The Nymph: an Icon and Symbol of western Culture

  • Gabriella Brugnara University of Trento
Keywords: Androgynous, Paganism, Image, Youth, Breeze,

Abstract

 

The Nascita di Venere by Botticelli, the Bagnante by Mirò. Almost four-hundred and fifty years divide these two paintings that, also from a stylistic point of view, have no meeting points. But, simply by catching a glimpse of the two atmospheres painted, the observer feels the tight bound that lies between them: as if the Botticellian Venere had been the reference for Mirò when he was drawing the stylized lines of his Bagnante.
When you observe the canvas of the Catalan artist it easily comes to you the idea that the figure you are looking at could be the Venere of Botticelli which, after a long travel along time and space, has arrived to a new land of water (the one of the Bagnante), located in a distant and different time, but where the Nymph can still dance with her striking elegance. An important role in this travel is played by the concept of Nachleben described by Warburg. According to it, it can happen that significant images from the past restart again their “movement” in the future, but with a transformed meaning.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gabriella Brugnara, University of Trento

Gabriella Brugnara, PHD in Comparative Literature (University of Trento, 2010) discussed the thesis “A vagueness similar to the dream". The Nymph in the work of Gabriele d'Annunzio and in the culture of his time". She published in the «Quaderni del Vittoriale», n. 7, november 2011, From Warburg to d’Annunzio: metamorphosis of the Nymph.

On behalf of the Department of culture of the Province of Trento she’s studying the archive Gianni Caproni – Gabriele d'Annunzio at the aeronautical museum Gianni Caproni of Trento. The research is developed in collaboration with the Vittoriale degli Italiani, that will publish the results in its series of monographs.
She collaborates regularly with the Corriere del Trentino, local insert of the Corriere della Sera, writing the cultural page.

References

Agamben, Giorgio, Ninfe, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2007.

Calasso, Roberto, La letteratura e gli dèi, Milano, Adelphi, 2001.

Id., La follia che viene dalle ninfe, Milano, Adelphi, 2005.

Cernia Slovin, Francesca, Aby Warburg: un banchiere prestato all'arte: biografia di una passione, Venezia, Marsilio, 1995.

Didi Huberman, Georges, Ninfa Moderna - saggio sul panneggio caduto, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2004.

Id., L’immagine insepolta, Aby Warburg, la memoria dei fantasmi e la storia dell’arte, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2006.

Duncan, Isadora, La mia vita, Milano Savelli, 1980.

Id., Lettere dalla danza, Firenze, La Casa Usher, 1980.

Dupin, Joan, Joan Mirò, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 1963.

Fusillo, Massimo, Il dio ibrido – Dioniso e le «Baccanti» nel Novecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2006.

Galimberti, Umberto, I miti del nostro tempo, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2009.

Gombrich, Ernst, Aby Warburg: una biografia intellettuale, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2003.

Hillman, James, Saggio su Pan, Milano, Adelphi, 1977.

Id., La vana fuga dagli dei, Milano, Adelphi, 1991.

Id., Il sogno e il mondo infero, Milano, Adelphi, 2003.

Horne, Herbert, Alessandro Filipepi detto Sandro Botticelli Pittore in Firenze, Milano, Studio per Edizioni scelte, 1986.

Mati, Susanna, Ninfa in labirinto, Milano, Moretti & Vitali, 2006.

Mink, Janis, Joan Mirò 1893-1983, Köln, Benedikt Taschen, 1994.

Mirò, Joan, Metamorfosi delle forme, ed. Jean Louis Prat, Milano, Mazzotta, 2003.

Romano, Serena, Monet 1863: Olympia, Milano, Mondadori Electa, 2007.

Warburg, Aby, La rinascita del paganesimo antico, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1970.

Id., Tagebuch der Kulturwissenschaftlichen Bibliothek, Berlin, Akademie, 2001.

Published
2012-06-07
How to Cite
Brugnara, G. (2012). The Nymph: an Icon and Symbol of western Culture. Between, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/571