Essay Comparing The Kneeling Woman And Two Women

Spending time looking at art is a way of trying to get into an artists’ mind and understand what he is trying to tell you through his work. The feeling is rewarding in two distinctive ways; one notices the differences in the style of painting and the common features that dominate the art world. When comparing the two paintings, The Kneeling Woman by Fernand Leger and Two Women on a Wharf by Willem de Kooning, one can see the similarities and differences in the subjects of the paintings, the use of colors, and the layout

The first and most obvious similarity is both paintings are about women. Although the subjects in both works of art are women, the Two Women on a Wharf painting appear to have heavy hearts and look to be consoling each other,

while the women in the Kneeling Woman painting seems to be praying to a higher power. Also, the two women on the wharf seem to be hugging and possibly giving each other some words of comfort while the kneeling woman looks to possibly be doing her praying in a catherdral.
Both painters use different colors in their paintings to bring about the shapes of a woman.

Also, since it’s hard for the viewer to see any emotion the women are feeling in either painting by looking at their faces, the two painters appear to have used colors to create the tone. The feeling of gloom that surrounds the two women on a wharf with the color suggests that they have not found what they have been looking for so their sorrow will last a little longer. The kneeling woman has a brighter background probably depicting that she has found solace or love where she currently kneels. Between the two paintings, the kneeling woman seems to have a brighter looking future ahead of her.

The layout of the two paintings is quite different. The layout in the Kneeling Woman for instance, is that of straight apparent lines and shapes while the lines in the Two Women on a Wharf are faded out by the artist and creates more of a chaos tone. This is perhaps why the two artists decided to name their paintings the way they did as a clue to what the viewer is looking at. The Two Women on a Wharf comes out as a painting done on the spur of the moment whereas the Kneeling Woman appears to have been a carefully thought out painting that necessitated prior

planning.
Ultimately, the two artist want the viewer to be able to relate to the subjects of their respective paintings. One wonders what the subjects are going through. Their poses as well as the lack of a face to convey their emotions is the artists’ way of showing the viewer that emotions can be perceived through color and even the layout of a painting. In this regard, both paintings achieve their intended purpose despite the obvious clues in the names of the paintings.