The Impact Of Art On Society s Influence On Social...

Some people are advocates of the opinion that art designed to influence social behavior is reprehensible, dirty, nothing more than propaganda, and so on. However, it is impossible to present a complete picture of art if we ignore its function of a social protest; the history of art provides us with many examples. Painting can be an extremely powerful form of protest against inequity, atrocity or inequality. Traditionally, painting is usually supportive of the political needs of old-established order because it is backed up and bought by wealthy people, and thus painting is less willing to engage in social controversies. However, certain artists stand out as exceptions. Among them are two great figures in the history of world painting Thà ©odore Gà ©ricault (1791–1824), one of the French pioneers of the Romantic movement, exposing a great contemporary scandal in â€Å"The Raft of the Medusa†, and an Andalusian-Spanish painter Pablo Picasso (1881–1973), expressing his fury at the bombing of a peaceful town during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in his painting â€Å"Guernica†. Although these two painters differ by origin, style, artistic expression, their works mentioned above have very much in common. Gà ©ricault’s â€Å"The Raft of the Medusa† and Picasso’s â€Å"Guernica† are perhaps the most significant paintings of social protest in our time. Both paintings are based on real tragic events. However, their creators apparently wanted to do more than just depict particular incidents. They both