The School of Athens - A Symbolic Painting

The School of Athens - Raphael

Art can reflect the culture and structure of societies, particularly The School of Athens by Raphael, by the trend of incorporating realism into the painting though its theme and subjects. The theme of the painting is the big idea of the piece and, because paintings are often planned carefully, is bound to portray something meaningful to the artist. And the things that are the most important to the artist often show what was really one the minds of people at that time period. For instance, in the painting The School of Athens you can notice an extremely prominent theme: Humanism. The artist, Raphael, enraptures a thirst and eagerness for knowledge that is displayed everywhere in the painting. This gives us a glimpse of what society was back in the Renaissance. Judging by the painting, it was mainly revolving around education and advancement. Not only the theme gives us a hint about society, but the subjects included in the painting give a great deal away as well. Again, painters normally ponder the structure and meaning of their painting before beginning the piece and therefore, if it is not a simple portrait or landscape, paint people’s body and face to convey a specific message. If there are multiple people in the painting, their interactions, shown by body language and facial expression, can tell you a lot about society. In The School of Athens, Raphael paints people learning from, debating against and simply ignore one another. Each individual illustrates a point about society in the Renaissance. Similar to the theme and the setting of the painting, these interactions mostly have to do with knowledge and understanding, as the school would not be a place of social life back then. Both the theme of and people in the painting are included in the realism of a painting to convey a society, which is used effectively in The School of Athens by Raphael.

In the painting The School of Athens by Raphael, I would be the statue of Apollo in the wall on the left side of the painting. This god is known for light, sun, truth, prophecy, archery, medicine, the arts and more. He is one of the most important Olympian Deities. This god and I both represent harmony, order and reason. The statue shows Apollo in a slightly feminine manner, which I think I portray as well. He stands on Plato's side of the painting, the side of Natural Philosophy.