Formal_Analysis_of_Art

Formal Analysis of Art Vincent van Gogh’s painting of “The Starry Night” is of a church in a village looked down on by the mountains; these two connected by the power leaning cypress and the church. The powerful leaning cypress customarily was used to mark the graves in the southern part of France and Italy. In “The Starry Night” van Gogh’s is showing us his personality of a free spirit, with unrestricting and limitless lines. Sometimes he seems wild and unmanageable. In this painting van Gogh seems angry with life. This is became his signature style like his autograph. When we see paintings drawn with angry strokes some may presume they are looking at a van Gogh painting. If we compare van Gogh’s painting with Sol LeWitt’s “the Wall Drawing” van Gogh’s are painted by himself were as Sol LeWitt give instructions to the museum workers to produce his work. Sol LeWitt’s wall instructions are straight to the point more controlled and safe. The lines are mathematically precise. These wall instructions are easier for the museum employees to reproduce in several different museums. The instructions are not always the same so the employees have to make some decisions on their own, (Sayre, 2010). The Las Meninas (the Maids of Honor), was commissioned by King Phillip IV. It is thought to be a portrait of King Phillip and Queen Mariana’s daughter Infanta Margarita. This painting is a perplexity. It is tough to declare whether the Las Meninas is a Genre scene or supposed to be a historical painting. Diego Velazquez painted the daily existence of the royal family. This painting is done in the royal palace which is the home of King Phillip IV and his wife Queen Mariana’s. It seems that main point of the painting is Infanta Margarita their five year old daughter. Although Infanta Margarita is being chaperoned by the other girls she is encircled by others as well. This painting looks like they are getting ready for some kind of formal gathering. Velazques painted the attendants in formal attire as well. When we look more closely at the painting it is separated in thirds. Velazques has placed the priest and a nun in the painting to show the importance the Catholic religion has in Spain. He even placed the queen’s chamberlain in the doorway of the painting and by using the light around him Velazques draws attention to the mirror that holds an image of the king and queen, (Pearson MyArtLab, n.d.). Velazques has placed a dwarf in the painting as well, dwarf’s were sometime given as gifts to court dignitaries. We cannot see the paintings on the wall very well but there is a replica of Ruben’s Pallas and Arachine; this shows the value of this painting to Velazques. We see a large canvas with Velazques painting this painting. Velazques has a red cross on his blouse, King Phillip IV had it added after Velzques passed away to honor his craft, (Pearson, MyArtLab, n.d.). Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” is a more modern type of painting. It is straightforward, uncomplicated painting of a soda shop based during the Great Depression. Edward Hopper shows the soda shop with clear windows and a soda jerk serving his customers. Looking through the clear glass windows we can see the department store building on the other side. The way Edward Hopper played with the lighting and colors of this painting it makes it look like it is getting dark out. There is a shadow around the soda shop and shadows in the department store, along with what looks like the sun is about to set because of some of the shadowing on the building, (Sayre, 2010).