Who Said Chivalry is Dead? (Romantic Era)
Romantic Era
The romantic era led us into an era of realism and art romanticism Most art was made to elicit emotions and feelings, to give the viewer a more surreal experience. I will review four works today, Bend in the Road Through a Forest, Paul Cezanne, Woman with a Parasol, Claude Monet, The Yellow House, Vincent Van Gough, and Arearea, Paul Gauguin. All of the art today was made in France, or by a French artist. Bend in the Road Through a Forest, by Paul Cezanne, and Woman with a Parasol, by Claude Monet are both from the Impressionism art style, while The Yellow House, by Vincent Van Gough, and Arearea, by Paul Gauguin are from the post-impressionism styles. So let's jump into the good stuff!
Bend in the Road Through a Forest, Paul Cezanne
I love this piece as it expresses bright colors, shapes, and line work that is new to art during this era. His work gives a realistic vibe to it while also creating a sense of it being imaginary since it could be more realistic. I like to believe Cezanne was trying to give the impression of a dream-like state. It seems almost real but something is off. He uses bright colors and line work with bigger brushstrokes, this creates a more fuzzy image, adding to the dream impression. He uses brush strokes and colors in such a way that we to distinguish between the road, trees, and skies. We can tell what the art is while leaving some to the imagination. This really helps connect to the dream-like romanticism that art was being created in during this era.
Photo From Google Arts & Culture
Woman with a Parasol, by Claude Monet
I personally love the dreaminess with this piece as well, both of these give a fuzzy look to the piece without it being too blurry to understand anything. I think Monet did a great job giving us a sense of the dream-like impression from this piece. It helps the viewer see the woman with a romantic view. She is mysterious, is she happy? Sad? Curious? Why does she seem to know exactly how to look at me to make me want to know more? Monet used colors and line work to their advantage to make this piece as dreamy as possible. She also used the shapes of the clouds to really add a dreamy effect. The clouds swirl and swivel in such a way to make the whole piece more interesting and bring attention to the woman, making it easy to see the main point of this piece.
The Yellow House, By Vincent Van Gough
Don't get me wrong, I love Van Gough as much as the next guy, however, I am not a fan of this piece. It seems to give too much of kindergarteners' drawing that Van Gough just colored in. But I am no artist, this is just my opinion, take it with a grain of salt. He used yellows and blues to provide contrast and created a house using linework to provide focus on the house. I am not a huge fan of how bright this house is against the dark background. I think my eyes have a hard time understanding where the light is coming from to make the house so vibrant. It seems like too much on a page and doesn't give any sort of impression to me. I can't seem to pinpoint too well Van Gough's intentions with this one. It just seems too bland but too much at once all at the same time for me. The colors don't seem to match well, and the background just doesn't match the intention I think he was trying to create with this piece. It is hard to tell whether he wanted this to seem cozy or mysterious, which is also confusing my eyes. Am I supposed to feel at home? Or should I feel like running the other direction?
AreArea, By Paul Gauguin
I do like the colors of this piece, they are vibrant but mesh well together, whereas the shapes and line work in the art seem to throw me off a bit. It seems more nightmarish and cartoony than I think Gauguin intended. It is too close to almost being romantic and realistic that it is almost scary. This is also just my opinion, DO NOT take it personally. The colors are the only thing giving me any sense of peace with this art. It seems too all over the place and none of the shapes make sense to me and why they are the way they are. I know disproportionate pieces can be beautiful but I am not too much of a fan of them. I think Gauguin was trying to go for a dream-like state as well, but this is honestly just kind of... weird. More like a misplaced cartoon rather than dreamy and romantic.
My Opinion That No One Asked For
I am by no means a professional. This is all just from the research I have done on these pieces and my opinion. If the art I didn't like is some of your favorite, don't be offended, it is literally my opinion and trust me, I have weird tastes that would put a Victorian child into a coma (anti-depressants and Redbulls’ anyone?!). All of these pieces are honestly beautiful in their own way, I just have my own preferences and know what I do like in art. But I can appreciate the eccentric beauty in each piece.
Works Cited
“Arearea - Paul Gauguin | Musée D’Orsay.” Www.musee-Orsay.fr, www.musee-orsay.fr/en/artworks/arearea-291. Accessed 15 July 2024.
“Paul Cézanne | Bend in the Road through the Forest.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation, www.guggenheim.org/artwork/780.
“The Yellow House (the Street) Vincent van Gogh, 1888.” Van Gogh Museum, 2019, www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0032V1962. Accessed 15 July 2024.
“Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son - Claude Monet - Google Arts & Culture.” Google Arts & Culture, Google Arts & Culture, 2011, artsandculture.google.com/asset/woman-with-a-parasol-madame-monet-and-her-son/EwHxeymQQnprMg?hl=en. Accessed 15 July 2024.
Of your two chosen styles, I prefer Impressionism. I appreciate the dreamy state of mind that it gives the viewer. The blurriness that the large brush strokes create help to add this effect. The Post-Impressionism pieces have a brighter color that helps to create contrast between the elements in each work. The Impressionism works on the other hand, have warmer colors that make the images not only dreamy but cozy feeling as well. You are right about the dreamy quality of Impressionism and the almost cartoonish look of Post-Impressionism. Both of these styles leave realism behind, but do so in totally different ways.
ReplyDeleteHi Penelope,
ReplyDeleteI also prefer Impressionism to Post-Impressionism. Like you, I always found Post-Impressionist paintings to be somewhat kindergarten-like. This is not my favorite Van Gogh. The use of lines is jolting and haphazard. The texturing is nonexistent in some areas and course in others. It also doesn’t seem to apply to the surfaces it’s on. The sky looks almost plaid and what I think is mud looks very out of place. It’s hard to say if this was the artist’s intended effect and is a little unsettling. I mean it was Van Gogh; conformity wasn’t his thing. He is almost infamous for not seeing color the same way most people do. Thank you for sharing.
I forgot to add that some of my favorites from Monet are the Poppy Fields and the Cliff Walk. My wife and I got to see them last month at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Deletehttps://www.artic.edu/digital-publications/11/monet-paintings-and-drawings-at-the-art-institute-of-chicago
I really enjoyed the details you gave about each piece, and I agree, Post-Impressionism definitely isn’t my favorite, but it’s cool to see the differences between that and Impressionist art. I like the softer lines of Impressionism compared to the abstract and harsh lines of Post-Impressionism. Both aren’t really realistic but I love to think that Impressionism is the middle-ground between it and Post-Impressionism.
ReplyDeletePenelope! "Bend in the Road Through a Forest" by Paul Cezanne was a great piece to start with. This allowed me to enjoy impressionism without being served something that had a stark contrast, such as the "Woman with a Parasol" by Claude Monet. Both are impressionist, but the latter is far more captivating. Cezanne blatantly tells the audience to have an imagination, whereas Monet displays his intentions in every paint stroke. I love both pieces from the Impressionist era instead of the post-impressionism era. Van Gough and Gaugin really missed the mark with the pieces you shared. The colors are strange, proportions stranger, and the colors are all too bold and flat. They share eerily similar pitfalls and weaknesses, and as for the intentions... I am unaware of what either of them was trying to achieve (personally speaking, the pieces are not impactful or thought-provoking). You did an awesome job choosing art pieces for this post!
ReplyDelete