Art Experience Assignment

Vase de Fleurs ~ Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
I decided to view an artist that I found at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. I viewed all the different art and came back to the piece of work that I remembered most vibrantly.

Initial Reflection
Beautiful picture of flowers
Brush Strokes very noticeable
Heavy use of reds, pinks, whites, and some greens
Up close it is harder to see the flowers; they almost blend in with the background.
From further away it is easier to see the individual flowers.
Simple but complicated
Colors remind me of love
Evokes happiness

The painting is a typical piece of art that I would be drawn to. The intense but subtle color of the flowers caught my intention. I walked through the rest of the museum but I knew that I would eventually end up back at the picture by Renoir. It is just so simple. The painting is simple vase of pinkish colored flowers. The flowers reminded me of peonies, just some kind of flower that you would cut from your garden and put in your house as a decoration. But at the same time there is so much more happening in the picture to be considered just simply, simple. With the color of the flowers contrasting with the turquoise color of the vase and all the different strokes used to distinguish all the different pieces of the picture (the flowers from the table, from the background) there are so many unspoken elements and emotions being evoked. It is a striking picture. As I stand here taking it in, many people have also stopped to observe the picture; some in great length others in a glance. This painting is something that I would definitely want to have hanging on the wall of house but at the same time the elegance of the painting makes it seem as if it deserves to reside on the walls of a museum for all to see.

Information

Pierre was born in Limoges, France but moved to Paris when was only 3. Pierre met Claude Monet and the two painted directly from nature. “The impressionist brushwork evokes a sense of immediacy, almost veracity, that what is painted is a faithful report of what the artist saw” (from the sign in the museum). Renoir used this technique to paint social settings, group portraits, and individuals. He had a passion for the still life and nature. “Still lifes and cut flower paintings were an opportunity to explore intimacy with the impressionist technique” (from the sign in the museum). An interesting fact, the day that Pierre passed away he was painting another portrait of cut flowers.

Informed Perspective

When I returned to reevaluate the painting, it was much easier to understand and see the different aspects to Renoir’s painting. You can really tell how much he loved to paint cut flowers. There was an essence of love being portrayed through the painting. The strokes were that of the impressionist era. Being informed on the artist and the painting hasn’t really changed my initial reflection on the painting. It still made me feel happy and I was still impressed with the detail paid to the strokes. I just understood the reasons behind the strokes. I still want to own it and have it on the walls of my house but I now see how it is even more important that it hang on the walls of the museum for all to see.