The Psychological World of the Artist

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“Analyse the psychological world of the artist in relation to their artwork.”

An artist’s psychological world can have a significant impact on their artwork, as is the case with many of the artworks done by artists such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol.

Artemisia Gentileschi’s psychological world was greatly affected by her experiences as a female living in the seventeenth century where she would have faced discrimination and sexual harassment because of her gender, in particular the incident in which she was raped by her drawing teacher, Agostino Tassi, which was made considerably more traumatic by the fact that it was she, the victim, who was made to undergo torture to see if her story remained the same.

Many of her artworks are depictions of scenes from the Bible or mythology, a common theme for artists of that time. However, Gentileschi’s depictions of these scenes are slightly different to those of her male counterparts as she does not depict the women as passive ‘objects.’ This can be seen in the artwork ‘Judith beheading Holofernes’ which features a  Judith who is sawing at Holofernes’ head quite savagely and is not meant to be conventionally attractive. This painting of a strong, brave woman triumphing over a man rather than the other way around, as was the norm for that time could be interpreted as what Gentileschi wished would happen to Tassi after he raped her, and it contrasts with depictions of this scene by male artists like Caravaggio, who depicts his Judith as being pretty and delicate-looking, with a horrified expression as she watches the blood spurt from Holofernes’ neck, as well as a blouse that was semi-transparent, showing a more traditional depiction of a woman whose main purpose in the artwork is to be gazed upon by men.

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Gentileschi’s psychological world is likely to have contained frustration at the objectification of women of her time, and her desire

The psychological world of Frida Kahlo that is represented in her artwork was influenced by a bus accident she was in when she was young in which she sustained serious lifelong injuries, and many of the events that occurred later in her life, such as her tumultuous marriage to the unfaithful painter Diego Rivera, and her miscarriage. In many of her artworks, she depicts herself as scarred, or bleeding, symbolising both her physical and psychological pain. In her painting ...

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