Analysis Of Arabian III By Margaret Keane

Arabian III is a painting, created by Margaret Keane in 2005, which depicts the head of an Arabian horse. This alone makes it quite unique from many of her earlier artworks, or other works in general, which typically feature women and children. One aspect that remains, and will likely remain until the end of Keane’s career as an artist, are her signature Keane Eyes.
Margaret is known for painting whimsically large eyes on any and all of her subjects in paintings. This has been true ever since the beginning of her career, and while she may have discovered her reason for painting them, she will always keep the painting style that she has grown accustomed to over the years.1 Margaret began her art career before marrying Walter Keane, but it took

a turn for the worse after she discovered that he was abusive.2 She began to paint these children with oversized, sad eyes to channel what she felt into something external. She didn’t have a way of communicating her pain, as she was stuck with Walter 24/7, so painting became her only way of expressing herself. Due to her dependency upon painting, Margaret went along with the lies that Walter told, thus making herself even more emotional. After falling into the web of lies, it took Margaret a long time to realize her mistake and to escape from Walter’s abuse. When she did finally break away from Walter, she fled to paradise, and was then inspired by the beauty and happiness that she saw there.3 Due to this inspiration, Margaret was able to switch the themes of her paintings from something so sad and melancholy to something that was much happier and more full of life. Arabian III is an example from the time in Margaret’s life where she could finally see happiness, which is represented by the gleam that is evident in the horse’s large eye.4
Another illustration of Margaret’s peacefulness is the way that she made the horse seem to glow. She did this by highlighting almost every section of the horse’s face in a light beige hue, and by using a color that is only a few shades darker than that of the highlights, for the shading. The mane also adds to the effect, as it is very luminous in color, and even golden in some sections in the back. The top area of the mane almost blends into the white background, and the darkest shade in the hair is a very light brown. In addition to these aspects, the color of the background is also an important factor in creating the horse’s radiance. It adds an element of both contrasting colors and analogous colors. On one hand, it is far brighter than the darkest shade of brown on the horse, while on the other, it is very close in color to the mane, and in parts of the face of the horse. All in all, these elements combine to give the horse a radiant appearance.
One of the, if not the, most important elements in this work of art is the use of line. Line is an important factor in any work of art, but it plays a very specific role here. In this painting, there is an element of motion, which is represented in the lines that make up the mane and the outline of the head of the horse. These lines are not very straight, neither horizontally nor vertically. They are drawn in more of a diagonal direction. The method of purposefully replacing vertical or horizontal lines with diagonal lines is used to express movement within a still life. You can’t literally express an action in just one frame, but you can indicate movement by using the diagonal line method, which Keane has done very well in Arabian III.