A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - Essay Example

Seurat et al Georges Seurat: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte 
 Seurat used a combination of rounded shapes as seen with the curved tops of the parasols and dress bustles, and angular shapes such as the alliteration of tree trunks and human profiles that were placed in triangular groupings. The first grouping occurs between the woman in the forefront with her parasol, the group of people in front of her seated on the lawn, and the two seated figures to her far right. Within that triangle exists another triangle whose apex point is made by the presence of the black dog. A third prominent triangle is found in the body of water that is representative of the River Seine, whose farthest tip guides the eye to the end of the painting. Seurat was a postimpressionist artist who was known for experimenting with different methods of painting. Inspired by what the artists of the impressionist’s era had done with the mixing of organic colors and tints, Seurat experimented with theories of perspective, distance and color, by placing tiny different colored dots of paint that blended together when viewed from a distance. The techniques became known as pointillism. The two dominant colors in the painting are green and red. Green is used to envelope most of the canvas, while red images, such as a man’s shirt, a lady’s dress, a centrally placed red parasol, and a man’s jacket guide the viewer’s eyes from the forefront of the painting to the far perspective point. The use of dark colors like grey, blue and black in the forefront of the painting act as a visual footing or foundation for the rest of the composition. Seurat’s use of space gives a feeling of distance between the subjects in the painting. There are patches of green grass between the people, between the people and the trees, and between the land elements and the water. It is a painting of close proximity and personal space and distance all combined into one visual. This deliberate spacing of elements creates a symmetry that runs along either side of the painting, with a row of tress on the right side of the canvas, and a continuous placement of people on the left. 
 Seurat’s painting appears, fro the most part, to be stoic and frozen, however there are subtle references to motion. In the forefront there is a small animal running across the grass, further down there is a girl in a red dress skipping, and finally out on the water, the bent sails of the sailboat suggest that it is being moved by the wind. These three points, however, are not enough to give the painting any sense of real rhythm of believable motion. Looking at the selected work is reminiscent of cardboard cut outs that children used to draw and paste up on a board, and because there is such a lack of detail, the figures are more representational that anything. The title of the painting is appropriate in the sense that most of the figures seem to be in Sunday attire and are indeed gathered at this one spot. Because of the frozen nature of the subjects, gazing at this painting for too long of a period seems futile, and the viewer soon realizes that they too are standing, as the figures are standing, looking in one direction. The existence of the pointillist paint dots are intriguing, but even that fascination fades from the lack of movement. Still, many of the works that came after the impressionist movement have sustained their popularity because of the innovative methods and techniques the artists used in their attempt to break out of the societal barriers that had been placed around them. Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night 

 Expressionist painter Van Gogh used continuous lines and circular motion through out his painting Starry Night. It is an amazing simple image of a multi blue sky filled with burning stars over a small town. The circular motion of the stars are also seen in the rounded hill tops, and the angular shape of the church steeple is see again in the massive dark structure in the fore-left of the painting. Van Gogh’s use of blues and yellows created the third color in the painting, green that sets atop the hillside in the distance. Van Gogh gives the majority of the canvas to the starry sky itself, and creates a sense of distance by painting the entire town on the bottom third of the canvas, making the whole town seem far away, and the sky massive, and in between the two are rolling hills that balance the two dynamic. There is continuous motion in the starry sky that lends itself to a roaring, thunderous type of rhythm, almost as if it were a planetary event. When one studies this painting, it is plain to see that Van Gogh was attempting to grab at something far beyond what was merely visible to the naked eye. There is a truth, a sort of divinity that explodes from the color palette and the twirling mingling use of thick heavy paint. Starry Night is indeed an appropriate title for this piece, because it is the sky that is the important factor in this painting. 

