In an empty room at the Timken Museum of Art hangs one of the most iconic paintings of Johannes Vermeer, the astonishing painting, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. In the painting a pale woman’s stands patiently while reading a letter. The woman appears to be wearing a blue jacket and a long gray skirt, and only gazing at the letter, ignoring all of her surroundings. The top right of the painting seems to be a map of the Netherlands, which attracts the viewer because it explains the setting of where the painting took place. The blue jacket around the woman’s torso appears to exaggerate the woman’s stomach, giving the impression that she might be pregnant. The blue chairs resemble a sign of absence as if she lives alone. The light on the top left shines on her face which enhances the viewer’s view of the woman’s facial expression. Johannes Vermeer’s interpretation of complex colors, the light, and her body language inflicts a persuasion on the viewer that the women is traumatized by the news in the letter. …show more content…
Vermeer’s constant use of the color blue if very fascinating.
Not only does he make the woman’s jacket blue, but also the two chairs. The jacket is similar to a turquoise color this sometimes symbolizes sophistication. He uses that color to explain the emotion in the women, and the mood. Also, the dark blue chairs symbolize peace and calm. This could mean that the letter was from someone checking up on her. Behind the woman is a giant brown scroll that looks like the map of the Netherlands. Some people say that the letter was written by a traveling husband. There is almost a mystery to why Vermeer uses the color blue so much in his paintings. Mostly it’s because he wants to show a sense of peace and
calm. One thing that artists use to captivate a painting is the use of light. Vermeer’s use of lighting intensifies the woman’s facial expression. The beautiful white light that flows through the transparent windows shines on the woman exposing her feelings. Also, the light shines on the map, jacket, chair, and some of the table coverings. While most of the light is focused on the random objects around the woman, Vermeer uses the light to show her face. He wanted to show the viewer how the woman was feeling when she was viewing the letter. The light also shines upon the chairs, giving the impression that the woman is alone. One of the last things that Vermeer shows in this painting is the woman’s body language. The way the woman stands straight up and has her neck down is fascinating. That tells you the woman is very focused at the letter. Also, the way that the woman’s hands are to her side tells you that she was anxious when she was reading the letter. The woman is also standing up when there are two open chairs. This could be because the woman saw the letter on the table and got up and started reading it. The woman’s mouth is about half-way open. This could be because Vermeer is trying to show that she is excited about reading the letter. Vermeer’s use of complex colors, light, and body language creates a very powerful image with a lot of meaning. When Vermeer painted this he didn’t just want to show you the woman, it was what was surrounding the woman in blue. There are very similar examples to this one that show the same features. For example, The Kitchen Maid was also created by Vermeer. That painting also featured a lot of the color blue and used plenty of light. This is to show you what the impact of color and light can have on a painting. In the end, Vermeer’s painting will always be remembered and are always used as samples for other paintings.
Wayne, transforms this painting into a three dimensional abstract piece of art. The focal point of the painting are the figures that look like letters and numbers that are in the front of the piece of art. This is where your eyes expend more time, also sometimes forgiving the background. The way the artist is trying to present this piece is showing happiness, excitement, and dreams. Happiness because he transmits with the bright colours. After probably 15 minutes on front of the painting I can feel that the artist tries to show his happiness, but in serene calm. The excitement that he presents with the letters, numbers and figures is a signal that he feels anxious about what the future is going to bring. Also in the way that the colors in the background are present he is showing that no matter how dark our day can be always will be light to
When that room is entered all voices are hushed, and all merriment silenced. The place is as holy as a church. In the centre of the canvas is the Virgin Mother with a young, almost girlish face or surpassing loveliness. In her eyes affection and wonder are blended, and the features and the figure are the most spiritual and beautiful in the world's art.
In her article, “Judith Leyster’s Proposition – Between Virtue and Vice,” Frima Fox Hofrichter offers the readers to acknowledge a painter of still-life, portraiture, and genre works named Judith Leyster, who had been greatly commended in her native city of Haarlem by introducing a new view in painting that contradicts a popular theme. The key question that the author, Frima Hofrichter, is addressing is Judith Leyster’s outlook towards her painting of The Proposition, instead of the actual subject in the art piece.
...elationship between the people in the composition and their feelings in each other’s company. The viewer is forced to think critically about the people in the painting and their feelings and body language.
Blue is used to represent the water as well as the sky and both similar and range in different tones. All of the colors in this piece are washed out but still have a bright quality to them. The colors aren’t brightly pigmented however; Hiroshige does a satisfying job of drawing in the viewer with the color choices used and the little details. The sun in the sky is simply the white of the paper and almost looks as if the color burns through. Pops of red, show in blocks on the right side of the work wit Japanese writing inside each one, which contrasts with the large amounts of blue and helps the writing stand out.
