Essence

I'm really interested in the TV series Lost. The last season just premiered and I was looking at some images of the characters and they recently made a reenactment of DaVinci's painting The Last Supper. When looking at this I came across at least 10 different renditions of this painting on the first few pages alone. This got me to thinking about whether or not a piece like The Last Supper loses something because of how iconic it has become through popular culture.

I think that the majority of people would be able to immediately identify The Last Supper when they see it. It is a very iconic image. If people haven't seen the original they at least recognize a rendition when they see it. It's easy for anyone to sit a semi large group of people, sit them at a long table, with one figure emphasized in the middle, and it would become a substitute for the work.

My question is does this take away for the piece itself? Does the work of art lose some of its meaning? I think it does. The painting is no longer a symbol for Christ and communion. It becomes merely an iconic image, a symbol, for others to use.

This has happened with many other famous works of art. The Mona Lisa, The Scream, and American Gothic are a few of the most commonly used paintings. Have these paintings also lost some of there essence or aura because of popular culture? I believe they have. I think that every single time one of these paintings is reproduced in some way, shape, or form, a little bit of their essence is lost forever.