Girl With A Pearl Earring Essay

Then there are also many psychological lines to be seen in the work. One such line is of the woman and the floor, where she is staring down towards it. Another is from the young child and the store clerk, showing a defiance between the two. Next, light and value are not very contrasting in this painting, with only the basic highlights and the shadows seen. It isn’t completely contrasting or contradicting since the colors blend well together with close to the same value ranges, dark colors seen throughout except for the people’s pale faces. There also seems to be a variety of light sources since the woman’s face along with the shop clerk and the young boy’s is lit up by what seems to be a light bulb since they’re much brighter and highlighted and then the men and women in the back aren’t really as bright, except for the ones who close to the open door, creating a blue tinge from the outside light. The shapes shown through the painting is shown to be either very round or very geometrical. There are organic shapes in things such as the umbrella or even the back of the chair, but mostly it is either straight lines and geometrical shapes. The volume shown in the painting is very much implied, correctly showing the

The dark blue left eye and light blue right tells me that Pablo Picasso may have used her actual eye color. Her body is almost as if she had her back to Picasso and turning her torso toward him; such as in most contrapposto art. In the original sketch you can clearly see her arms and the detail of her body. She is not looking back at Picasso, but instead looking toward the opening curtain. The hair of the young lady is also more visible as it drapes down her back. By repositioning her arm and adding the mask he completely changed her appearance, not only in her face but her body as well. Picasso gave her a double point of view, as you look at her nose and the angles it provides. The hand under the chin gives it an almost claw like feature, with what seems to be her fingers going to her eye to her the opposite side of the chin. With the sharp angles and mask and all the distortion it would be difficult to truly see just the young lady. It is almost as if she is shards of glass pieced together to make a

Thirdly, the texture of the painting I see when viewing the painting is velvety and silky. I feel that the velvety texture is caused by the smoothness of Marilyn’s face. In addition, the silkiness I see is due to the gold paint that surrounds Marilyn’s face. Fourthly, the use of value is present on the painting by the lightness and minimal darkness. For example, the darkest value is seen on Marilyn below her chin on her neck, eyes, her lips, on the right side of her face, and on minimal parts of her hair. I feel that the dark value creates the illusion of shadows. In addition, the golden brown paint that surrounds Marilyn is dominant because it shimmers when light reflects it. Moreover, the lightness is present by the yellow, turquoise, and pink colors. In addition, the lightest value of color is white which is on Marilyn’s teeth. Lastly, the colors viewed on the painting consist of golden brown, black, yellow, pink, turquoise, dark red, and

In a girl with the pearl earring the protagonist, Griet, is sent to be a maid the artist Johannes Vermeer and his growing family. In this household she becomes close to Vermeer’s work, and eventually the secretive painting of Griet seeps out into the rest of the family and the town beyond.

One of the aspects I believe unifies this painting is, as I talked about above, the continuation of the blue of the woman’s clothing continuing up into her hair, which gives the piece a sense of wholeness and relativity. There is also balance in this piece, for while the woman’s head is offset, this is balanced out by the elongation of her shoulder and arm in the right side of the image. Variety is also achieved in this piece through the use of a variation of hues and a lot of tonal difference. Emphasis is placed upon the hair with the use of an unnatural hair colour, as well as the face where light colours are used to highlight and pull the attention. Space is not so much of an active principle in this piece, but is still present nonetheless. Beryl is placed in the middle of the painting, with her taking up roughly 50% of the space, and the rest taken up by background.

However, the desert scene and mountains suggest that this was painted in Southern California. In the background, one can see a man leading a pack animal, a woman, and an infant along a road towards the church, identified by the cross on the rooftop. There are no shadows to define form in the background. This is, again, a contrast to the shadows made by the Madonna in the foreground. The lack of shadows, however, does not make the background look flat. The Impressionist styled painting and the lack of detail in the background creates a distant look that gives depth to the painting. The numerous contrasts between the background and the foreground allows the artist to subtly draw the viewer?fs attention towards the foreground. These contrasts help grab the viewer?fs gaze and direct it to the most important part of the painting: the woman and baby.

An important part in every person’s life is the search for personal identity and self-knowledge. This struggle involves working out a concept of oneself as a unique individual and embracing an ideology or system of values that provide a sense of direction, as stated in Weiten’s Psychology: Themes and Variations. Similarly, in Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Griet grapples with her identity as a maid, and entertains the idea that she can choose a path not set out for her. Her journey of self-discovery leads to a deeper understanding of her role in Vermeer’s paintings, and what it means for her own life. The Vermeer’s influence on Griet affects her transition from adolescence into adulthood, thus affecting the choices she makes. These choices define Griet as a person even when she feels she no longer has any trace of her old self left. Although Griet does not completely sever her ties to her old life, Griet does fit the archetype of a hero on a hero’s quest because of the challenges crucial to her journey and through the redemption of her personal values.