Color is used to draw attention to important characters and objects in the painting. The red of Mary’s shirt emphasizes her place as the main figure. A bright, yellow cloud floating above the room symbolizes the joy of the angelic figures. De Zurbaran uses warm colors in the foreground. The room, used as the background for the scene, is painted in dark colors utilizing different hues of gray and brown.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous painting, At the Moulin-Rouge, combines striking coloring with abnormal lighting to create a work that addresses men’s superficial interest in women. The dark scene depicted in the painting includes ten people scattered about a restaurant. In the center, two women and three men sit casually around a table while the background portrays two men and a woman peering into mirrors; a second woman (in the foreground) observes the situation. The most arresting aspect of the picture is the dominating, pale face of a woman in the right foreground of the picture. A careful analysis of the painting begins with the study of the portrayal of the brightly-lit women and how the men’s gazes focus that representation and concludes with the viewer’s natural confirmation of that portrayal. This textual look at the picture leads the viewer to the conclusion that it is a woman’s external pomp that attracts a male.
The contrasts between depth and surface, figure and landscape, promiscuity and modesty, beauty and vulgarity all present themselves in de Kooning’s Woman and Bicycle. Although the figure is a seemingly normal woman out for an afternoon with her bike, she becomes so much more through the artist’s use of color, contrast, and composition. The exotic nature of woman presents itself in her direct stare and slick buxom breasts in spite of a nearly indiscernible figure. It is understood that, on the whole, de Kooning did not paint with a purpose in mind, but rather as an opportunity to create an experience, however, that does not go to say that there isn’t some meaning that can come of this work. Even Willem de Kooning once said that art is not everything that is in it, but what you can take out of it (Hess p.144).
I have chosen to write my paper on painting titled “Café at Night” by Vincent Van Gogh. Since this picture is a very popular one, I might have seen it a couple times before I actually decided to write about it. I feel warmth, streaming out of it, when I take a look at the “Café at Night”. This comfortable feeling made me select this artwork.
In the novella of "Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by Susan Vreeland, it has many short stories that talk about a painting by J. Vermeer of Delft, and in each story, it talks about the painting and the impact that it has on different people's lives for better or for worse. In explaining this painting in the first short story of "Love Enough," the author explains it as "A most extraordinary painting in which a young girl wearing a short blue smock over a rust-colored skirt sat in profile at a table by an open window." (page 4) In the last story "Magdalena Looking," Magdalena herself explained how her father drew her for this painting and how she thought that she was ugly and that no one would want to look at her or even want the painting of her. All
Johannes Vermeer was born on October, 31st 1632, in Delft, Netherlands, and died December, 16 1675. Jan was one of the best artists during that period of time. He, had many successes, but one painting that capture everyone’s attention was, Girl with a Pearl Earring, an 18 ¼ x 15 ¼ in. Size portrait, painted in 1655, and represented to be an oil on canvas painting. This portrait can be viewed in Mauritshuis, The Hague. The genre of this painting is a historical fiction, as in the subject it was about daily life situations, and an ordinary girl. Johannes Vermeer made this painting be a representational, because it showed is emotions, patients, and dedication. Also, it represents a woman and how this painting became to be. Girl with a Pearl Earring,
So, this painting creates a visual depiction of what people think and feel. The next two pieces create a different kind of impression, they are not showing us how it look directly, it is not something we can see with our eyes.
The artwork of Erwin I’m looking at is called My Mother, My Sister, Back to Back. In this drawing the artist mother and sister pose for her sitting on a table in front of a window. The first the first object that catches your eyes when you look at the painting are the figures, mainly the artist mother. The halo of cottony white hair leads you down to a tired, aged woman face. This gravity you feel pulls you down to follow the curve of her body, which looks like it’s getting tired of holding itself up, to her slightly stretched out legs. One foot touches the line of the window panel which leads you up to the top of the drawing then follow the foliage across the drawing. Then you follow the window panel back down to the artist sister cover legs. From the legs you find her twiddling her hands in a nervous gesture. Follow her arms up in stiff posture next you see the sister turn her neck slightly has if to check on her mother and ask if she needs a break. Their backs only touch in two places the behind and the shoulders. The colors are very muted in the background and the only true
In the Golden Age of seventeenth-century Dutch Art, many painting masters came to light. Paintings of familiar scenes of domestic, everyday life became immensely popular among patrons; genre painting quickly became a branch of art in its own right. Many of these paintings, with or without purpose, contained hidden symbolic messages, some warning of the effects of a sinful life, with others providing a moral code in which one should inherit. Jan Steen’s The Feast of St. Nicholas is no exception. In this domestic scene, we see a Dutch family that has been visited by St. Nicholas and the joys and disappointments he has left for certain members. Steen’s The Feast of St. Nicholas is a strong narrative painting that is skewed with moralizing and symbolic messages throughout the composition.
As onlookers peer into the artworks in front of them, there is no question as to whether or not they considered what the artwork means, where it came from and what the artist was interested in who created it. The intrigued viewer quite possibly could also want to have a conversation with that artist and ask them questions about the artwork and what it was that they were thinking about when producing it, with a goal of better understanding what they were looking at. As the viewer and after serious contemplation, would you believe you understood the artwork as the artist or artist’s society believed the work? Could you appreciate the work the same? Walter Benjamin, a well known German-Jewish Marxist literary and cultural critic, philosopher, translator and essayist introduced ideas and questions similar to these in his epic essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” He wrote about many different ideas concerning the concept of art, writing, politics and society. Benjamin was born in Berlin on July 15, 1892. He worked and lived in Germany for the majority of his life. He earned a Ph. D in 1919, but never held an academic career (egs.edu, 2009). “He dedicated his life’s work to writ...