The history of the olive tree is millenary. As a symbol of spirituality and sacredness, peace and purification, its ritual is alive even today. The olive tree has been a source of inspiration in the art and, since the earliest times, one of the main objects in representation and iconography. Let’s discover together six artworks that have enhanced the olive plant in all its forms and meanings.
Anfora from Vulci, 500 a.C. British Museum, Londra
The Greek amphora was founded in the archaeological site of Vulci and shows an olive harvest scene where two men from below and another one above the tree, hit the branches with a stick, while a fourth kneeling man picks up the fruit from the ground and puts them in a basket. In ancient times olive oil was one of the main components of nutrition and it had many uses, including medicine and lighting. There were different oil’s qualities: virgin olive oil (oleum flos), second quality oil (oleum sequens) and commonly used oil (oleum cibarium).
Simone Martini (1284 – 1344) and Lippo Memmi (XIII – 1356)
Annunciation between the Saints Ansano and Margherita, 1333, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze
In the Old Testament, the olive tree is associated with peace and prosperity. In the historical-artistic context and in the iconography of the Virgin and the Passion of Christ particularly, the image of the olive tree is often the element in which the artist leads the observer thru the main scene of the painting. The Annunciation of Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi is a remarkable example: the whole work is enclosed in a Gothic style architecture and represent the moment in which Archangel Gabriel offers to Virgin an olive twig and she shyly retreat, as she was surprised by his visit.
Sandro Botticelli (1445 – 1510).
L’orazione nell’orto, 1490-93, Reyes Catolicos Museum, Granada
In the last part of his life, Sandro Botticelli dedicated himself to sacred representations, overlooking the allegorical ones. This painting is a good example because represents the la Last Supper when Jesus brings his disciples to pray in the garden of the “Getsemani”. According to the Gospels, the Getsemani (“olive oil mill” in the Aramaic language) is a small olive grove just outside the old city of Jerusalem on the Mountain of Olives, where Jesus Christ, retired after the Last Supper before being betrayed by Judas and arrested.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
Olives with yellow sky and sun, 1889, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, USA
«Here there are some beautiful fields with olive trees with silver-gray leaves, like a blossomed willows. I’m never tired of the blue sky». Van Gogh wrote this in 1889 while he was admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The Dutch painter never abandoned painting and he painted many paintings representing the nature surrounding him, including olive trees. For the artist, the olive represented a perfect symbol of life and the connection between Man and God. This canvas particularly represents Vincent’s attempt to symbolize his relationship with God and emphasize the emotional connection he had with nature.
Maurizio Cattelan (1960)
Untitled, 1998, Castello of Rivoli (To)
In contemporary art, nature’s elements have had many meanings, generally associated with the use of materials to create something new. In this work of Maurizio Cattelan, the olive tree is an installation that imposes to the spectator’s view, becoming an integral part of the museum room that hosts it. Notoriously provocative, the artist reflects on the reality instead of the symbolism of the plant and its meanings, and he shows a tree in its entirety on a huge earth’s pedestal that keeps it alive.
Joseph Beuys (1921 – 1986)
Oliverstone, 1984, Bolognano (Pe)
Olivestone is a part of the research of the German artist Joseph Beuys developed in his last years of life. In a small village in the territory of Pescara, the artist worked on the project entitled “Nature’s Defense” started in the 1970s. Beuys conceived and realized a work that consists of five Durini family’s oil tanks, covered with an old stone immersed in olive oil. The tanks thus become ‘live sculptures’ because they continually feed the oil that they absorbed. In all his work, Beuys constantly research the deep harmony with himself, men and nature. Defending nature means defending man.
Leave A Comment