OUGD502 - Easter Break 2018, Italy Trip - Milan

Over the Easter break, I took an 8 day trip around Italy, travelling to three cities; Milan, Florence and Rome. Although not the main reason for this trip, this provided me with an opportunity to learn more about the history of Italy and more specifically, their wide history of art, design and architecture which is something that had me awe-inspired the whole trip.

The first stop on our travels was Milan, known as 'the global capital of fashion and design', most famously known to housing Leonardo Di Vinci's 'The Last Supper' which is situated within the Santa Maria delle Grazie church. On arrival, already with some existing knowledge of the painting and its artist, I was blown away by the huge scale of the painting, soon learning that the painting was part of a mural, painted on one of the inside walls of the church. The work was thought to be commissioned in the 15th Century and depicts the scene from the Last Supper of Jesus and his apostles when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. It was learnt there that what is usually interpreted as an image of Mary Magdalene in the painting is actually false, something speculated in Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' in 2003. However, this person is actually representative of John the Apostle, something quite surprising to everyone in the room.

Soon after, we visited the Pinacoteca di Brera, the main art gallery of Milan. This was home to many historical paintings, and particularly fragments of alter pieces from old churches which were adorned with gold. The attention to detail in all of these paintings was slightly mesmerising, something which I can only imagine being able to achieve myself. However, one thing in particular this showed me was how far art and design has developed since the origin of these paintings. This style of working cannot be seen anywhere in the world of 21st Century art and design, it seems to have almost died out as a style, which reminded me of a quote by Josef Muller-Brockmann which states "Tomorrow or in twenty years time, aesthetic tastes will have changed" showing the evolution of art alongside the evolution of humankind.

However, attention to detail didn't just stop there. The architecture was also something to behold, in particular, the Duomo di Milano (Milan's Cathedral). If looking at the cathedral from afar wasn't enough, when you look up close this is when you really start to appreciate the work which must have gone into building this historical piece of architecture. Everything was painstakingly detailed, and at such a huge scale, no wonder it took six centuries to finish building!

In addition to this, Milan had a fair few smaller, independent churches where locals can go to worship. Unlike the Duomo, these were plain on the outside, most looking like standard buildings you would see in the UK, however inside couldn't be more different. Initially I was not bothered about going inside, it just seemed like an ordinary place on the street which had no apparent interest to anyone walking by, and this taught me the life-long lesson to never judge a book by its cover. In terms of applying this lesson to the design world, it taught me that perhaps a piece of design work does not look as though much work has gone into it from an outsiders perspective, however usually what you can't see is the amount of time, effort and work that has gone into producing that piece of design in terms of research and developments which is what makes the work more informed and representational of a specific message.