9BICOL UNIVERSITY

College of Industrial Technology

CIVIL TECHNOLOGY/ INDUSTRIAL DESIGN DEPARTMENT
East Campus, Legazpi City

ID1 VISUAL PERCEPTION

Lesson 2: ART CRITICISM ESSAY

Name: Christian Gerard C. Araña Program: Bachelor in Industrial Design Year/ Block: BID 1A-2

1. STARRY NIGHT by Vincent Van Gogh

The painting conveys Van Gogh’s perspective of his homeland in

France, he expressed his love for moons and stars but he also
expressed his deteriorating mental state with the use of dark
colors of the background. I personally felt that the painting gave
me peace and sadness, He made use of symbols like the cypress
tree to symbolize death. As a man who attempted suicide
during his stay in the hospital in Saint-Rémy, Van Gogh was
naturally attracted to this symbol.
Van Gogh made use of think paintbrushes and palette knives to
create thick and short lines to create figures like the terrain and sky, he achieved a much more abstract
look of his painting by making use of implied lines, he used brighter colors to give the lines depth, and
direction to give figures forms for the viewers to see them.Since the painting is about what he sees in his
surroundings, he made use of organic lines which are lines that are curved and loose like those what we
see in nature in which the painting consists of curved lines. The painting’s view is based on Van Gogh’s
FOV or first person view in a far horizontal perspective to capture the full view of the scenery.

2. THE SPOLIARIUM by Juan Luna

The painting features a glimpse of Roman history centered on
the bloody carnage brought by gladiatorial matches. Juan Luna
specifically named his painting “Spoliarium” which derived from
the Latin word basement of the Roman Colosseum where the
fallen and dying gladiators are dumped and devoid of their
worldly possessions as seen in the painting . The painting
expressed grief of loss based on the body position, and facial
expressions of the people who are watching as their loved ones
and other dead people get dumped along with their
possessions. Juan Luna used pencils to sketch the figures in the painting and created thin lines to shape
the figures as realistically as possible, as well as varying lines to create the background and the subjects.
He then used thin paint brushes to carefully paint the small details in the painting, by using applied lines
he was able to show a realistic scenery of what it’s like to be in the painting. He made use of geometric,
organic, and hatch/cross-hatching lines to show emphasis and depth on the figures and background in
which the painting consists of vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and curved lines. The POV used here is
located south-east side to capture as many of the people as possible to create a crowded look to give the
painting a panic feeling, same with the people who grief their loved ones' loss.

Course Instructor: ANGEL KRIS N. MAYOR

Course Instructor: ANGEL KRIS N. MAYOR