My Kid Could Paint That

Color Theories

BY NAYOUNG KWON

Henri Matisse, successfully covered three movements: Fauvism, Modernism and Post-Impressionism, and helped define the world of visual arts during 20th century. During his childhood, Matisse became interested in painting to the disappointment of his father, while his mother supported his career in art. His dedication towards art grew strongly, as he describes it being "A kind of paradise" and could be an escape from chaos events in his life.

The color red is passionate, powerful,vibrant and eye-catching. Matisse loves using vibrant colors like red because it shows dominance. His strive for success and desire to move forward in the world full of competition can be seen through the color. Matisse is courageous in terms of using red because he was able compliment red with other colors but also created it as a focal point instead of making it into distraction. In The Red Studio, the color red accomplished the resist of illusion of a visually cramped studio. Although the symmetric walls give satisfaction, Matisse throws off the boring and consistent flow by adding crooked chairs and table. His use of red is energetic but also calming, the style that he has developed over the years with the use of red, have attracted millions of individuals to fall in love with this painting.

Color Theories

By NAYOUNG KWON 

Vincent Van Gogh, a Dutch painter who focuses on post-impressionism became world renowned for creating pieces that reflects the every day life of what he sees. However his use of bold textures, themes, and the mood seems to give the feeling of mystery, especially in his choices of color. In mid point of his artistic career, Van Gogh's characteristics can be viewed through not the textures or themes but his colors. The colors show different emotions, and psychological behaviors that he suffered over the short years of his life.

The most common color that can be seen through out his art collections are blue. Psychologically speaking, people who use the color blue more often go through personal rejection, lack of communication and social skills, and they are easily discouraged. And the reason why the color fits well with Van Gogh is because he went through all those common traits. Even from his childhood, he could not have functioning relationships with friends or family. All the trauma and anxiety that he has experienced, he shuns them by painting.

Van Gogh successfully radiates the feeling of mellowness and melancholy in Starry Night with the use of yellow. The of warmth of the color reveals Van Gogh's distant relationship with the people around him, and how the sources of the light in the painting are far away. On a deeper level, the painting reveals Van Gogh's inner loneliness and the frustration towards himself and society.

Brawlin' Broads

By Bhux

By Bhux

The Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi depicts a murderous biblical scene in Jael and Sisera. The scene comes from the Book of Judges and shows Jael's decision to murder Sisera, a Canaanite general who is a threat to her people. Sisera was a cruel leader who ruled the Israelites for over 20 years. During one battle, Sisera escapes and Jael, the wife of Herber the Kenite, welcomes him into her tent. She feeds and comforts him, even possible seducing the warlord. While he rests, she drives a tent peg into his brain. Jael appears almost serene before the act. She is determined to do what will save her people. Gentileschi chose to show the moment directly before the climax of the scene. Her arm carefully aiming above his head before crashing down leaves the viewer with a gut feeling of suspense and impatience. What happens next? Is she successful? By showing the moment directly before the murder, Gentileschi leaves the viewer in a suspended state of anticipation.

Gentileschi was inspired by Caravaggio and was influenced by his unique style. This work is similar to Judith Beheading Holofernes, in that a biblical woman acts independently to murder a military leader to preserve her people. Caravaggio's work was praised and set a precedent for depicting female independence. Without it, Gentileschi's painting of a woman not acting under the influence of a man would have been met with fervent criticism. Gentileschi's style shares many similarities to Caravaggio. Clothes have soft folds and fall gracefully and characters are softly illuminated by an outside light source. Many art historians have noticed a resemblance between Caravaggio's face and Sisera's. Some believe she is symbolically disgracing her long time idol by killing him in this painting. However, historians do not know what caused this seemingly sudden disdain for her primary influencer. It almost appears like Jael is sculpting marble - which could hold and entirely different meaning. No one knows exactly what feelings she is conveying towards Caravaggio. No matter the meaning, Gentileschi intentionally draws the viewer into this dramatic scene with her skillful depictions of human emotion and form.

Brawlin' Broads

By Bhux

Goya's series of 82 prints, The Disasters of War, expose the raw brutality of war. Personally, I find them more impactful than most anti-war art because of the lack of a political agenda from Goya. He created the plates to show the horrors of war, not to send a political message or glorify war. Early on in this series of plates that depict the Peninsular War between France and Spain, it is clear what side each soldier fights for. However, as the series progresses, this distinction becomes increasingly convoluted until it is impossible to identify a French civilian or soldier from a Spanish one. The plates do not glorify the violence because they do not dramatize the events and depict Spaniards as some kind of hero. He indiscriminately shows the atrocities committed by both sides. 

This particular plate shows a young women being attacked by a soldier. An elderly women lunges at the man from the side with a knife to prevent what will likely become a sexual assault. The lines are rough and stiff, but still convey fluidity and intensity within the scene. The viewer can feel the woman's anguish as she desperately attempts to push her attacker away. We can see the determination on the man's face as he forcibly grabs her. Goya chose to not use color in the series of plates. He believed it was unnecessary, and black and white was all he needed to show what he desired. Because Goya sketches the scene, it feels candid and unplanned. It is not staged with models. Instead, he viewed the event first hand and cared more about showing the brutality off the event instead of stylizing it and showing off his painting skills. He does not romanticize the event; he shows it unfiltered and without bias. Goya's series, The Disasters of War, boldly captures the chaos and terror of war from an onlooker's perspective.