 Starry Night always brings to mind the song written by Don McLean, as well as the sad and tortured story of the artist Vincent Van Gogh. For that reason, I can never look at the painting without always feeling quite sad. But because of the emotional dynamics of this painting and the interest of Van Gogh’s life, it is easy to understand why this emotional piece of art has stood the test of time. Andre Derain: Mountains at Collioure Andre Derain was a Fauvist painter born in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He and his fellow artists were known for using thick heavy strokes of paint, often right out of the tube, to express the emotional side of a subject more so than the graphic. In Mountains of Collioure, Derain uses bright vivid colors, not at all true to nature, but manages to represent a mountainside flooded with color. Lines in this painting are a combination of straight and thick, and winding and wild. The only boundaries seen in the painting’s objects are created by the paint colour themselves. There we see purples, reds, oranges, blues and greens side by side on the canvas as if done hurriedly. Derain’s use of space is rather compact in that objects in the painting seemingly run into each other. The painting, however, manages to gain a strange sense of compositional balance due to the fact that Derain placed the darker colors in the middle of the canvas, and lighter colors on the bottom and top. This technique forces the viewer’s eye to remain in the middle of the painting where the motion and movement is. When observing this painting, it is hard to ignore the haphazard feeling that that is suggested. The thickness of the brush strokes and the flatness of the images give the painting a sort of paint by numbers effect, and while I enjoy colour, it is not an image that holds my attention for very long. I do not find the title of the painting all that appropriate. There is nothing in the painting that renders any truthful image of the actual mountains, therefore it could be painting of any set of mountains, anywhere. Taking all of that into consideration, it is easy to understand why Fauvism did not last long. Paintings such as Mountains at Collioure tend to leave the viewer feeling rather indifferent. I believe that most post impressionist works retain their popularity due to their aesthetics and to the story of the artist that created them. With Derains creation however, I suspect that a lot of the popularity for pieces such as this remain so for their historic and market value at auction. Henri Matisse: Woman with a Hat When Matisse painted Woman with a Hat in 1905, he created a work of art whose controversy and source of discussion has never waned. The question that follows the painting is, who was the woman? Many believe that it was Matisse’s own wife Amelie, but there are others who say otherwise. Whoever she is, Matisse has fashioned her in a plethora of bold colour to represent her hat, face, fan, dress, and background. Matisse’s color palette was composed of greens, reds, yellows, blacks, purples, and blues, and this rainbow of colour really works to breathe life into the subject. Matisse created the painting by using a number of angular lines that travel from the top of the woman’s hat down to her arm which rests on the back of the chair. Matisse gave the painting a very personal and intimate feeling by placing the woman in the center of the canvas, and allowing her to look straight into the eyes of the viewers, and because of her central positioning, she herself gives the painting a compositional balance. There is not a great sense of motion or rhythm in this painting, and that is mostly because, as viewers, we are aware that she is sitting still. There is not even a sense that this woman has just turned around in her chair to look at us, but that she has been posed this way for some time. Still, the vibrancy of the colour on the canvas keep the viewer’s eyes moving. 
 When observing Woman with a Hat, I enjoy the deliberate capture of a beautiful moment. Although obviously posed, the choice of colour and the constant stare of the woman out from the canvas seem inviting. I also enjoy how Matisse used color more than shape to render objects like her fan, the flowers on the hat, and her dress sleeve. While the eye is kept moving around this canvas, the woman’s hat does play a prominent part of the composition; in fact it dominates the upper third of the canvas, and thus, is an appropriate title for the painting. 
 This painting brings about happy feelings for a lot of viewers. There is something inviting about the colour and about the woman’s eyes; she seems as if she would be easy to talk to. The same feelings, however, were not felt when Matisse first exhibited this painting. Viewers were horrified at his color choices and more so by his technique. Several viewer’s said it looked as if he had hurled a pot of paint at the canvas. Over time, however, the aesthetic value of Woman with a Hat, along with the never-ending question regarding the woman’s identity, made the painting one of the most sought after in the twentieth century. Its popularity remains vibrant to this day. 

 References 1. Flam, Jack D. Matisse and Picasso, The Story of Their Rivalry and Friendship May, 2004, Westview Press, Pg. 20 2. http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Impressionist/pages/IMP_7.shtml 3. http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html 4. http://www.museumsyndicate.com/item.php?item=22086 Read More

Looking at the selected work is reminiscent of cardboard cut outs that children used to draw and paste up on a board, and because there is such a lack of detail, the figures are more representational that anything. The title of the painting is appropriate in the sense that most of the figures seem to be in Sunday attire and are indeed gathered at this one spot. Because of the frozen nature of the subjects, gazing at this painting for too long of a period seems futile, and the viewer soon realizes that they too are standing, as the figures are standing, looking in one direction.

The existence of the pointillist paint dots are intriguing, but even that fascination fades from the lack of movement. Still, many of the works that came after the impressionist movement have sustained their popularity because of the innovative methods and techniques the artists used in their attempt to break out of the societal barriers that had been placed around them. Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night 

 Expressionist painter Van Gogh used continuous lines and circular motion through out his painting Starry Night.

It is an amazing simple image of a multi blue sky filled with burning stars over a small town. The circular motion of the stars are also seen in the rounded hill tops, and the angular shape of the church steeple is see again in the massive dark structure in the fore-left of the painting. Van Gogh’s use of blues and yellows created the third color in the painting, green that sets atop the hillside in the distance. Van Gogh gives the majority of the canvas to the starry sky itself, and creates a sense of distance by painting the entire town on the bottom third of the canvas, making the whole town seem far away, and the sky massive, and in between the two are rolling hills that balance the two dynamic.

There is continuous motion in the starry sky that lends itself to a roaring, thunderous type of rhythm, almost as if it were a planetary event. When one studies this painting, it is plain to see that Van Gogh was attempting to grab at something far beyond what was merely visible to the naked eye. There is a truth, a sort of divinity that explodes from the color palette and the twirling mingling use of thick heavy paint. Starry Night is indeed an appropriate title for this piece, because it is the sky that is the important factor in this painting.



 Starry Night always brings to mind the song written by Don McLean, as well as the sad and tortured story of the artist Vincent Van Gogh. For that reason, I can never look at the painting without always feeling quite sad. But because of the emotional dynamics of this painting and the interest of Van Gogh’s life, it is easy to understand why this emotional piece of art has stood the test of time. Andre Derain: Mountains at Collioure Andre Derain was a Fauvist painter born in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

He and his fellow artists were known for using thick heavy strokes of paint, often right out of the tube, to express the emotional side of a subject more so than the graphic. In Mountains of Collioure, Derain uses bright vivid colors, not at all true to nature, but manages to represent a mountainside flooded with color. Lines in this painting are a combination of straight and thick, and winding and wild. The only boundaries seen in the painting’s objects are created by the paint colour themselves.

There we see purples, reds, oranges, blues and greens side by side on the canvas as if done hurriedly. Derain’s use of space is rather compact in that objects in the painting seemingly run into each other. The painting, however, manages to gain a strange sense of compositional balance due to the fact that Derain placed the darker colors in the middle of the canvas, and lighter colors on the bottom and top. This technique forces the viewer’s eye to remain in the middle of the painting where the motion and movement is.

When observing this painting, it is hard to ignore the haphazard feeling that that is suggested.

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