说起托福听力艺术类文章，几乎已经成为众多托福考生们最扎心的部分。背景知识不熟(没有系统的艺术历史教育)，词汇复杂且小众，常常听完以后感觉话题高大上，但是一到做题几乎就是重灾区，而且ETS几乎每场必考一篇艺术类。
今天阿伦老师就带大家一起，梳理一下托福听力中艺术史的背景，从起源直至现代的艺术，把艺术类话题的场景词汇，对繁多的专有名目、创作时期、艺术风格作了明确划分和排出顺序。
首先，我们来先看一下绘画史中的几个重要时期：
古代时期 Ancient (4,000 B.C. - A.D.400)
新古典主义 Neoclassicism(1760-1830)
浪漫主义 Romanticism (1800-1850)
现实主义 Realism(1840-1870)
印象派 Impressionism (1870-1900)
表现主义 Expressionism (expressionism)
今天我们会以托福TPO练习以及听力真题为基础，带大家梳理一下新古典主义和浪漫主义。首先要给大家讲解的，是我们的一个重要时间节点：
启蒙运动(Age of Enlightenment)
首先则是文艺复兴（Renaissance），是指发生在14世纪到16世纪的一场反映新兴资产阶级要求的欧洲思想文化运动。“文艺复兴”的概念在14-16世纪时已被意大利的人文主义作家和学者所使用。当时的人们认为，文艺在希腊、罗马( Greek and Roman)古典时代(Classical Period)曾高度繁荣，但在中世纪 (the Middle Ages/ medieval time) “黑暗时代”却衰败湮没，直到14世纪后才获得“再生”与“复兴”，因此称为“文艺复兴”。
启蒙运动 (Age of Enlightenment)则发生在17-18世纪的一场资产阶级和人民大众的反封建，反教会的思想文化运动。这个时期的启蒙运动，覆盖了各个知识领域，如自然科学、哲学、伦理学、政治学、经济学、历史学、文学、教育学等等。启蒙运动同时为美国独立战争(American Revolution)与法国大革命(the French Revolution )提供了框架，并且导致了资本主义和社会主义的兴起，与音乐史上的巴洛克时期以及艺术史上的新古典主义时期是同一时期。
新古典主义 (Neoclassicism) (1760-1830)
新古典主义(Neoclassicism)，相对于17世纪的古典主义而言的的美术流派。兴起于18世纪的意大利，同时，因为这场新古典主义美术运动与法国大革命紧密相关，所以也有人称之为"革命的古典主义"。新古典主义，一方面起于对巴洛克(Baroque)和洛可可(Rococo)艺术的反对，另一方面则新古典主义美术的特征(artistic features)是：选择严峻的重大题材（古代历史和现实的重大事件），在艺术形式(art form)上，强调理性而非感性的表现( rationalized expressionism)；在构图(composition of a picture)上强调完整性；在造型上 重视素描(sketch)和轮廓(outline)，注重雕塑般的人物形象，而对色彩(colouration/coloring)不够重视。
由此可见，整个古希腊古罗马文化对欧洲艺术的影响，文艺复兴了一次还不够，新古典主义力求恢复古典美术(主要指希腊美术和罗马美术)的传统，强烈追求古典式的宁静凝重和考古式的精确(precision)，受理性主义美学的支持,大量采用古代题材(ancient themes)。与衰落的巴洛克美术﹑罗可可相对，它标志着一种新的美学观念。从某种意义上说，它是与启蒙运动和理性时代相适应的美术样式。
而新古典主义发生的时期，和启蒙运动几乎是完全一致的。总结一下我们的产生背景：
1. 反对巴洛克(Baroque)和洛可可(Rococo)风格
2. 启蒙运动(Age of Enlightenment)
说起来代表作，就不得不提到注明的雅克.路易.大卫(Jacques-Louis David)。
他在1780年代绘成的一系列历史画标志着当代艺术由洛可可风格向古典主义的转变。他也是当时最著名的艺术家之一，有大量的学生。从以下两幅画中:
1. 1787 苏格拉底之死 (The Death of Scorates)
2. 1784 荷拉斯兄弟之誓 （Oath of the Horatii)
1784年，他创作了《荷拉斯兄弟之誓》，使他一举成名，这幅作品的古典英雄主义(heroism)主题、庄重的色彩和严谨的构图使其成为古典主义画派的代表作。他的风格整体都是很严肃庄重，衣着，人物的身材都是非常夸张的。
Romanticism 浪漫主义 (1800-1850)
浪漫主义和新古典主义几乎是同一时期兴起的，而两者对艺术的观点和态度则是截然相反的。启蒙时代的思想家强调演绎推理的绝对性，而浪漫主义则强调直觉(intuition)、想象力(imagination)、和感觉(feeling)，甚至到了被一些人批评为“非理性主义”(irrationalism)的程度。在绘画上主张有个性、有特征的描绘和情感的表达。构图变化丰富，色彩对比强烈，笔触奔放流畅，使画面具有强烈的感情色彩和激动人心的艺术魅力。简而言之，我们其实也可以中，浪漫主义的核心观念是情感(emotion)，更加强调了个性。
由此大家也可以发现，浪漫主义作为欧洲文学中的一种文艺思潮，在艺术上与古典主义相对立，属于资本主义上升时期的一种意识形态。
我们来看下面两幅作品，均是这个时期的经典。第一幅是卡斯帕·弗里德里希(Caspar David Friedrich)的雾海上的旅人(Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer)。
一大特点则是从人物的主题，转变为了对景色的描绘，在他的笔下，风景画(landscape painting)开始走上历史舞台。
第二幅则是欧仁·德拉克罗瓦(Eugène Delacroix)的名作。他本人其实是我们之前提到的新古典主义代表人物雅克.路易.大卫的学生。自由领导人民(La Liberté guidant le peuple)这幅作品。
这是为纪念1830年法国七月革命而创作的一幅油画。该画作在1831年的巴黎沙龙会展（Salon de Paris）上第一次正式对外进行展览，于1874年被卢浮宫博物馆收藏。这幅画以浪漫主义的手法巧妙地将写意和写实结合起来，运用丰富而炽烈的色彩(bright color)和明暗对比(light and shade contrast)，充满着动势的构图(composition)，奔放的笔触(bold strokes)。
听力对应真题：
TPO27 Lecture 4 Primary Color
The idea of primary colors, and specifically the idea of red, yellow and blue being THE primary colors, didn’t exist until about 200 years ago. Until then, the dominant theory about color was one that had been proposed by Isaac Newton. Newton gave a scientific and objective explanation of colors. He used a prism to break white light down into the various colors of the spectrum. And he theorized, rightly so, that different colors are essentially different wavelengths of light. But he made no mention of primary colors. That idea came from, or was at least published by a man named Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
如果提取片段关键词，我们可以找到身为支持Romantic Movement的Goethe，他的态度则是：
Goethe was a well-known author. He wrote many famous novels, plays, poems. So why did he start thinking about colors?
