The Road to the Baroque at HKMoA

It’s difficult to avoid some questionable jokes about the road to baroque being dark, pompous and violent because these are things that come to mind—my mind at least—when we talk about Baroque art. Somebody killing someone in a dark space, flowers and fruits pouring down from a picture plane, people and horses smashing into piles or a person in lavish clothes looking right into your eyes, unimpressed and imperious. Who are these people, what’s going on here and why should you even care—apart from being told that you have to see it because Culture?

Fear not, here are some bits of information that can make this exhibition more interesting if you know nothing about the art of this period.

“Drama, more drama, add all drama that you have, look how impressive and majestic I am!’’ And very, very Catholic, in the most anti-Protestantism way possible. A lot of these works were used as visual propaganda to remind viewers of the power and strength of the Catholic Church (and persuade them to not even think about new Northern Europe heresy) hence the most popular themes of these paintings were biblical and mythological stories. Plenty of fighting, struggle and death in those stories!

As for visual language expect an abundance of exaggerated poses, dynamic movements, almost no serene idealisation (which was a standard for Renaissance paintings), and contrasting lighting as one of the main tools. Words to remember are: Chiaroscuro and Tenebrism, both referring to theatrical or even cinematic light and shadow contrast. Teneberism is more specific for Baroque art, while Chiaroscuro is a more general term for different degrees of such contrast; not all Chiaroscuro is Teneberism, but all Teneberism is Chiaroscuro.

“But there are also portraits!” Yes, because people are people: rich folks want to have a portrait to show off and artists want money to survive, so all that drama and dynamism we admire from paintings and murals commissioned by the Church can be toned down and used for much less violent portraits. Still all these people are very realistic, showing character and personality, expressing human emotions to at least some degree.

Take your time at the museum, read labels, listen to an audio guide and enjoy your own road to Baroque (it’s still dark there, literally).

Exhibition period: 15 July — 2 November

Venue address: 2/F, The Special Gallery, Hong Kong Museum of Art, TST