Great Works II

Shakyamuni Buddha with Sixteen Arhats

The Rubin Museum of Art contains so many fascinating ancient artwork of the Himalayas, mainly focusing on Tibetan art. Even though the museum had a large number of interesting exhibitions and paintings, the piece of art that intrigued me the most was called the Shakyamuni Buddha with Sixteen Arhats. This artwork was painted by an unknown artist and depicted the ancient Buddha sitting down in lotus position on the center of the painting. The painting was made in Northern India, now known as Tibet.

Reading the description of the painting, I was able to figure out that the Shakyamuni Buddha with Sixteen Arhats had significant meanings behind it. First of all, the artwork contains the ancient Buddha in the middle of the painting. The main reason why is due to the fact that the Buddha is a prominent and noticeable icon in the Buddhist religion. Followers of Buddhism worship and praise the ancient Buddha to achieve enlightenment. Another major aspect of the image is that the Buddha was painted with rich colors such as royal red. As a result, we can conclude that the Buddha is usually painted with wealthy materials to indicate the the Buddha is a powerful figure. When I first looked at the artwork, my eyes went directly to the center where the Buddha was illustrated. Therefore, the artist purposely made the religious icon stand out by making the Buddha drastically bigger than everything else contained inside the painting. The image appeared to be symmetrical and conveyed a sense of a three-dimensional space. The contrast between light and shade in Shakyamuni Buddha with Sixteen Arhats gives viewers the illusion of a three-dimensional space. The Buddha is also surrounded by Sixteen Arhats. The Sixteen Arhats are pure individuals who attained nirvana. Among those Sixteen Arhats, there are Four Guardians of the Directions pictured at the bottom right of the artwork. These four directions are north, east, south, and west. The number four is also extremely significant because it relates to the Buddha’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths.

To conclude, the Shakyamuni Buddha with Sixteen Arhats was not only captivating to look at, but it also helped me understand more about the Buddhism culture. A viewer of an museum can interpret a piece of art in many different ways. Hence, looking at an artwork can raise an individual’s knowledge. In my opinion, I think paintings or any artworks in general that make you understand more of a topic is extremely beneficial.

-Moe.