Hellenistic Art Vs Classical Art Essay

Classical art was still very popular until 323 BC when Alexander the Great died and Hellenistic art started to show up. During the reign of Alexander the Great, he conquered many countries that resulted in a vast empire. Greece’s vast empire included Persia, Egypt, Asia Minor, India, and the Near East, which influenced the art style. Classical art was transformed during this time period because of all the exotic influences that was being made on the art. Before with classical art the focus was on making the bodies look perfect with a stoic smile, but in Hellenistic art you can see more emotion on the sculptures. Not only do the sculptures have more emotion, but also often you see sculptures performing everyday tasks. Of course, without classical art there would be no …show more content…
The philosophy of Hellenistic art is that the Greeks already knew a lot about the human body because of classical art but now they could experiment. The Greeks were people who liked to learn new things and by expanding their empire they were able to pick up certain things from different societies to improve their ideas and art. Hellenistic art is the same as classical art when it comes to the cultural context because it still depicted sculptures of Gods and Goddesses. Classical art was solely Greek ideas and Hellenistic art is still Greek art but it has been influenced from the areas that were dominated. One aspect that Hellenistic art differs from classical in cultural context is that Hellenistic art would focus on normal humans performing everyday tasks as well. An example of Hellenistic art that we talked about in class is Aphrodite of Melos, which is held in Louvre, Paris. Hellenistic art showed much more sculptures of women nude and the Aphrodite of Melos is one of those. This sculpture is believed to be the personification of true beauty because of the ideal proportions and the dramatic appearance to