TheCultural Activity Report
On 8th June 2016, together with my few classmates, we tookthe opportunity to engage in an educative tour around the DallasMuseum to analyze some of the arts. Evidently, it is one of the bestmuseums, and it has some of the classic pieces of art that wereessential in this class. The tour guide took us round the museum andfocused on some of the masterpieces that were in the house since hewanted our trip to be quite memorable as well. TheHarp Lesson byJean Antoine Théodore Giroust, aFrench Artist, was one of the pieces of art that was quiteenlightening. More specifically, the presentation of the art wasamazing, and the image captured all the details that were ofimportant. In fact, it captures a typical French house at the end ofthe 18th century and reveals how important the Hartlessons were. The clarified how at that time, the society looked atwomen as being less important people, but, the French had startedgiving their women to engage in some productive and worthwhileactivities as well. The masterpiece that is dated back to 1842reveals the three women that are busy with the harp lessons and itseems that they are fully engaged. More importantly, the three womeninclude the young daughter to Louis Philippe Joseph de Bourbon,Duc d’Orléans (1747–1793), that is simply having the lesson thatis presented by her governess that is Madame de Genlis. On the otherhand, the young girl’s English companion, Mademoiselle Paméla isalso participating in the lesson. More interesting, is the way thatthe artist presents the image perfectly especially the detaileddresses of the women and the various accessories. In fact, it showedthe how Duc d’Orléans was trying to expose his family to somemodern and public ideologies courtesy of the Enlightenment periodthat was slowly catching up at that time.
The other art that is Oedipus at Colonus by the same artistJean Antoine Théodore Giroust is quite a masterpiece based on theconcepts it captures. The art that was created in 1788 presents adeeper analysis of the play Oedipus at Colonus. Morespecifically, the art shows the blind king Oedipus meeting his sonPolynices that had ensured he went to exile. He is together with hisdaughters Antigone and Ismene that are begging him to reconsider hisdecision to returning to Thebes. The facial expressions and gesturesthat each character depicts capture the message in the art. All that,together with the intense colors helps in portraying the drama aswell.
More importantly, the two pieces of art together with the entiretour, in general, turned out to be an educative mission. I can attestthat I gained quite a lot from the trip, and the tour guide wasinformative and explained some of the main themes associated witheach of the arts in the museum. I believe that the single tour wasnot enough to analyze most of the pieces of art in the museum. Infact, I will plan on another trip to analyze the other pieces of artthat were also amazing, yet I did not have enough time to look atthem. My classmates also turned out to be amazing as they werecooperative and helped in making the tour a success too.