave me goosebumps, in a bad way, like the manner in which someone cringes upon hearing or seeing something that disturbs them. The other work I viewed was Michelangelo’s “Head of Satyr” which is a demonic looking face sculpting that is known as his first well known work. The face has eyes that are vertically slanted which makes it look like an evil cartoon that one of the street artists here in Florence would paint for someone. Additionally, the face is long and narrow, looking as though pressure around the cheeks was applied or as it was stretched out. Another part of it that emphasizes the creepiness of it is the face’s smile, which has a U shape similar to something that a psychopath would have in horror movie. This sculpture made me feel quite uneasy immediately, however, after taking a few minutes I began to appreciate the emotions that it brought out of me. I consider this art to be like that of a scary movie. What I mean by that is it made me feel uneasy, but I couldn’t stop looking at it, as if it were some odd addiction. The Uffizi was by far the most impressive art gallery I have ever had the opportunity to see, the works within it are not only beautiful, but offer great insight into the history of art and culture located here in Italy.
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