Being the art lover I am, I jumped at the opportunity to visit another art museum on this trip. THE NATIONAL GALLERY! Not only did the museum itself draw my attention to this cinetrek, but the sheer idea of finally viewing a Van Gogh piece with my own two eyes. The excitement!! Vincent Van Gogh, if it wasn't already obvious, is by far my favorite artist. And to my surprise, my favorite piece of his, 'Sunflowers', is displayed in The National Gallery today.
I don't quite understand my interest with painting of bouquets, but they seem to draw my attention the most. The two paintings I chose from the National Gallery was first and foremost, Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' and Renior's 'Gladioli in a Vase'. Both works are paintings of flower arrangements, but their differences are obvious.
In Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers', painted in 1888, his artistic style shines through the photo with ease. His bouquet is made up of dying sunflowers wilting to their end. The painting could be a representation of the end of beauty, or seeing the flaws of beauty in a group of dying sunflowers. By creating a message begging to be analyzed, his painting becomes a masterpiece by creating depth and interpretation to be created by the audience viewing it.
'Sunflowers' focuses on a warmer color scheme of mostly yellow, green, and a tiny portion of orange. Yellow sunflowers sit in a yellow vase in front of a yellow wall. Although the subject could easily blend into it's background, he captures the essence of simplicity of his flowers by complimenting the vase and flowers just enough to make them seem to "pop" off of the wall. Van Gogh uses intricate, thick brush strokes to create the 3 dimensional strokes making up the leaves and petals of each dying flower. He even goes further to sign his painting in the middle of the vase, adding to the shape of it by following his signature along the line traced along the middle.
On the contrary, Renior's 'Gladioli in a Vase', created in 1874, is painted very differently. This painting originally caught my eye, not only due to the fact it is a bouquet of flowers, but because of the bright colors and intricate details presented in this work. A wide range of colors are used in Renior's painting, unlike the simple scheme of Van Gogh's. The background is black contrasting the white table cloth that the blue china vase sits on. The flower colors range from red to pink to green. All of the flowers contain colors different from the background and vase, creating an overall effect of syncrasy throughout the work. Small details of the plants represent the time spent perfecting the painting. Renior wanted to give the impression that this bouquet was intricate and pristine instead of fast and violent. The flowers seem to be blooming and alive, giving a calming effect to it's audience as opposed to the dying symbolism found in Van Gogh's work.
Both works are a true masterpiece which is why they are hanging in the National Gallery in London. The artists took their ideas and created a work directly onto canvas. Although both paintings are of flowers, each were created in a way that truly represents their creator, making them as different as they may seem similar.
Ariana Frayer 06/08/14
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