My Kid Could Paint That

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787

By ISABEL THOMAS

The gray-haired man bears off-white clothing that mirrors his attempted piety. Despite the harshness of his dark cell, a light reminiscent of Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew engulfs the philosopher and his students. As the man reaches for the hemlock and seals his fate, his wife waves goodbye and exits the room, bringing depth to the painting. The man, Socrates, frees himself from earthly pain and rigid Athenian law by choosing death, and the unlocked shackle below his feet captures his liberation. With the exception of Plato and Crito, Socrates’ followers act hysterical, but their teacher is in complete control, emulating the painting’s severe lines. Only the clothing on Socrates and his pupils escapes the dim gray cell, and each man’s robe has a color as individual as his school of thought. In this painting, The Death of Socrates, David creates a technical masterpiece with realistic emotion, accurate anatomy, and perfect drapery. In this work – neoclassical in both subject and style – David calls upon the past to incite revolution.

Socrates claimed a personal connection to the gods through his Daimon, or messenger angel. The Athenian court saw this as an unlawful introduction of deities and charged Socrates with heresy as well as corruption of his young students. In David’s painting, Socrates points to the sky as he reaches for the hemlock. With these two final actions, the philosopher ends his life in complete control. Socrates used death as a message of strength for his students, and David sought the same effect amidst the instability of 1787 France.

Like in his famous Oath of the Horatii, David pictures a man choosing to die for allegiance to a concept in The Death of Socrates. Prominent political and artistic figures alike praised the strength of this painting. David revived the story of Socrates as a challenge to the French people to maintain their convictions and revolutionary spirit. The Death of Socrates conveys David’s belief that the fight for liberty exceeds all sacrifice, including death.

The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David, 1787

“We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory.” 

Milan Kundera published The Book Of Laughter and Forgetting in 1978. The novel, which tells the story of multiple people in seven integrated parts, provides a new approach to life. Kundera, born in the Czech Republic, became a writer in the midst of communist invasions and life-altering events such as the Prague Spring. Because of his experiences with government and the course of  history in his country, his writing crackles with historical information and political irony. The common line in Kundera’s works goes beneath the surface of examination to explore the unknown aspects of life and to challenge conventional thoughts on topics that seem otherwise mundane. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting explores the burdens of the lives of six people. Kundera says, “We must never allow the future to collapse under the burden of memory.” Aside from the obvious message to progress with life and let memories be in favor of creating a future, Kundera personalizes memory. He gives memory agency.

In Jacques-Louis David’s The Death of Socrates memory must give way to the future. As the story goes, Socrates was put on trial for his political philosophies in the wake Peloponnesian War and the Athenian decline in the face of Spartan power. In addition to his near technical perfection in The Death of Socrates, David creates a story as heartbreaking as it is brave. Socrates, who would rather poison himself than rescind his beliefs, displays unparalleled bravery that consumes the foreground of the painting. While bravery claims the foreground of the painting, heartbreak and memory fill the background. Socrates wife, escorted up the stairs by two men, waves goodbye to her beloved. As Socrates’ followers lament the coming death of their mentor he moves into the realm of memory that Kundera speaks of. The burden of memory similarly consumes thoughts of the future.

While these memories seem to be all that remains of Socrates, and of the times and people of the past, we must move on. The future cannot collapse under the burden of memories.