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Art-House Movie Director Digitally Recreates Renaissance Masterpiece

by Leila Brillson on June 27, 2009 at 11:00 AM



Perhaps it's not real art -- by the traditional, paint-and-brushstrokes definition -- but it certainly is creative. Avant-garde director Peter Greenaway, known for his multi-layered, visually intense movies, has begun to digitize his favorite Renaissance paintings.

At this summer's Venice Biennale, an Italian gathering of the year's most influential artists and projects, Greenaway painstakingly recreated Paolo Veronese's 'The Wedding at Cana,' which depicts Jesus's first miracle, the turning of water into wine. A recreation of 'The Wedding' sits on a single wall, with the director's digital manipulations projected over it, while flanking walls highlight moments, expressions, and the water being transformed (a great YouTube clip can be seen here). While no part of Greenaway's replica, itself, moves, there are audio clips of conversation, perspective changes, close-ups, and thought bubbles. According to NYTimes.com, onlookers who sip the miraculous wine think thoughts like, "No cloudiness," and "Tastes like a south-facing mountain grape."

Pixel by pixel, Greenaway digitally recreated the painting and hung the clone on the rear wall of the Benedictine. On the two flanking walls -- and over the painting itself -- Greenaway projected his rich, dramatic animations. The work's location is not incidental; the original was painted there by Veronese himself in 1562. In 1797, during his conquest, Napoleon took it down, dismantled it and sent it back to Paris, where it still hangs in the Louvre. In an effort to mimic the work's authenticity, Greenaway's version, like the original, is 24-by-33 feet and even displays the lines of Napoleon's segmentation. The entire presentation, with sound, words, and animated diagrams, comes to life for fifty minutes, infusing the painting with the director's forte: cinema.

This isn't the first time the British filmmaker has digitized a classic painting. In fact, 'The Wedding at Cana' is the third in a series of nine. His earlier installations include da Vinci's 'The Last Supper' and Rembrandt's 'Night Watch.' According to the Times's reviewer, the entire presentation is an entertaining lesson in art history, allowing viewers to put themselves in Veronese's position, thinking about why figures are reacting in certain ways and how color is chosen to depict mood. The final effect is that Greenaway helps onlookers step into the painting as it evolves around them, seeing an old favorite in a new way. [From: NYTimes.com]

Tags: art, movies, peter greenaway, PeterGreenaway, top, venice

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