December 2017
Intermediate to advanced
208 pages
3h 39m
English
Semiotics has provided a critical tool known as “deconstruction.” In this process, a critic analyses the signs present within a work of art and exposes the meanings implicit in their relationships.

Osias Beert the Elder (c. 1580–1624)
Dishes with Oysters, Fruit, and Wine, c. 1620–1625.
Oil on panel, 203/16 × 287/8 in (51.3 × 73.3 cm)
In these two seventeenth-century paintings, a glass of wine is presented in different contexts and therefore takes on different meanings. In the Teniers, it is an agent of inebriation. In the Beert, it is an accessory of the good life.