Paintings

The paintings in the Lascaux cave is a magnificent example of olden paintings. Here is a map of the cave.

The materials that were used to create the paint were found in powdered form or in blocks (158 in all!), the tools used to paint decayed naturally.

The Lascaux cave is filled with vast amounts of paintings in very interesting areas...like the CEILING! The paintings in the cave have 3 themes, animals,human representation, and signs.

The great hall of bulls (or grande salle des taureaux in french) is one of the most magnificent rooms in the underground cave, the paintings cover the wall and compose of 3 kinds of animals, stags, horses, and bulls.

The Painted Gallery (or La galerie peinte in french) is a continuation of the great hall of bulls and is an amazing display of art. The 30 meter length is full of paintings.

The lateral passage The lateral passage(or Le passage latéral in french)is a low corridor which has a few traces of painting and engravings that survived. The main factor for the paintings deteriorating is corrosion.



The chamber of Engravings. the chamber of engravings(or Chambre des Gravures in french) is a rotunda that is smaller than the great hall of bulls and is impressive because of the sheer amount of engravings in the small space, it has more than 600 engravings!

At the back of the chamber of engravings is a small shaft, at the bottom lies a single picture which is called the shaft of the dead man (or l'arbre de la mort )The shaft of the dead man has three things we should look at.1.The dead man. Why did he die? how? 2.the rhinoceros why is he fleeing? 3.the bison. Why did he kill the man? the reason this painting is interesting is because of the narrative possibilities.

The Main Gallery The main gallery is larger than the chamber of engravings it is made up by panels which consists of a painting. One interesting image is the back to back bison because of the work the artist must have put in to them.



Chamber of felines The chamber of felines is the end of the sanctuary which is marked by marked by 2 rows of three red dots. The chamber of felines is ,like all the other parts, dominated by horses but unlike others there is an absence of the ancient ox, aurochs in this area, also new is the 6 felines. Due to the frailty of the rock the paintings are poorly preserved.



Pictures from cited of Culture and Communication, Ministry. "The cave of Lascaux." __Accueil du site du Ministère de la Culture et communication - Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication__. 2 Sep. 2009 .