Tahiti By Paul Gauguin Essay

This painting is so realistic and painted with such precision and detail that he must’ve wanted us to see this place exactly how he did, with great beauty and light. The local colors are vibrant and cool yet still make you smile because it reminds you of a warm summer day. The use of two contrasting colors, the blue of the water and sky and the tan of the cliffs and couds, make the tan color stand out creating such a visually pleasing and dynamic effect. The organic fluffy clouds and the ripples in the water convey a peaceful sense to the scene. The pompous cliffs stand solidly contributing to the historical importance of this location. The artist captures the illusion of depth through atmospheric perspective; as the object gets farther it encompasses less detailed contributing to the descriptive nature of it. Since the left side of the painting is much heavier than the right this painting is asymmetrical. Your eye tends to gravitate towards the cliffs on the left because of their size and bright color which emphasize the cliffs. This emphasis creates a focal point that the viewer is immediately compelled to look at.

While the painters after the Impressionism period were collectively called the “Post-Impressionists,” the label is quite reductive. Each artist had their own unique style, from Seurat’s pointillism to Signac’s mosaic-like divisionism, Cezanne, Émile Bernard, and others. These artists were all connected in that they were reacting to the aesthetics of Impressionism. Two of the more influential painters from this movement were Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, who aimed to connect with viewers on a deeper level by access Nature’s mystery and meaning beyond its superficial, observable level. However, each artist’s approach to achieving this goal was different. In close examination of Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait (Dedicated to Paul Gauguin) and Paul Gauguin’s Self-Portrait with Portrait of Émile Bernard (Les misérables), one may clearly see the two artists’ contrasting styles on display.

Going Native by Abigail Solomon-Godeau deals primarily with Paul Gauguin, a late nineteenth century artist generally known for pioneering the expressionist movement, and the extent to which his works, both conceptually and literally, fetishize the indigenous peoples of Tahiti. One excerpt in particular that clearly expresses this notion would be Solomon-Godeau’s reference to La Jeune Nee by Helene Cixous, in which she [Cixous] states “the body of strangeness must not disappear, but its strength must be tamed, it must be returned to the master”; through this line, the parallel that Solomon-Godeau establishes becomes quite apparent, that there exists a commonality between Gauguin's perception as well as the characteristic form in which women and natives were depicted during the time period. Solomon-Godeau goes on to explain

Daniel Ridgway Knight was an odd American artist who loved to paint relaxed French peasants in luscious landscapes. Ironically, he lived during a stressful time when the Industrial Revolution displaced numerous farmers and polluted the environment. He seemed to ignore the harsh truth and shut himself in his imaginary serene world. For instance, In the Premier Chagrin, translated as The First Grief, Knight paints two healthy girls conversing on a stone wall in front of gorgeous fields. At first, it appears as merely a pretty painting that is nicely contrasted to show depth and realism. Yet, with a closer look, this contrast in the colors and lines of the landscape and the figures creates tension to suggest the painter’s conflict between longing for serene freedom and feeling trapped within the stiff society.

This painting by Leonardo Bazzaro symbolizes the poem in a way that no other painting can do, the pain and despair that goes into every word of the poem is reflected on the faces of those on the canoe in the painting. It brings in all of the aspects of the highs and lows of each stanza. They are taking a moment, a precious heartbeat of their time while the sun slowly sets into the horizon to think, to say a prayer. As the woman bows her head to take a moment to collect and compose her thoughts, a flood of emotions rushes through her and she takes a minute to realize that even her darkest days she must praise. Even though

Students through the process of art appreciation will build connections through the exploration of textures, lines, colour and shape when describing, analysing, interpreting and judging the artworks before them (3 chosen images). They are asked to describe what they see, the artist’s use of colour, lines, shapes and texture. They then move onto analysing; what catches their eye, is the composition balanced and do the paintings look flat or do they have depth. The discussion then progresses onto interpretation where students are able to express what type of emotion they feel when looking at the pictures, perhaps the kind of sounds they might hear if they could step into it, and why they think the artist chose this particular subject to paint and what may have inspired the artist.

First thing that I noticed about this gorgeous oil and tempera on panel painting was the precise emotional aspect: romantic and simple, yet so exceptionally lifelike. This work surely shows a development from the powerfully

The mood of the painting is somber and dark as if the memories of the deceased still linger even though the look on the young woman’s face might suggest that the idea of placing flowers and lighting of the lantern on the grave stone was not her idea. That only one of the children are from the deceased and that the other is from some new forbidden lover. Even the form of the woman suggest that she is reluctant to even be in the grave yard.

The painting shows man and nature in harmony. A clear sign that he focused mostly on drawing is the geometric forms used in the painting. He used very calm tonality to give it the calmness. His artwork and brushwork are very fluid and focused. This painting has no historical meaning because this painting was after his transition from historical to landscape. Instead of telling a story it is supposed to evoke a calm mood. The golden light contributes to its peacefulness. Now that I have explained both paintings individually, in the following paragraph I will talk about their differences and what makes them different.

At first glance, the similarities between Vincent van Gogh and Georgia O’Keeffe appear minimal at best. A young van Gogh died penniless and largely unknown in a remote backwater in the south of France, while O’Keeffe lived out a long and illustrious life as one of the most famous artists of the early twentieth century. Where O’Keeffe was the object of admiration and fascination, van Gogh was the object of pity and derision. Where O’Keeffe was heralded in her lifetime for capturing the spirit of the desert landscapes of her beloved New Mexico, van Gogh was a was a man without a country, driven by destitution and illness to wander Europe in search of peace and some measure of stability. Despite their differences, however, O’Keeffe and van Gogh share vital similarities. Both van Gogh and O’Keeffe used art to advocate for the inclusion of the disenfranchised and the forgotten (namely, the poor and the ill in van Gogh’s oeuvre and women in O’Keeffe’s); both revolutionized how the natural world is seen; both are characterized by aesthetic styles which are highly sensory and sensual, representing psychological and physical states in such groundbreaking ways that they change the modern world’s understanding of what it means to be human.

When I look at the Water Lilly I see a very peaceful place. The light tells me that it’s a sunny place. It is a soft place and I see someone playing there or laying down on the bridge having fun. I see the way he used the different colors in the artwork.

I have always been intrigued with the Mona Lisa, I don’t know why but there is something about her smile and her eyes that captivates me. The realness of the painting and how ordinary the Mona Lisa is the reason why I can look at this painting with great joy, it doesn’t make me think too much, it doesn’t confuse me, the simplicity and the normalcy of this painting is what I enjoy so much. However, after an analysis you can see that the painting isn’t so ordinary.

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 beautiful painting is a visual treat to anyone laying eyes on it. The blue sky the wavy water the sailboats all are ironic to any coastal shore. The moon on the distance is an indication that it’s early dusk or dawn. The sea looks windswept but calm and clear rather than stormy and angry. The ship is setting out on a long journey but the butterflies are an indication to a positive spin on departure so it’s probably intended for people who have had or will have firsthand experience with departure and those emotions.

As well as Matisse’s Bonheur de Vivre, Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was inspired by and deviated from Cezanne’s great achievement. Cezanne’s landscape is a broad open field with the abstract females surround a pond as they bath with abstract surroundings, very much different from Picasso’s