Artifacts and Theme
Eugene C Barnes III
HUM200
Cultural Artifacts
The first work is the ballet Serenade (1934). Serenade choreography by George Balanchine is a plotless ballet set to Tchaikovsky's score 'Serenade for Strings Op. 48' (1880). Serenade is considered one of George Balanchine's earliest works created on American soil and was created on his students at the School of American Ballet. Although this ballet is currently seen on many stages worldwide, I have decided to review the New York City Ballet's 1990 'Live from Lincoln Center' filming of Serenade.' My second work is Vincent van Gogh's painting 'The Starry Night.' The Starry Night, painted in 1889 while van Gogh was staying at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-
Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
Common Theme
The common themes of both works are darkness, fate, and death. Serenade,
a plotless ballet, has moments in the ballet where the ballet heroine, the Waltz Girl, encounters the "Dark Angel" and another moment where she gazes towards the heavens with her arms open wide. These are some of the few moments in the ballet that resembles the end of someone's life. While van Gogh was experiencing his depression and suicidal thoughts, he started to add darker colors and more religious symbolism, like the sky opening up around the church steeple. Personal Experience
The themes of darkness, fate, and death seem to be the themes of the world. Everywhere I look, there seems to be a new reminder of how dark the world has become. Both artists' work reminds me to look beyond the darkness and the death and search for beauty.
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