Well Goethe was part of the Romantic Movement in western literature. And he was a Romantic, through and through, meaning that he explained objects and phenomena in terms of the spiritual, emotional impact they had, as opposed to explaining them in terms of their scientific nature. He rejected an objective understanding of color, in favor of a more subjective understanding. He believed that when we see color, it stimulates our emotions. And different colors appeal to or inspire different emotions in different people.
核心词汇：
spiritual/emotional
reject: objective understanding
in favor of: subjective understanding
color stimulates emotion
同学们们也会发现，提及这个罗马天主教运动(Roman Movement)人物思想，与之前我们讲到的浪漫主义是完全契合的。反对理性的分析，而支持主观情感的表达。
对这段时间新古典主义和浪漫主义关系有兴趣的同学，还可以去参考TPO47L1，从文学的角度，讲述了从新古典主义到浪漫主义风格的一个转变。当时人们的态度，和政治的一些关系。在这个时期而言，绘画和文学的进程其实达到了同步。
Let’s look at a play by Victor Hugo, called Hernani, or as the French would say Hernané. Although Hugo was a truly brilliant writer of, er, essays, poems, novels, and plays. Er, his play Hernani isn’t a great play in and of itself. It’s got a really confusing, convoluted storyline. Critics back then were unimpressed by it, though it’s likely that their own feelings about how play should be, neoclassical or romantic, affected their opinions about it. But it’s premier in Paris in 1830 was anything but ordinary. Hernani’s opening night was probably one of the most important literary events in 19th century France. What happened was, ok, Hugo was a romanticist, right? He was part of a growing movement of er…, young authors and artists, who were rebelling against neoclassicism, against the conventions of neoclassicism. And, and what this meant is that Hugo opposed the neoclassical unities, that French theatre had inherited from Greek drama.
TPO46 Lecture 3 Blue Pigment
这篇文章的主题提到一副叫做Blue Boy画作，作者是Thomas Gainsborough，风格则是洛可可(Rococo)。从之前的讲解大家可以发现，其实是新古典主义反对的一种风格。而这篇文章主要是对蓝色颜料的一个剖析，和风格关系不大。
Gainsborough created the Blue Boy, with the boy featured large in his famous blue clothes…and...well, I guess he proved his point.
But there was another challenge to blue. It was very very expensive back then. Now of course, because of modern chemistry, any color is available in tubes at any art supply store. But in the 18th century and before, it wasn't so easy.
And blue...well...the color ultramarine, the most desired shade of blue, was made from the precious stone, Lapis Lazuli, which had to be imported all the way from Afghanistan.
And the second most favorite shade of blue, after ultramarine made from Lapis Lazuli, was a shade a blue that came from another precious stone, Azurite.
But Azurite was...well...harder to work with. There's evidence that artists would try to get around these difficulties. For example, use pigment from lapis lazuli or azurite very sparingly, and also use something cheaper, like smalt, which was made of ground glass. Thing is, smalt became discolored over time. So many artists probably avoided blues altogether rather than use something cheap and impermanent.
TPO 52 Lecture 1 Still-life Painting
Still-lives don’t just need to be straightforward representations. A lot of still-life painters really use the simplicity of the style to send a message or tell a story, even portrays sometimes include elements of still-life paintings. For example, in a portray, there might be a map, hanging on the wall. Or there might be some books on the table next to the subject. These objects tell you something about the subject like maybe that person was well-educated.
A big part of still-life painting is the use of those kinds of symbols. The objects you include can provide more contacts than help convey your message. I’d also like to show everyone an example of still-life that we can talk about a little and use to get some inspiration.
所以在很多时候我们在听力讲座中出现的画家，了解他们的时期及风格，对文章的理解，其实是很有好处的。
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