Saturday, November 05, 2016

National Gallery

Van Gogh - Sunflowers 88
Distinctive pale lemon bg
Narrow palette - yellow/mustard green
Fantasy decorative piece

Gauguin - Vase of flowers 96
Wide palette
Aspect of death & decay
Less abstract than VG
And less epic

Braque - Olive Tree 07
Style derived from Gauguin/VG/Post-exp
No black
Pastel palette
Curved lines not hard edges of Cezanne

George Bellows - Men of the Docks 1912
Claustrophobic NY composition
Cf Cez??
Contrast with France - epic Modernist urban

Surprise - Rousseau
91
Is Tiger surprised by lightening or human?
Blake
Tiger not properly grounded
Rain v effective
Michael Franks

Klimt - hermine gallia
04
Cf Gainsborough
Cf Sargent
Grey & pink palette Cf Whistler
Raised jewels are a flaw

Matisse - Greta Moll
08
Same held hands pose as above
Almost a caricature face yet a strong impression of the woman

Seurat - bathers at asnieres 84
Epic
Urban bucolic
Monumental, statuesque - classical
Strong L > R movement
Individual faces yet universalised - 4 figures are generic, 3 particular
Mirror-like water effect
Coherent palette, luminous

Monet - Waterlilies, setting sun c07
Smooth reflection layer v rough actual layer
Floating reality

Money - Gare St Lazare 77
Solid iron v ephemeral steam
Nature free zone Urban modernity

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