Egypt

No civilization of the past has left such imposing and fascinating vestiges as that of Egypt, and yet so little trace of the 'human'. In ancient Egypt art was not an expression of the human world. It was a living and active representation of the art of creation. The extreme and forceful nature of the Nile Valley, where the fertile plain runs without a break into the desert, where the annual flooding erases the landscape in a relentless cycle as it brings new life, has shaped Egyptian...
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No civilization of the past has left such imposing and fascinating vestiges as that of Egypt, and yet so little trace of the 'human'. In ancient Egypt art was not an expression of the human world. It was a living and active representation of the art of creation. The extreme and forceful nature of the Nile Valley, where the fertile plain runs without a break into the desert, where the annual flooding erases the landscape in a relentless cycle as it brings new life, has shaped Egyptian art. It is in the first place a direct emanation of the divine, and as such proposes the order established by the Gods with mathematical rigor and in strictly codified canons. Religion was everything and everything was religion in ancient Egypt. Art had no aesthetic value in the world: art was a symbol of nature; it had to capture its essence rather than imitate it, and left no freedom or independence of expression to the individual. The works that adorn temples, palaces and tombs always have a magical function: they are intended to protect. Thus they are not an imitation of nature. On the contrary, they are a creation in their own right; they are alive and potent. The magical and religious conception that inspired these artists-creators can still be perceived today, even when their works have been transported to lands faraway from the blazing sun of the Ancient desert. Even inside the showcases of museums they still speak of a natural world inhabited by human beings but which has been created by a divinity that pervades it through and through. A world where humanity and its art represent the pinnacle of divine creation.