The people I found most attractive and interesting in BWS is Pearl Primus, who is a dancer, choreographer, anthropologist and Political Activist. She was the one who made a lot contributions in presenting the African dance to American audience. I especially like her statement “dance is a weapon for social change” during the course of the civil rights movement. She resorted to the performance art as her distinctive approach to strive for the right of the African Americans. The movement I appreciated was the Pan-Africanism, which aimed to bond all people of African descent together to uplift their people. It rapidly extended the influence beyond the African and reached all over the world. The doctrine of Pan-Africanism was that the African people

In the novel Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Griet faces many challenges which causes her identity to change. Though Griet starts out as an innocent maid who has to follow orders, she starts developing her own opinion and the ability to make decisions. Griet changes from an household servant to having the courage to share her opinion to a mature lady, capable of making her own decisions. Many factors contribute to the change in Griet’s identity, but the main factor is Vermeer, her master.

Concerning color, there is a stark contrast between the figure on the painting and the background. More specifically, the figure of the woman is predominantly delineated in white color, especially pale, ashen white, as far her apparel and facial complexion are concerned, while there are also various hues of grey, with respect to her hair and accessory feather. These white and grey shades are vividly contrasted with the prevailing red and crimson hues of the background (viz. the drape, armchair, and table). Moreover, one can detect colors of dark green (jewelry), some beige on the left (pillar), and darker or lighter shades of blue on the right side of the canvas (sky), which all in concert and in addition to the subtle purple hue forming the sun or moon exude a certain dramatic sentiment. Also, there is brown, which often easily segues into gold (viz. books and attire details respectively). The main contrast of colors between white and red would be interpreted as serving the purpose of rendering the figure of the woman, and especially her face, the focal point of the work, despite, paradoxically enough, the lush red shades at the background. Bearing that in mind, the significance of the woman’s face will be enlarged upon later, when discussing aspects of her identity.

Girl with a Pearl Earring is centered on the protagonist Griet, whose family begins having financial issues once her father loses his trade due to a kiln exploding, causing him to lose his eyesight. In the beginning of the novel, a wife and husband come to Griet’s home in order to see if she would make a suitable maid for them. Once they leave the home, Griet’s mother sets up the story by saying, “You are to start tomorrow as their maid. If you do well, you will be paid eight stuivers a day. You will live with them (Chevalier 6).”

Synopsis The film, Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was first released in in 2003 and directed by Peter Webber, is based on a novel with the same name written by Tracy Chevalier. The film has Griet as the lead character, who is a servant in the house of the Dutch painter known as Johannes Vermeer. The artist made a famous painting titled Girl with a Pearl Earring in the year 1665 while in Delft, Holland. The story follows the life of Griet, a young introverted girl who goes to work as a servant after her father becomes blind and can no longer paint, which was the only source of income for the family.

The portrait is displayed horizontally with a gold trimmed frame. The subject is a female that looks to be in her early 20’s sitting upright on a large brown chair. If the viewer travels up the painting the first indication of the woman’s class is her satin, blue dress. The saturated blue shines and falls in the light like water. Paired with the dress are her exceptionally detailed endings to her sleeves. The lace is even painted as though it is translucent, allowing a little of the blue dress to show through the sleeve. Flowers throughout history have symbolized innocence of a woman and her virginity. The repeating theme of flowers, in the sleeve cuffs and ribbon) in the woman’s attired suggests her purity or innocent nature. Another very details section of the painting includes the corset/torso details. The sewing suggests texture in the torso with small beading in between. Towards the top of the chest in the center, the female seems to bear an extravagant, ribbon piece with a tear drop bead in the center. The light pink

The novel The Girl With the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier has an interesting, unique tone that is clearly expressed by its picturesque and meticulous word choice, imagery and details. The novel is set in the 17th century of Holland in a small town called Deft and is told from the perspective of sixteen-year old Griet who explores the world of art and painters, and the complexity behind the world that seems so simple to outsiders. A particular scene comes to mind and best embodies a somber, tense tone and mood between the characters in the novel. On page 215, it is in the middle of the climax and an exciting moment of action in which where Griet is involved in a fight between her employers the painter Johannes Vermeer and his wife Catharina.

To begin, the proportion of the woman’s gaze accentuates perfection. The eyes introduces a sense of nobility to the piece acquiring a softness at the gaze. Painted with a spherical shape, it allows the appearance to emerge mysteriously throughout the portrait and I quote “Through their roundness, therefore, the mind, knowing itself, is sometimes forced to reveal the secrets thoughts of their