During the nineteenth century, artists wanted to create awareness of nature before it changed completely. The landscape paintings represent more than the beauty of nature: it can trigger a memory, tell a story, document a moment. Thru Cole's painting of 1828, where he illustrates the story of Adam and Eve expulsion from the "Paradise" land, I remember the moment when I returned to Venezuela after spending one year abroad. The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden is based on the biblical metaphor of Adam and Eve; who had the opportunity to live in a paradise land, with the exception that they wouldn’t consume a fruit from a specific tree. This was known as the forbidden fruit and if they were to eat it, their time in that world would be over and they would be sent to a different world where hard work has required to obtain what you desired. It might be a strange comparison: a biblical proverb and a trip back home, still, leaving a country that had its problems, but has the right conditions to live in and returning to a country where life had no value, people had no food and the life circumstances got worse day after day, can be a parallel situation to the change of a paradise land to a world where people suffered the consequences of their sins. …show more content…
On the right side of the painting, we see bright colors illuminating the beautiful, rich fauna and flora of the landscape, with a clear blue sky as an idealization of the perfect world. On the left side, we see a bright force pushing Adam and Eve into the world where not everything is bright and shine, nature is somehow destroyed, fauna is wild, the sky is obscure and the mountains cover the light of the sun; a world where the reality is, that if you want something you have to work for it and errors or broken rules would have
The lines outline the water, the clouds, the trees, all show the volume and depth of each element. The use of lines surrounding the ocean and land show the division between each land and water. The use of lines on the rocks show the layers and rigid layout of the land instead of just a flat ledge. The painting also has a lot of shape and definition. The clouds have a fullness so you can see the difference between sky and land. I think Bierstadt also used some aerial perspective in this painting. The sky is blue in spots showing that it is further back in the sky. It’s almost like you are looking down on the fishermen from the sky. The light is very bright and tends to stand out over much of the painting. At first glance your eyes are drawn straight to the light because much of the painting is very dark and gloomy. The light would be focal point of the whole piece. The light allows you to clearly see the mountains and the beach. I think a lot of low key values such as the dark clouds and the water were used in the painting. However, a lot of high key values were used such as the sky and the clouds. This painting is one of my all time
The St. Louis Art Museum has many intriguing pieces of artwork, but my eyes seemed to navigate towards Thomas Cole’s pieces. Research has shown that Thomas Cole was best known for his landscape art, but through the portal of America’s wilderness and it’s association of God. Nature, human life, and mortality were the key viewpoints
On September 26, 2017 I visited the Dallas Museum of Art where I saw “The Fountain of Vaucluse” by Thomas Cole. The oil on canvas painting, displays a rocky landscape which captures the beauty of nature and civilization while also provoking thought in the viewer. An individual’s nature to hope for something better than the current discomfort he or she is experiencing is portrayed through Cole’s use of color and environmental contrast in this piece.
The convergence of the implied lines forming the river banks with the fading blue mountains on the right produce a left to right movement when viewing the painting. The invisible lines created by the mountain range and the river emphasize direction by moving the viewer from a narrow and cramped foreground to a vastly open background that seems to go on for miles. His use of lines to produce this movement down the river has an effect of taking the viewer on a short ride into the distance towards the open mountains under a clear blue sky with white fluffy clouds. In contrast the buildings in the distance are enveloped in white with much softer lines and less defined outlines. This progression from clearly outlined and defined to less defined and wispy shapes communicates the thought of starting a journey in firm reality and moving down a dreamy river towards the unknown. Carefree clouds, beautiful mountains, and blue water just take the viewer to a more serene place, away from the reality of the
In the Heart of the Andes’ painting by Robert Seldon Duncanson, an immensely deceptive illusion is cultivated. This 1871 naturalistic landscape entices the viewer’s senses and lends itself to being part of the “beautiful” which is _____. This painting is a rendition of an earlier work done by Frederic Church in 1859. The formal qualities present in Heart of the Andes appear to fabricate an amicable symbiotic relationship between man and nature with motifs of God acting to legitimize human fallibility.
