Musee du Louvre (Paris, France)

The Louvre museum is one of the places in Paris that you almost have to visit even if you’re not a huge art fan. It is home to some of the most famous works of art in the world such as the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Liberty Leading the People and many others. The Louvre museum itself is an amazing work of art with all the standing sculptures that wrapped around the outside of the building. The museum was once a royal palace for two centuries then eventually became the museum it is now, thanks to the great art collections of kings such as Louise XIII and Louise XIV. The French army captured many art pieces from the land they conquered making it the vast collection it is today. The collection is so great that there is no way that one could see all the works of art held there, but out of the art that I did see I had two paintings that I really enjoyed.           

            The first artist’s name is Jean August Dominique Ingres who was born in France in 1780. As a young boy he learned to draw, and later attended a close school that was closed in the middle of his studies due to the French Revolution. He resumed his art studies and studied sculpture and landscape painting classes. He was a neoclassical painter, which was the revival of classical styles in art during the 18the Century, which formed in a response against Rococo art. He was most recognized for his skill of painting and sketching portraits of people. The painting of his that I saw was called Roger Delivrant Angelique, which was of a man on a winged creature rescuing a girl stranded on a rock. The way he painted was very smooth and buttery, and the gold color in this painting really captured my attention against the dark background. I really like the high contrast of the painting because it makes the figures stand out and almost look like they are glowing.

            The second painting was by a French artist named Paul Delaroche. He was self-driven to become a great artist and enrolled in an art school. He was known for painting scenes based off of stories of the English kings and queens. He was admired for his unique new style of a historical genre, which was similar to the Romantic period. The painting that I liked of his was called The Young Martyr. It was of a young Christian Martyr who was drown and started to float in the water with a glowing halo over her. The colors of this painting are so pigmented and rich. I really liked how you could see her dress half above and under the water and how it changes from white to a murky turquoise. Even though this painting depicts death its still so soft and elegant in the way her head rolls to the side with the curves of her floating dress.

Roger Delivrant Angelique by Jean August Dominique Ingres, 1819

The Young Martyr by Paul Delaroche, 1855

Musee d'Orsay (Paris, France)

            In October I went to go visit my sister who is studying abroad in Paris, and I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to visit a few art museums since the history of art in Paris is so rich and important. I visited Musee d’Orsay, which was the museum I was most excited for since I am a big fan of impressionistic art, and the museum held the biggest selection of impressionistic art that I have ever seen. It’s exciting to recognize the paintings of an artists work, and I loved them all, but I had two favorite paintings named Portrait of Eugene Boch by Vincent Van Gough’s and the other Nuit d’ete by Winslow Homer’s.

            Vincent Van Gogh was an impressionistic painter from 1880-1890. He is known for his bold colors and unique broken brush strokes. He started drawing as a young child and began oil painting when he was in his twenties. He was mainly self taught as an artist, then was later officially taught by his cousin Anton Mauve, who was a teacher at an art school. He thought that it was important to master painting in black and white before he moved on to color, which I thought was interesting to know because he definitely wasn’t scared to use bold colors. Apparently he wasn’t a very well known artist and few people took a liking to his work until much later. I had never seen any of Van Gogh’s paintings until I went to Musee d’Orsay and I instantly loved almost every one. Something about the vibrant colors he used in the Portrait of Eugene Boch really captures my attention. Seeing this painting up close is even more amazing than in any picture book, his brush strokes were so thick almost creating a texture to the painting. He was very smart when it came to his color palate because of the use of complementary colors.

            Winslow Homer was an American artist who learned to draw at a Lithography shop that he worked at, at the age of 19. He started as an illustrator in the 19^th century drawing for illustrated weekly magazines, which is where he made most of his money. He learned at a design school where he took a few painting classes. He eventually moved to Maine, which was the place that inspired his stormy seascape paintings. At Musee d’Orsay I managed to find the one homer painting in the museum called Nuit d’ete. This painting was very rich in color with the sudden peeks of turquoise that were surrounded by dark shadows making the colors pop. Even though this painting depicts a dark night with the waves crashing you can still get a sense of softness as the moon reflects off the water leading down to the two dancers. I have duplicated a seascape painting by Homer a few years ago, which made me appreciate Homers work in person even more than I would have if I hadn’t. I personally love his work because I have a continuing obsession with seascapes and the colors turquoise and sea foam green, which he often uses in his paintings.

Portrait of Eugene Bach, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Nuit d’ete, by Winslow Homer, 1890, oil painting

18th Century Art #12

For a while the Baroque style dominated the art world, with its heavy subject of drama, violence, and religion. Artists eventually started to move away from the seriousness and wanted to find the playful and youthful side of life.

            This new idea of youthful art became known as the age of Rococo, during the 18^th century. The transition from Baroque to Rococo involved the use of more emotion and brighter colors. After the death of King Louis XIV, and the rise of the middle class people developed a new perspective on fashion and art, they then became interested in redecorating their houses with a more feminine and subtle home décor rather than the rich colors of fabrics like velvet and fine metals, which was popular during the Baroque period. The new interior design style involved the use of curved forms like shells, plants and rocks along with delicate pastel color that was used to design furniture and clothe. This popular style then moved into other art forms such as painting and sculpture.

            The art in this period was full of elegance, lush gardens, extravagant clothing and soft feminine pastel colors. Most of the paintings seemed to move away from religious subjects, and instead depicted intimate scenes full of love and nature. The first artist to play with this style was with the painting The Pursuit form The Progress of Love by Jean-Honore Fragonard. This painting presented a dream-like scene of a young man chasing after a young girl in a blooming garden in the glowing light.

            Since the art style juristically changed from serious subjects to playful and feminine the subject of the art during the Rococo age became almost controversial at first to many people. A great example why it was viewed as controversial is through the painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau called The Swing. The painting is of a woman being pushed on a swing while a man underneath her looks up her dress while he hides in the bushes. Regardless of the risqué subject matter this painting represents everything the Rococo age was about. 

The Swing by Jean-Honore, 1767

Happy Lovers by Jean-Honore Fragonard, 1760-65

The Pursuit from the Progress of Love by Jean-Honore Fragonard, 1773