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Dying Marat

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The Death of Marat Painting The Death of Marat is created by French artist Jacques-Louis David in 1973, in the size of 6550”(1.65 1.27”m), oil on canvas. Marat was a doctor, scientist and journalist. He fought for the freedom and democracy in France so that strongly supported by the middle class and lower class people, but also made enemies of the aristocracy. The picture depicts an on-going event. Figure lying in the bathtub in the painting is Marat. He was stabbed by Charlotte Corday, a Girondin from a minor aristocratic family against Marat, into the heart with a small blood splattered knife dropping on the ground, bleeding from the wound to the canvas covered on the bathtub. He laid on his side uncomfortably from the posture in the painting, and his right arm hung down the bathtub but holding a quill in the hand while the left hand tightly gripped a letter with blood, says”Please send this five francs to the mother of five children. Her husband gave his life for his country.” The money, the ink, another quill and a piece of paper placed on the khaki counter, which contrast to the dark blue blanket covered on the Marat’s naked body. The light, structure and space of the painting arranged appropriately but ordinary. The spot light plays from left to right, highlighted on Marat’s face, arms and letter in his left hand. Therefore his facial expression in sublime become more easy to see.In the meantime, the direction of the spot light also component of the whole structure of the painting. Marat’s head, left arm and the paper as well form smooth horizontal line of the painting, expressing a sad atmosphere and attracting viewer’s eyeball on the naked body and paper. While looking downward along the vertical line, viewer can easily noticed the quill held in his right hand implying Marat’s occupation. While Marat’s right arm slacked down vertically in a perfect angle, which echos that of the sculpture Christ in Michelangelo’s Pietà in Rome. Referred Marat to Christ, David symbolized Marat as a martyr sacrificed for the revolution in France. As for the space arrangement of the painting, it is obviously off center and placed lower part of the painting, but skillfully showing the depressing feeling and the depth from the whole. And vertical on canvas make it unusual in the arrangement. The color green, red, khaki and white are used repetitively, which not only symbolize special meanings but also correspond to each other. The red used in the painting mostly used the present the blood to show the murder and death. And towel and paper in white represent the purity and sublime of the character, while the blood split on the white towel represent Marat sacrificed his life for pursuing the liberty and democracy in France. In comparison, the color green of blanket and dark green of wall behind symbolize more appropriate in evil rather than peace. The dark wall implies the bad thing was about to happen or just happened, and the green blanket make a great comparison with the white towel beside it--the evil and goodness. What is more, complementary colors of red and green posing together makes the picture vibrate and create harmony as well, and can attract the viewers’ eyeball on the painting. The cold color, green, and warm color, red, also can explained the comparison of devotion and destruction. When get close to the painting, viewer can see the invisible brushwork and licked surface which idealized the figure of the Marat, using the flawless to represent the purity of the character. When standing in front of the painting, seeing Marat dying, the viewer as if become to be the murderer--Charlotte Corday. Emotional Corday dropped the knife on the ground after stabbed in Marat’s heart and stepped back, surprisingly found out the dignity and peace on his face instead of pain. The vivid depiction shows the personality of the character. The picture which can be related to The Death of Marat is from the movie--Slumdog Millionaire. The figure lying in the middle of the bathtub, dying, is Salim, who both play evil and good. Viewers can tell from his golden necklace and plenty of money in the bathtub that he pursued money and power during his life time. The expression on his face shows serene while lying on his side. The designer used a lot of cold color like black and gray to represent the evil side of him, while the highlight on his face and the color yellow (warm color) shows the good side of the character. Comparing to The Death of Marat, both designers use the contrast in warm and cold color represent the goodness and evil. The shade designer added in the image shows the depth. Both expression of characters in the image shows the peacefulness and serene. And they are the heroes of the stories.

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