Some people may not expect that there is a so-called martial art or the art of war, but it is an old term, and it is one of the oldest types of art, regardless of its style and medium.

The battle scene is one of the oldest types of art in advanced civilizations, rulers have always been keen to celebrate their victories in order to intimidate their potential opponents.

At a time when the battle scene was a major scene, drawing other aspects of the war, especially the suffering of victims and civilians, took a much longer time to develop, because painting in ancient times was an art directed by the authority, and the greatest interest was focused on presenting the ruler’s victories without paying attention to scenes The other war which is more cruel than the battle scenes.

Among the most famous scenes of wars are scenes of naval battles and pictures of ships and seas.

With the development of military equipment and the emergence of warplanes and tanks, new scenes appeared in military arts, so war paintings can be considered a visual evidence of the development of war equipment and the ways rulers dealt with battles throughout history, especially in ancient times before the emergence of photography.

History of martial arts

Paintings and drawings of battles and military subjects appeared since ancient times, and were present in ancient Egyptian inscriptions in the primitive period (3500-3000 BC), but they were incomplete inscriptions and drawings, showing prisoners of war being taken to an unknown place, and wild animals feeding on dead bodies. battles.

The Narmer Tablet of the same period also shows a military victory, but in a more symbolic way;

The tablet depicts the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under King Narmer.

The tablet depicts the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the rule of King Narmer (communication sites)

On one side of the tablet, King Mina appears wearing the white crown of the ruler of southern Egypt, and on the other side he appears wearing the red crown of the ruler of Lower or Northern Egypt.

Battle paintings also appear in ancient Assyrian arts in the form of large stone inscriptions showing detailed scenes of military campaigns or hunting trips, but the most important paintings of Assyrian art are inscriptions that glorify the king and show his strength and victories during wars.

Roman art also did not move away from that idea that glorified the ruler and his war victories, but rather consolidated it because the Roman civilization was essentially a colonial civilization based on wars.

The Victory Columns are a clear example of the arts of war, and are monuments in the form of columns.

Each column represents a memorial of victory in a war or battle, with all its details engraved on it. The column rests on a base and is crowned with a symbol of victory that varies according to the battle.

Among the most famous columns are the Column of Alexander the Great, which is currently located in the Palace Square in Petersburg, Russia, and Trajan's Column in Rome.

Pillars of Victory are a clear example of the arts of war (communication sites)

"Triumph" by Paolo Uccello

Paolo Uccello's 3-panel series celebrates Florence's victory over the forces of Siena in 1432. Uccello painted the panels at the request of the Florentine Niccol da Tolentino, the battle leader, and the first shows him on a white horse, surrounded by his enemies slain on the ground.

The painting shows the tension of the battle brilliantly, due to the crowding of the scene in the middle of the painting and deliberately cutting it at the edges, in a way that makes the painting appear close to the viewer's eye, to become part of the battle, especially with the strong colors and multiple perspectives that emphasize the dynamics of the scene.

The "Victory" painting shows the Florentine Niccolo da Tolentino, the leader of the battle on a white horse surrounded by his enemies, dead on the ground (communication sites)

"The Surrender of Breda" by Diego Velazquez

The Surrender of Breda by Diego Velazquez (1435) depicts the surrender of the Dutch city of Breda to General Ambrogio Spinola.

The conquest of Breda is considered one of the greatest victories of the Spanish army in the 80 years' war, and the painting is one of the most important paintings depicting military victories.

The painting depicts the governor of Breda handing the keys of the city to the Spanish commander Ambrogio Spinola, and the painting was dedicated to the great hall of the palace of King Philip IV in the Spanish city of Buen Retiro.

"The Third of May" by Francisco Goya

Unlike most war paintings that serve commemorative purposes, Francisco Goya's "The Third of May" painted in 1814 is a contemporary painting that transcends the idea of ​​panoramic scenes and depicts a more frank scene of war.

The painting depicts the scene of the killing of Spanish soldiers by Napoleon's soldiers when he invaded the Spanish city of Del Rio Seco, with a personal vision showing his ingenuity in depicting shadows and light away from ancient realism.

The painting "The Third of May" by Francisco Goya (communication sites)

 "Soft Construction: An Obsession with Civil War" by Salvador Dali

Dali's painting represents the artist's personal impression of the Spanish Civil War.

That war began because of Francisco's nationalist uprising against the democracy of the Spanish Republic, and lasted from 1936 until 1939, and turned Spain into a sea of ​​blood.

The painting depicts a human body transformed into monstrous appendages in arms and legs ripping apart, in reference to the war in one body for Spain.

The painting "Soft Construction, Obsessed with the Civil War" by Salvador Dali (networking sites)

The painting certainly looks different from previous paintings, because it was painted after the advent of photography and it became easy to take many pictures of scenes of wars and battles.

The painting is one of the paintings of the surrealist school, which is a development of the Dada school that emerged mainly as a result of the Second World War, when artists felt separated from the surrounding reality, and their desire to express themselves and their complex feelings away from the reality that we can simply see in photographs;

Therefore, their paintings appeared complex and exotic, bearing the impressions of anger and alienation.