We must be soldiers for Art!

Tag: painting

  • Kandinsky Always Makes Me Happy

    Kandinsky always makes me happy, even when he may not intend it. This painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, called Little Painting with Yellow (Improvisation), has bright colors and lines of motion that together make me happy. An improvisation is something that is made up or created on the spot but is usually done by a highly-skilled artist. Said artist can be a musician, composer, oil painter, sculptor, poet, etc. The distinguished point is that the work was not planned out ahead of time but was executed in a moment from pure artistic vigor.

    Little Painting with Yellow (Improvisation), 1914, Wassily Kandinsky, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA.

    The style of the painting resists characterization for several reasons, but I don’t want to go into all that here. I’ll just say that he wanted to create spiritual experiences with completely non-representational shapes. In this instance, Kandinsky seems to have done exactly that and to have done it with an unplanned improvisation.

    I need a little happiness right now, so I’m grateful for Kandinsky’s artistic talent.

  • Picasso: Wait, what?

    I was thrilled, while at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to turn and see one of Picasso’s most famous paintings! I thought “Gosh, I didn’t know it was HERE.”

    Well, it isn’t. It is most certainly a masterpiece, but it is slightly different than the famous painting of the same name and year.

    Three Musicians (1921) uses Synthetic Cubism, which is a “cut-paper style.”( You will know this style from Matisse.) Three masked musicians play various instruments. On the left is a harlequin playing the violin, in the middle is a sailor, maybe, or a clown playing the recorder, and on the right is a Dominican friar. I feel like Picasso is using a sense of humor in creating this. Strong vertical lines and gentle horizontal lines dominate the painting with the occasional diagonal line to introduce some tension. Beneath the whimsical portrayal is the more solid idea of three individuals performing as one entity. It is also a bit poignant; it was painted after the Second World War and has been interpreted as depicting lost prewar friendships.

    Three Musicians, 1921, Pablo Picasso. The Philadelphia Museum of Art

    If interested, you can check out the Museum of Modern Art in New York City to see the other Three Musicians painting from 1921.

  • Rain by Van Gogh

    I was surprised by this painting because the colors are more muted than I expect from Vincent Van Gogh. The subject matter, rain, is difficult to capture well in painting, yet he has gotten it perfectly. Drops of rain have to capture light just right in order for our eyes to see it. Oftentimes I look out the window to see if it is raining or not, but it takes a moment for my eye to adjust and to see the rain. That is why I think this painting is so marvelous; it has caught that moment when your eye sees the rain drops.

    I like how the storm has muted the colors in the scene. I also note that although Van Gogh uses the traditional vanishing point in this painting, he is more dependent on shape and form to suggest depth rather than using haze or dimness. As ever, I love the strong brush strokes with large amounts of paint applied to the canvas.

    Thank you, Van Gogh, for giving me such a thrill of pleasure!

    Rain, Vincent Van Gogh. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA