Western painting

When Claude Debussy composed his piece, La Mer (Movement II, Play of the Waves) between 1903 and 1905, he found inspiration in Katsushika Hokusai’s artwork, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Because the song is based off of artwork, one with expect for it to be programmatic, and it meets those expectations. The title, La Mer, is customary for absolute music because it is telling of the idea that will be produced in the music. The music then follows through with the title by audibly depicting the sea…

Demoiselles d’Avignon it is quite evident that these paintings were influenced by Paul Cezanne’s The Large Bathers. All three of these paintings capture an uncertainty and vagueness in their subject matter and what they are trying to convey. Bonhuer de Vivre by Matisse, was one of the first paintings of its kind. He used such vivid and bright colors to exemplify his subjects along with the imbuing of spatial and visual aesthetics. Many say that this painting is idealistic and fantasy like…

Joseph Mallord William Turner was an English artist who gained notoriety from his landscape paintings that utilize the dynamic lights that illuminate the scenery he builds. Joseph Turner’s work innovated and popularized landscape painting, which laid the foundation for impressionism to come into prevalence after the Romantic period. This is observed in his painting Rockets and Blue Lights, painted in 1840 with oil on canvas. Rockets and Blue Lights displays a coastal view of the ocean that…

William Bouguereau is a French artist who had made this painting for a “ Gift of an Anonymous Lady in memory of her father”. William Bouguereau is a very important artist of his time from 1825-1905, he was part of the official art system. Graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, winner of the prestigious Prixe de Rome, and member of the French Academy, he was also a great favorite on the art market. He had made his paintings from meaning and personal experiences. His sophisticated style and color…

He felt it to be the right moment for his nation to seek out fresh, less genteel subjects. The paintings by Henri, Sloan, Glackens, Luks, Shinn, and others of their acquaintance that were inspired by this outlook eventually came to be called the Ashcan School of American art. These painters began attracting public and gained immense popularity. Being…

The floor scrapers is an oil painting that was done by Gustave Caillebotte, who was a French Impressionist. The painting measures 40.2 inches by 57.7 inches or 102 by 146.5 centimeters. In the year 1894, the Caillebotte’s family originally gave the painting to Muse du Luxembourg where in was later moved to Muse d’Orsay in Paris in the year 1986. This paper aims at doing thorough conceptual analysis on the painting named “The Floor Scrappers” by Gustave Caillebotte. The young painter…

Mary Cassatt was a renowned American painter who created a famous painting known as “The Letter”. At first glance, it portrayed an older women sitting at a desk simply mailing out a letter. After analyzing the painting for some time, I uncovered more then what was seen at first glance. The painting is very unique and was difficult to interpret in the beginning. When I visually analyzed the painting, I saw an older Japanese woman wearing traditional Japanese attire while sitting at what looks…

perfect version, they go through a number of eras or epochs where they try out different versions. Pablo Picasso, a Spanish painter in the 20th century, went through different periods where he drew in a specific colour to see how it affected the painting. He started off with the Blue Period, where he drew mostly blue colours (Pablo Picasso, 2015). This he used for a few years, until he switched to the Rose Period, when he painted in reddish colours. This is an example of how humans change…

Caspar David Friedrich was a key artist in German Romanticism, and his works remain embedded in the art movement’s history. Klosterruine Eldena is a landscape painting done circa 1825 and is one of his many artworks that features his interpretation of the Eldena Abbey. Following the themes of his various other works, the painting depicts the abbey in a manner that is almost hauntingly beautiful. The ruins of the monastery stands tall despite being engulfed in the surrounding greenery. Although…

Every individual has different perspectives on any given object or concept. On Tuesday December 5, I attended the McNay Art Museum and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. The first floor displayed Chuck Ramirez’s, a notable artist from San Antonio, well-known work and provided the descriptions for his artwork. I had walked through the museum and found three art works that resonated with me each telling a different story. Focusing on these three artworks I will identify, describe, analyze, and…