My Kid Could Paint That

Considered a masterpiece of the Italian Baroque period, Bacchus portrays the young god in an unusual way for the time. Caravaggio takes this unconventional approach to humanize the god by placing him in a comfortable and intimate setting. One of Caravaggio’s earlier works, it shows his interest in naturalism. The god is not shown with heavenly details or divine characteristics. Instead, he is a round-faced, rosy-cheeked, drunken teenager. He holds a strange, shallow wine glass in an extended hand as if to hand it to the viewer. Caravaggio utilizes a dark background comprised of earth tones instead of the traditional landscapes that were used at the time. The darkness contrasts sharply with the cascading white fabric that falls gently on Bacchus. He emphasizes the humanity of Bacchus instead of focusing on sumptuous ornamentation. Caravaggio chooses to add humanizing details to the scene by placing Bacchus in front of a rotting bowl of fruit and giving him dirty fingertips. The bowl of wilting fruit it thought to be a vanitas symbol. It is meant to show the fleetingness of time and futility of life on Earth. The bowl serves as a reminder for the viewer of the endless cycle of death and rebirth. By showing him in an earthly and hospitable form, Caravaggio welcomes the viewer into the scene to join Bacchus for drinks in the informal and warm room.

Caravaggio's use of mirrors and reflections is not immediately obvious in Bacchus. It is speculated that the artist sat in front of a mirror and used himself as the model for Bacchus. Bacchus holds his wine in his left hand in a position that would be hard to hold for someone who was right handed. Caravaggio painting his reflection in a piece of glass is one possible explanation to the mysterious gesture. On close inspection, one can also see Bacchus’s reflection within his glass of wine. Another strange detail of Bacchus is the alleged self-portrait on the glass in the bottom left corner that was not spotted until 1922. Immediately to the right of the circular light smudge is an extremely faint outline of a man. Art historians believe is was once clearly visible but after years of damaging restorations, it has nearly vanished. A layer of paint was added in one restoration which has left the portrait practically invisible to the naked eye. Using a special x-ray type machine, historians were able to see through several layers of paint to get a more clear image of the portrait. Through this technique, they were able to confirm rumors of a secret portrait hiding on the wine glass, but are still unable to be certain that it is of Caravaggio. Caravaggio takes his interest in reflections even further by painting a self portrait of him painting the subject in the reflection of the extended wine glass. However, I personally had a difficult time finding anything on the glass that resembled this. Still full of unanswered questions, Caravaggio’s Bacchus continues to mystify art historians and viewers alike even centuries after its completion.

   

Joan Mitchell, Untitled, 1960

"A Supermarket in Caligfornia"  

By ALLEN GINSBERG

    

     What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I

walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache 

self-conscious looking at the full moon. 

     In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into

the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!

What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families

shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the 

avocados, babies in the tomatoes!—and you, García Lorca, 

what were you doing down by the watermelons? 

     I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, 

poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the 

grocery boys. 

     I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork

chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel? 

     I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following 

you, and followed in my imagination by the store detective. 

     We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier. 

     Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in a hour. 

Which way does your beard point tonight? 

     (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the 

supermarket and feel absurd.) 

     Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add 

shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we’ll both be lonely. 

     Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue 

automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage? 

     Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what 

America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and 

you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat 

disappear on the black waters of Lethe?

Editor's Note: Students were asked to pair a poem and painting with no explanation of the connection. 

Beloved Brother Grant,

I thought I saw you staring back at me when I first saw Vertumnus by Giuseppe Arcimboldi. You and this guy share so many similarities. Obviously, you both are obsessed with healthy eating. I know that when you stare in the mirror you wish you saw Vertumnus in the reflection. You two both love vegetables, and since both of you are comprised of a large percentage of fruits, grains, and vegetables, I knew I wanted you to have this paintings.

His cheeks are even as pink and rosy as yours! I was even more surprised when I saw the date of the work: 1590. In over four centuries, health culture hasn’t changed a bit. Vertumnus was as much of a gym rat and health nut as you! That just proves that guys don’t change. Maybe you two could’ve been bros and hit the gym together and swapped muscle milk recipes. I know things have been rough with Katie gone; I think having a bro like Vertumnus around would make you feel better. You don’t need a girl to be happy. Right now I think you need a friend with the same ideals as you. Every morning you can wake up and look at Vertumnus from your bed and be reminded that you’re not alone and that treating your body healthily will make you feel better than any girl.

There have been guys like you for centuries and they lived happy lives and reproduced. Don’t worry, Vertumnus made it and so can you, and you’re definitely ahead of him in terms of appearances. I hope this painting can give you hope. But please don’t break it like you did with the last piece of art I gave you. This paintings is worth a whole lot more than that mosaic I made for you. If you don’t want it, I would rather you sell it, and I know you need the money to pay for your fifth year of college. Live happy and healthy and everything else will work out, brother. 

Editor's Note: Students were asked to give a painting to someone they cared for. These are their moving responses. 

Besides Adam and Eve, there are several additional elements worthy of note. The angel in red, ironically representing charity, banishes the couple from the garden. The sword in the angel’s hand, in addition to the rays of light emitting from the structure on the left, were originally shiny with oxidized silver, but have since turned black. The structure on the left is more symbolic than realistic. There is no mention of a structure at the exit of Eden in the bible. However, it allowed Masaccio to experiment with perspective and architectural dimension. Additionally, Adam and Eve are nude, despite the bible saying that they had clothed themselves. Despite the discrepancies between the bible and the fresco, the image would still immediately recognized by patrons of the church. While Expulsion from the Garden of Eden shows to a largely illiterate viewership a pivotal story of the Christian faith, the image conveys the same emotion and narrative centuries later.