Countless artists have depicted the beheading of Holofernes since the original recounting of the story. Caravaggio's rendition has attained acclaim for centuries and inspired countless artists. He chooses to take the unique perspective of depicting the event at its dramatic climax, while other artists of the day chose a more passive, somber approach. A popular topic of the time, Judith Beheading Holofernes is a classic story of the bible. Judith saves her people by seducing the Assyrian general Holofernes. Holofernes rests vulnerably in bed, power damped by nudity and intoxication. Judith severs his head to put in her sack and force his people to retreat. Judith became known as a symbol of triumph over tyranny for her dramatic role in the bible. Her purity and calamity contrasts with the savagery and pain of Holofernes as Caravaggio divides the work in half. Caravaggio allows the viewer to watch this violent act unfold, unable to intervene and haunted by Holoferne's inhuman screams and contorted face frozen in time.

Caravaggio's masterfully depicts human emotion through his beautiful use of color, depth, and shadow. He shows Judith's ambivalence towards the gruesome act. The viewer feels her repulsion, but also her desperation and willingness to sacrifice for her people. Caravaggio perfectly paints these contrasting emotions within Judith's face. Her body language and facial expressions show her unwavering determination but also reservations about the beheading. Her servant stoically holds her bag open in anticipation to aid her master. The firm, emotionless figures of the right sharply differ from the man in excruciating pain on the left. His eyes show not only surprise, but shock of the unexpected betrayal of Judith. He has no time to think or react consciously; his face contorts to express his despair and hopelessness until his death.

Baudry memorializes Charlotte Corday's little-known role in the French Revolution in this 1860 work. Corday hides in the corner after murdering radical political activist Jean-Paul Marat. The scene became iconic in France and artists have made countless renditions. Corday opposed Marat's role during the Reign of Terror and tragic September Massacres where thousands of prisoners were preemptively executed in fear of uprising. Corday initially planned on killing Marat in front of the National French Convention, but Marat's health had deteriorated from a skin condition. She went to his house feigning insight on a planned uprising, found him in his bath where he spent most of his time, and plunged a knife into his heart. For days after his murder, Corday was executed by guillotine. Corday quickly became an iconic figure of the revolution and empowered women across France.

This work was Baudry's only attempt at a historical painting as he found fame primarily in portraits and murals. Corday calmy stares across the room after killing Marat. Her striped dress falls gently and provides elegance to a chaotic room. Corday stares pensively across the room, knowing she will be found guilty of murder and likely executed, but she does not show her fear. The soft light illuminating from the window highlights Corday as the subject of the work as the eye sees Marat in the shadows secondly. His hand still grasps the corner of the tub and his face grimaces in pain, giving live and emotion to a corpse. Behind Corday, one sees a map of France on the wall which helps provide the viewer with the necessary historical context. Corday is an all-too-often forgotten heroine of the revolution who sacrificed her life to save thousands, and Baudry captures the emotion and energy in Marat's room directly after his murder with ease and poise.

Siqueiros paints this mural towards the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the rise of fascism in Central and Latin America. Siqueiros himself fought in the Spanish-American war and joined the National League Against Fascism and War as a result. The artist creates this piece as an protest to Fascist regimes and to warn his fellow countrymen to be wary of foreign imperialism especially from the United States.

Cuauhtemoc Against the Myth uses artistic tactics that make the piece successful in meaning. The artist places the central light in the work on Moctezuma in order to express his hope for the peace and prosperity of his descendants. The platform that raises Cuauhtemoc illustrates that the ruler and the Spanish conquistadors are on the same level literally and metaphorically. The Spanish battle using the lord as their weapon whereas Cuauhtemoc uses a mixing of colors to fight symbolizing his cultural identity. Although the pursuits of Cuauhtemoc are not myth, Siqueiros work incorporates blending of colors and three dimensional-looking shapes in order to showcase a deeper meaning than just the subject itself, which makes this piece a work Mythic Art. 

Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiope of Joppa. Cassiope boasts to the Nereid sea nymphs about that Andromeda was far more beautiful than them. As an act of revenge, Poseidon ( G-d of the seas) sent a sea monster to Cepheus and Cassiope's kingdom. Only the sacrifice of Andromeda would appease the monster and the g-ds, leaving her to be chained to a rock and eaten by a horde of sea monsters. Perseus happened to be flying overhead on his Pegasus, upon seeing Andromeda he falls madly in love and proposes marriage. She accepts his proposal, leading Perseus to then slaughter the sea monster. 

This tempera on panel work portrays the story while remaining true to the artistic elements of the Renaissance. Giolfino illustrates his message through staging by employing the use of mountains and other natural features. In addition, he uses creases and lifelike bodily characteristics similar to his other Renaissance counterparts. The dark background gives meaning to the mood of the piece, the destruction of one civilization and the dawning of a new one. Additionally, the buildings in the background show the promise for a prosperous society. Similarly, the sprouting of trees also illustrates hope for renewed life. The part in the Earth between Deucalion and Pyrrha illustrate the impending gender divide of women in the private sphere and men in the public. However, the commonality of Pyrrha's yellow headpiece and Deucalion’s yellow robe, shows that men and women are "cut from the same cloth".