Brauer Art Museum Analysis

Friday, September 8th I attended the opening reception of the Brauer Art Museum. The opening primarily featured Frank Dudley’s paintings involving the Indiana Dunes, which happen to be located a mere twenty minutes away from the museum. Being that the subject of Dudley’s pieces happens to be so close to the university, it offered an extremely unique opportunity to observe fine art of a place that is easily accessible, and a place that most people are probably at least slightly familiar with.
Overall, Frank Dudley’s pieces might be my favorite paintings the museum has ever hosted. I find myself being drawn to the brightly and masterfully colored landscapes that use color in a way that I have not thought of before. There were a couple paintings that especially triggered something

The warm yellows and pinks in the clouds counteract with the cool purples in the sand replicate perfectly what it is like to watch a sunset on lake Michigan. Anticipation depicts a little boy and a little girl holding hands waiting for a wave so crash on the shore. What struck me about this piece was the way Dudley was able to capture and successfully portray wet sand and the reflections in the water. The way the light is reflected on both the sand and in the water was done so well that to a viewer if feels as if you are one of the two children waiting for the wave to come to shore. Lastly, The Dunes pageant almost reminded me of a Monet, both in the way the people were just dotted on the beach, and in his choice of color palate. Within the sand in the foreground, you can see a wide array of colors that one might not typically think to use to represent sand: including purples, greens, and pinks. In the crowd of what are essentially just colorful blobs, our mind can make them out to be people based on his careful arrangement of the