Look, it’s Monet! But not just any Monet: this is stereotypical Monet, in the style that would come to define him. You can see the choppiness of the water in the reflections, the sketchiness of the grass (that would later be emulated by van Gogh), and the bitter carelessness of the clouds in the sky as if he just doesn’t give a penny farthing of shits anymore about them. This is Monet before he got famous, when he was out testing his trainers and playing the club scene.
Tag: 19th century
Tuesday
I’m not convinced that Joan of Arc would’ve looked attentive as she listened to the heavenly voices. Certainly not like this, in a raptly ecstatic state. It’s vaguely pornographic. It’s also vaguely creepy, as she’s portrayed as far more innocent as she was, but that’s definitely the 1880s hypocritical morality coming out to play.
Monday
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why art has no color. It has no color, it has no silence, it is one howling voice in the wilderness. Art doesn’t care what you are, who you are, only that you give your voice to the need within you to create.
Saturday
It’s a brown and blue semi-photo-realistic painting of bridges and the River Arno. It’s pretty standard stuff, but the use of direct light v. indirect light (which was more favored at the time) makes it a bit more unique in the way it’s presented. However… it’s still nothing overly groundbreaking. American art of this particular time period is pretty pedestrian – it’s just a few years before the Impressionists really get going.
Friday
I’ve always thought that this painting looks like ye olde stereotypical Victorian drawing room: overloaded with dark colors and brick-a-brack and nick-knacks and such. It’s not very inviting.
Tuesday
I love this. You can get up close (within reason) and see the pastel’s details, the chalk-like smears and the delicate smudging. It’s actually a very transformative piece to look at.
Sunday
This piece is quintessential art nouveau style, and yet, it speaks in a more traditional style of woodworking, as well. The craftsmanship is incredibly detailed and beautiful, and you can just stare at the screen for the longest time, finding new things in the details of the piece every time you look at it.
Sunday
This is the kind of thing I think of when I see the Dowager Countess of Grantham taking tea on Downton Abbey: ostentatious overkill in the glamour department. But it’s oh so smart and it was just what the upper classes wanted to make themselves feel superior. Mission accomplished.
Thursday
What I love about Pissarro is that his work is kind of the best of both worlds medium between Monet and van Gogh: it’s got the the dreamy ethereal quality of Monet with the bold color grasping of van Gogh, but somewhere in the middle is a seductive reasoning that only Pissarro managed to maintain.
Wednesday
What better way to start the new year off than with another under-respected van Gogh masterpiece? While the colors don’t immediately leap off the canvas and grab you by the wrist and scream, “PLAY WITH ME” like many of his other paintings do, the effect of the palette of colors in this painting overall gives us another feeling: peace and serenity.