The Evolution Of The Theory Of Light In Western Painting

In western painting, the light is not only a media and means for the painters to understandand performance the world, but also the theme for them to express in different periods, andwhat’s more important, the light is the spirit and ideals for them searching for continuously.‘The light of painting’ is the spiritual product of being embodied, conception and estheticsway conveyed in works from the philosopher s’‘rational light’ and scientists’‘natural light’by artists. It is the value of dimension and era demands by the paintings. This paper consistsof three parts, to examine the essential attribute of painting light, to build methodologysystem of painting by the light as a medium, and to summarize the evolution of paintinglight in the history of western painting.Aristotle regarded ‘mimesis’ or ‘art of imitation’ as a common functional for all the art.Hence the western painting established the naturalistic painting way with ‘realism’ and‘reproduction’, although this way was overthrown and reconstruction, the ideas of mimesisand art of imitation never changed. Light is the bridge to connect the spiritual concept andmaterial works. We could insight how the spirit combining to the material by the basic oflight.‘The light of painting’ is with material reproduction and spiritual metaphor, it is thepainting language commanding the shape, the color and the texture in work, it used toexpress the painters’ ideas and the intuition emotions. In this paper, I try to search theintrinsic relationship between the light and the core painting language, to propose the theoryof light as the paradigm of the painting.In the field of research in the painting history,‘the light of painting’ is the culture essence indifferent periods. In the paper, I regard ‘the light of painting’ in the painting history, on thebasis of exploring the evolution of ‘the light of painting’, trying to explore the process of artschool’s changing and the evolution of ‘the light of painting’.‘The light of painting’ expressits different character in the history of western art, they are, I, the conceptual light: theancient Greek and Roman painting’s sense of relief and eternity, II, the light of God: thesymbol meaning in Medieval paintings, III, natural light: Pan Neoclassical painting’sreproducibility, IV, seven colors of light: light color theory of Impressionist paintings; V.light body: Modern painting’s two-dimension trend; VI, the light of evolution:Contemporary painting’s light variation. The ancient Greek painters found the way ofexpressing figures by light and shade, they created the western realistic painting, thus the painters could successfully represent the three-dimension illusion by the relationship oflight and the visual object on a two-dimension surface. In the Medieval time, inspired by theGod, the cleric artists abandoned the scientific understanding on light by the ancient Greekand Roman time, they use the light as the concept symbol, not the real objective visual.While the return of ancient Greek art during the Renaissance and Pan-classical period,artists greatly promoted the development of reproducibility painting by the exploration onthe light and the perspective. The Impressionists regarded the light as their theme, buildinga new light color system in the history of art. Modern Western painters went back to thetwo-dimension, by getting rid of the objects bound, they achieved the real independent onpainting and built the body light of the painting. Contemporary artists broke through theunderstanding of the past, they regarded the light as the main mind, a symbol of subjectiveunderstanding, and the new means of metaphorical social thinking.So, in my opinion, in western paintings, light is both medium and language, both methodsand purpose. The history of western painting is the history on how the artists recognizingthe light, it is also the logic evolution history of ‘the light of painting’.