The first American group of painters, The Hudson School of Romantic Landscapes, was lead by Thomas Cole, who was born in 1801 in England. He went to Philadelphia and Ohio as a traveling portrait painter in 1819. In addition, he traveled to Europe where he painted many Italian subjects, and later many of the scenes in his paintings came from his European studies. He died in 1848 at the age of 47. Cole’s artwork represents the Romantic style of painting, especially in his famous work The Oxbow (Fulwider 618). In the life and time around Thomas Cole, three things stand out. The major themes in Cole’s artwork, what was romantic about the Hudson River School’s art, and why landscape was a national religious symbol for Americans.
This painting shows how close and codependent humans and nature were. How well humans worked together with one another and their world. How peaceful those that are close to nature are, which is why it (nature) must be celebrated and appreciated.
The background has areas of dark and light that may be representing a dark part of this woman's life and the light area showing awakening in this woman's soul. To me the woman in the painting is staring out into the world and realizing that there is so much out there for her. That she can walk out of there and not be lost any more. Mrs. Mallard felt the same way. In the room she realized that she can now live her life on her own the way she wants to. She walked out of the room with a sense of
We can also see the use of black shades to create a hole at the bottom part of the rock. With his excellent use of colors, we can identify the good, healthy and green grass from the bad, unhealthy, brown grasses. Looking beyond the main focus of the painting, he uses colors to separate the sky from the land in the background creating a solid form of perspective on the painting. He also uses colors to create water forms as seen behind the young character. Now, for the sky, he uses shades of white to magnificently differentiate the thick clouds from the light ones. He also uses this to create a source to light to the whole area. All these put together creates a splendid, realistic and familiar atmosphere for the viewers to relate with.
The Epic of Eden: A Christian Entry into the Old Testament. Sandra L. Richter, InterVarsity Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8308-2577-6
It has a very unique point of view. The bright white of the wall on the left directs your eyes to the bright pop of color on the leaves. Your eyes then wander to the water in the background. This painting just flows together so well. It gives me a sense of calmness but for others back in 1898, a sadness overwhelmed them because it was once home to
The use of light and color by Friedrich contributed to the calm and peaceful mood which is created. The main source of light in this painting comes from below the man and the rocks he is standing on. There is no visible sun in the sky and it is most likely behind the clouds. The light from below the rock illuminates the air around the man, directing your focus to him and his calm stance. The fact that the main light source from the painting is below him could represent the man's past and how he is reflecting on it while he is standing here looking out at the landscape. There is very little darkness in the painting, and this contributes to the peace of the painting because everything has the same level of light. It shows a sense of evenness and calmness in the landscape. This evenness is also displayed through the colors
Cole has no restrain in describing the beauty of all the elements found in the American scenery. He talks about the mountains, the sky, the streams, the sunset, waterfalls, all of which are overflowing in richness, full of magnificence, and unsurpassed by any other. For Cole the scenery and nature are subjects which must be present in the souls of every American. While he considers himself and even others underserving of “such a birthright”, he is thankful for the beauties given to us by nature. Cole suggests to his audience that the reason behind him painting natural scenes relates to the experiencing of a particular emotional response while doing so. This is a response which can only be compared to a “calm religious tone”, full of “tranquility and peace.” Witnessing the beauties of the American scenery, anywhere one goes, makes one realize how “the sublime and beautiful are bound together in an indissoluble chain. In gazing on it we feel as though a great void had been filled in our minds.” Cole places great emphasis on the importance for all members of society to learn how to cultivate “a taste for scenery.” This can be achieved by appreciating the physical beauty of nature and the ability of said beauty to provide mankind with a different perspective about life and with
Humanity is but a facet of the sublime macrocosm that is the world’s landscapes. In the relationship between man and landscape, nature is perpetually authoritarian. In her free-verse poems, The Hawthorn Hedge, (1945) and Flame-Tree in a Quarry (1949), Judith Wright illustrates the how refusal to engage with this environment is detrimental to one’s sense of self, and the relentless endurance of the Australian landscape. This overwhelming force of nature is mirrored in JMW Turner’s Romantic artwork, Fishermen at Sea (1796). Both Wright and Turner utilise their respective texts to allegorise the unequal relationship between people and the unforgiving landscape.
Adam and Eve were the first man and woman to ever be created by God’s image. In the story of Adam and Eve is to believe that God created two human beings to live in a Paradise on earth, called the Garden of Eden, although they had fell from that state it said to be in history that they began humanity, and the loss of innocence.