The Interior of the Palm House on the Pfaueninsel near Potsdam (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1996.388) is an oil painting on canvas produced in 1834 by the German painter, Carl Blechen. The piece is 52 ½ by 50 inches, depicting a scene of lush greenery and four women who have the appearance of stepping from the pages of a fantasy novel, all united within the pastel confines of ornate greenhouse walls. Despite its mystic and dream-like properties, Blechen 's Interior of the Palm House is purposefully fashioned so that it allows for the imagery and conceptualization to be somewhat more attainable for the viewer, differing it from other works that draw upon similar imaginative ideas. Attainable fantasy is an aesthetic that Blechen effectively achieves in this piece through naturalistic rendering of detail, through manipulation of depth, and through the four mystical women.
In order to properly expand on any aspect of Interior of the Palm House, Blechen 's attention to detail must be considered. Blechen utilizes a linear approach in this piece, resulting in each brushstroke …show more content…
Though the painting is of a real palace, the composition is teeming with the lush greenery, almost to the point of an excess of foliage. This abundance of flora mirrors perhaps nostalgic attitudes for the more economically prosperous times of Prussia, when the state was abundant with greenery in the form of wealth and power in comparison to the other Germanic states. To accentuate this point, Blechen 's composition includes a ceiling-to-floor perspective, utilizing the small four figures in the midground to highlight the grandness of the giant foliage. Additionally, Blechen includes an exotic motif of the four mystic women, dressed in Indian garb, which can be interpreted as representing disdain for the previously held neutrality withheld by the state, limiting its power and interaction with other exotic
In order to properly expand on any aspect of Interior of the Palm House, Blechen 's attention to detail must be considered. Blechen utilizes a linear approach in this piece, resulting in each brushstroke …show more content…
Though the painting is of a real palace, the composition is teeming with the lush greenery, almost to the point of an excess of foliage. This abundance of flora mirrors perhaps nostalgic attitudes for the more economically prosperous times of Prussia, when the state was abundant with greenery in the form of wealth and power in comparison to the other Germanic states. To accentuate this point, Blechen 's composition includes a ceiling-to-floor perspective, utilizing the small four figures in the midground to highlight the grandness of the giant foliage. Additionally, Blechen includes an exotic motif of the four mystic women, dressed in Indian garb, which can be interpreted as representing disdain for the previously held neutrality withheld by the state, limiting its power and interaction with other exotic