Ancient Egyptian art was highly symbolic and filled with meaning for the Egyptian culture. Unlike Western art which focuses on realism, ancient Egyptian art was focused on preserving cultural and religious beliefs into eternity. Their art captured an idealized form of reality with the goal of conveying important cultural values and achieving immortality after death.
Some of the major themes and symbols in ancient Egyptian art include:
Gods and Pharaohs
The pharaoh was considered a god on earth and was depicted in colossal statues and paintings to reflect his power and divinity. The pharaoh was shown as youthful, strong, and capable of maintaining order and driving away chaos.
Major ancient Egyptian gods like Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Anubis, and Bastet were depicted in human form, often with an animal head atop a human body. Each god had symbolic meaning – Ra was the sun god, Osiris the god of the afterlife, Isis the ideal mother, Horus the god of kingship, Anubis the god of mummification, and Bastet the cat-headed goddess of protection.
Artists followed a strict code when depicting deities to reflect their supernatural abilities and powers. Gods were shown as youthful, strong, and larger than life.
Afterlife
Ancient Egyptian art was preoccupied with preserving life after death. Tombs, pyramids, coffins, and mummy cases were filled with images of provisions, activities, objects, and texts from important rituals like the Book of the Dead. This was to provide sustenance and comfort for the deceased, and ensure their successful passage into the afterlife.
Goods depicted in artworks and found in tombs included food, clothing, furniture, weapons, jewelry, cosmetics, books, and recreational objects for activities like hunting, fishing, and board games. Scenes like the weighing of the heart ceremony determined if the deceased was virtuous enough to enter the afterlife.
Hieroglyphics with magical spells and incantations were inscribed onto tomb walls, coffins, and funerary texts to aid and protect the dead. Symbols like the ankh (key of life) and djed pillar (stability) were everywhere.
Idealism & Standards
Ancient Egyptian art followed very rigid standards for proportions, poses, and conventions when depicting gods, humans, and nature. Figures were shown from their most recognizable angle, not necessarily true perspective. Bodies were depicted from the side with the head and legs from the front.
Rules governed artistic representations and restricted experimentation. Men were shown with reddish-brown skin, short black hair, and muscular bodies. Women had yellow skin, long black hair, shapely figures with narrow waists and broad hips. Children were depicted naked with a single lock of hair. Royalty wore elaborate collars, crowns, and false beards as status symbols.
This adherence to rigid standards resulted in idealized but fairly uniform depictions. While realistic details were sometimes depicted, the focus was on perfection and order rather than capturing an imperfect reality.
Nature
Ancient Egyptians lived close to nature along the Nile River. Their art reflected an interest in the natural world around them. Scenes showed bountiful harvests, fishing, fowling, cattle raising, and hunting.
Flowers (especially lotus blossoms), birds, fish, hippos, cattle, dogs, and many other animals were incorporated into artistic designs. The Nile River and palms trees were commonly included as they symbolized fertility and life.
Nature was orderly, symmetrical, and strictly governed by maat (divine order). There was little experimentation with realistic randomness, shadows, or perspective.
Color
Color was an important part of ancient Egyptian art and had symbolic meaning. Black represented fertility and life along the Nile. Green symbolized new life and growth. Blue was the color of divinity, sky and water. Red represented power and vitality. Yellow/gold stood for eternity.
Egyptian painting utilized 6 basic colors – red, blue, green, black, yellow, and white. Bright mineral pigments were derived from ores like azurite (blue), malachite (green), and hematite (red).
While paintings were originally very colorful, many pigments faded over time leaving mainly shades of brown. Traces of color remain on some well-preserved tomb paintings, giving clues to their original appearance.
Materials
Ancient Egyptians used a variety of materials in their art that were locally available. Stone of different types was the most prominent material, especially varieties like limestone, sandstone, granite and schist which could be quarried along the Nile.
Metals like copper, bronze, silver and gold were used for sculpture and jewelry. Glass, plaster, paints, inks, and dyes were used for smaller artworks and in tomb paintings. Paper-like papyrus reeds from the Nile were made into sheets used for books, documents and funerary texts.
Wood was used for furniture, coffins and ceremonial objects but has mostly decayed over time in tombs. Faience, a glass-like glazed ceramic, was used for amulets, figurines, and vessels.
The arid Egyptian climate preserved many delicate materials like papyrus, linen, wood and pigments that have not survived in wetter climates.
Styles & Subjects
Ancient Egyptian art spanned over 3,000 years and showed remarkable continuity in conventions, subject matter, materials and styles. However major periods like Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom showed shifts in key themes:
Old Kingdom (c. 2660 – 2180 BC)
– Pyramids & tombs for pharaohs
– Idealized human figures with uniform poses
– Reserve heads – realistic busts of the deceased
– Ra & Osiris were prominent deities
Middle Kingdom (c. 1980 – 1630 BC)
– More ornamentation and detail
– Less rigid artistic conventions
– Scrolls, documents, miniature carvings
– Rising popularity of solar cults
New Kingdom (c. 1500 – 1000 BC)
– Grand temples & burial tombs
– More relaxed and fluid depictions
– Battle scenes, foreign lands, leisure
– Prominence of Amun, Re-Horakhty gods
Despite stylistic shifts, Egyptian art focused on order, perfection and immortality. There was remarkable continuity in artistic conventions over 3000 years.
Conclusion
In summary, ancient Egyptian art was highly symbolic and aimed to provide for an eternal afterlife. Recurring themes include gods, pharaohs, the afterlife, idealism, nature, color, and a wide range of materials and styles. While appearing quite uniform, Egyptian art expressed core cultural values like order, eternity, and preservation of life after death. Their iconic art has left a lasting legacy and provides a window into the beliefs of ancient Egypt.