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