The Study of the Economic Conditions of Iran and the Netherlands in Sadegh Chubak’s Novel “Tangsir” and Rembrandt’s Paintings

Abstract

The artistic and literary activities have always been affected by the cultural conditions of societies. The cultural condition in turn is formed by social relationships influenced by the political movements. None of the literary and artistic activates can go along their path independently. The artistic genre and school of thoughts are also sometimes named after the artistic activities of a special era, but the characteristics of a genre based on the social conditions of the society which has passed through time and geographical conditions can also be expressed in another way. Meanwhile, if we consider the goal of Realism as a fair and honest display of contemporary life, it is then required to pay attention to the artistic interpretation of social ‘political’ and ‘economic’ issues. This article follows the study of artistic and literary works under the similar economic conditions, by investigating the Rembrandt’s painting and the most realistic novel of Sadegh Chubak "Tangsir" in a descriptive and comparative analysis. In addition to the different reactions of two artists toward the economic conditions of their fellow people, the result shows similarities between different countries also causing cultural similarities and closeness of their people. It also results in removing the geographical borders and finally causing intimacy between the artists’ expressions in presenting the artistic factors and items in their works.