Braque- Still Life with a Violin and a Pitcher

Cubism 

This shows multiple perspectives at once. Influenced by Cezzane through geometric shapes. 

Cezanne-Monte Sainte-Victoire

He was a post-impressionist that wanted to impose order. He shows a return to form using geometric shapes. 

Saw that everything was broken up into 3 geometric shapes- sphere, cylinder, cone 

Rejects past traditions

POST IMPRESSIONIST

Chagall- Green Violinist

Very whimsical

He is enormous 

Standing on houses

He is Russian

The fiddler on the roof is based off of this painting 

Dali- The Persistence of Memory

Ants are on the stop watch

Clocks are melting 

Degas- The Rehearsal

They are not idealized at all. It is real beauty. 

He focuses on how the life of ballerina is not glamorous 

He admired ballerinas

oFocuses on dancers. Weird because they were only slightly above prostitutes on social scale

Our vantage point is the backstage view. He gives each character individuality. It is not idealized beauty, rather it is real.

IMPRESSIONIST

Duchamp- L.H.O.O.Q.

Defacing the face of humanity. Saying that our civilization is making us horrible

Takes a shot at civilization 

Hopper-Nighthawks

Creates feeling of isolation and loneliness

•Streets are empty 

•It is late in the dead of night 

•The one is in the dark 

•The couple doesn’t feel connected 

oWoman is looking at her hand 

The light is not life-giving it is a very sterile light

The colors are very harsh

The red and green show the terrible passions of humanity just like Van Goh

AMERICAN REALISM

Johns-Flag

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM

Kandinsky- Improvisation 30

He wanted to liberate painting from nature

It should be an exact replica of an emotion 

Kandinsky- Several Circles

•Her favorite piece

•Curvilinear lines

•Very tranquil

•He drew all of these free hand

•It is sublime. It is like space and the cosmos. You see emotion and creation. The circles communicate emotion. It is peaceful and stable. The colors bleed into each other. The background has variations. 

THE BLUE RIDER ABSTRACT ART

Magritte- Treachery of Images

oLess concerned with the dark side, more concerned with our assumptions of reality

oThey are more playful paintings 

Manet- Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe

oStraddles realism and impressionism

It was unsettling for the people because she is looking straight at us. It implicates us into the scene. 

She is a real flesh and blood woman

It is also unsettling because she has willingly taken off her clothes and placed them at her side

The men are ignoring the obvious

Marc- Fate of the Animals

•Very violent

•Not soothing

•It projects force and movement 

•Violent clash of colors especially red. It looks like dripping blood

•Showing how industrialization is interrupting the harmonious relationship between animals and nature 

•Shows the violent tensions in Europe

Marc- Large Blue Horses

•Arbitrary color like Matisse work

•Very spiritual feeling

•The color blue is a heavenly color

•He is saying that he loves these horses

•Very calm and tranquil

•Something very beautiful about the way their head is bowed

•It is very inviting

•He says the purpose is to show the harmony between the animal and nature

Matisse- The Red Studio

Fauvism 

Extension of Van Goh’s use and idea of color

oColor is expressive and can communicate emotion

Art no longer imitates nature 

Violent mood that is intensifying

The meaning of Fauvism is wild beast

Arbitrary use of color- no reason for color use

French

Mondrian- Composition

INTERNATIONAL CUBISM

He saw two kinds of beauty. One kind is to appeal to the senses. It is subjective and individualized. The other kinds of beauty appeals to the intellect. It is more objective and universal. This is an intellectual aesthetic because it is rational and objective. It is universal and simple so anyone can appreciate it. There are primary colors. The horizontal and vertical lines show the harmonies of opposites. 

Monet- Impression Sunrise

Favored plein air painting-  painting outside

Interested in realism of light and color, not form of bodies and such

They are deliberately sketchy. Contemporaries did not like these pieces because they look unfinished

They paint with an innocent eye=painting what you actually see, so we fill in the blanks with what we know. 

Moore- Reclining Figure

odoes human landscapes 

oabstracted human forms 

oinfluenced by pre Columbian art and Renaissance Art

Munch- The Scream

actually Norwegian he is a fore runner to expressionism 

Represents Le Belle Epoque

Very unsettling 

The light colors on top portray beauty, while a dark place lies underneath. Very La Belle Époque

Screaming on the inside 

Dirty colors to look at 

Universal image that anyone could step into 

It looks like a mummy. It indicates that he is dead inside. 

The curvilinear lines represent the scream that reverberates through nature

The diagonal line leads to the two other figures 

He is along and cut off from society

This is supposed to be a self-portrait that shows he is alienated 

FORE RUNNER TO GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM

Nolde- Pentecost

•Deliberately crude

•People are literally burning with inspiration and the holy ghost 

•Very intimate compared to other paintings of the same image 

•Faces look like masks which is an example of primitivism 

THE BIDGE GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM

Picasso- Family of Saltimbanques

He then falls in love and goes through his rose period. He has a fascination with circus performers

Resembles the “Tragedy”

Still no sense of community

No eye contact

These are misfits from a lower social class

Still shows suffering and outcast form society

Picasso- Guernica

Protest art

First intentional bombing against civilians 

Massive piece with a commanding presence 

Through lack of color Picasso is asking what’s important. He chose black and white because he wanted it to read like a newspaper.

The light emphasizes the innocence of the civilians and shows that God saw what Franco did and that the world has seen what Franco did

Avant garde

The symbols of hope include the flower, and the light coming through the door

The bottom left alludes to the death of Christ with the thing holding its limp baby. It shows the injustice and the death of the innocent 

Picasso- Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

Very illogical and irrational

Many different shapes

Primitivism 

The figures moving left to right become more abstracted

Some of them look like masks

Picasso was fascinated with African masks

Pollock- Number 1

oAbstract expressionism called gestural painting 

oInfluenced by the surrealists

oInterested in the subconscious 

oHe would be drunk and listen to jazz

Rauschenberg- Monogram

oMade combine paintings which is sort of like a collage 

ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONIST

Renoir- Le Moulin de la Galette

oFocused more on form, but the faces are still pretty soft

oFocuses on human subjects, mostly on middle class or working class youth

oReally paints light very well

IMPRESSIONIST

Rothko- Rust and Blue

oAbstract expressionist 

oPaintings are called color field paintings

oTries to show opposites of emotion and reason 

oInterested in the subconscious

has a spiritual element 

Seurat- A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

oVery interested in color theory

oTechnique called pointillism- tiny dots of color that make up a picture

oSaw himself more as a scientist than an artist 

Van Gogh- The Night Cafe

oEmphasis on color

It is very off

The colors are intense and uninviting

Green and red intensify eachother

He says he paints the terrible passions of humanity 

Wanted to paint a café where one could go mad, ruin himself, or do a crime

Impasto- build-up of oil point that creates texture

POST IMPRESSIONIST

Warhol- Mick Jagger

oCreates iconic images of American pop culture

oVery deep commentary on contemporary American pop culture and the effect that advertising and mass media has on it