Gallery Report: The Death of Socrates

GALLERY REPORT
Student's Name
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Instructor's Name
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The Death of Socrates
Jacques Louis David (French politician and painter)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Accession number: 31.45
On view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 601
GALLERY REPORT
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, famously known as The Met, is home to thousands of historical artworks and artifacts worldwide. One fascinating artwork that caught my eye was that of The Death of Socrates. Socrates was a powerful speaker and tutor in ancient Athens, and his presence was greeted with trepidation. Socrates was blamed for corrupting the youth and ignoring the gods, according to Plato's works (Silverman, 2010). When offered the option of renouncing his beliefs or dying by consuming hemlock, Socrates chose death. Jacques Louis David, a French poet, painted The Death of Socrates in 1787. In this discussion, we will closely analyze and describe the visual elements of The Death of Socrates.
The first thing that caught my eye in the painting is Socrates, who is in the center of the bed surrounded by other people. The horizontal line of light in the upper right caught my attention.  This line pulls the viewer's gaze through the painting, allowing them to see more of Socrates' disciples and friends in agony. The men's facial features and the combination between light and dark color show a distinct emotion of anguish and disbelief in the drawing. Since Socrates is much lighter than the other men in the painting and is wearing a white robe, he draws attention to him. He is looking headstrong and courageous. His finger is raised in the air as though he is teaching. The other people in the painting are very emotional. It seems like they are that cursing the sky and are very upset. Socrates is reaching for a ...