Gustav Klimt, Schloss Kammer on the Attersee I

Klimt is an old well known. We see him on mugs, posters, etc. We recognize him for his “femmes fatales”, languorous and seductive, for his golden backgrounds and their shapes surrounded by arabesques and mosaics.

In summer, he would escape with Emilie Flöge to Attersee Lake but still followed his strict work routine, but now outdoors. Many marvellous landscapes characteristic of his style remain from these holidays.

We will accompany him this time on his boat through the lake.

Sources: Payne, L. Klimt. Bath, Parragon, 2004;

Tretter, S.- Weinhäupl,P. Gustav Klimt: Summer Sojourns on the Attersee 1900-1916.

München, Brandstätter V., 2015 

Themenweg Klimt am Attersee

Remember that if you are using a tablet or a smartphone and you can't see this presentation, you can access to an alternative version of it on Youtube.

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Same and opposite

Friendship between Matisse and Picasso

Matisse, Stil life with oranges, 1912

Both of them changed the history of Painting, each one in their own way. They had two really different personalities, but at the same time similar.

They met each other in 1905 at Stein’s house. By that time, Matisse already had a family and had already shaken the Parisian artistic panorama in the Salon d’Automne with his strident colors. Picasso lived a bohemian and poor life, and was making himself a name in Paris with his paintings of harlequines and saltimbanques and he still had not reached cubism. Matisse was 12 years older.

It was a friendship in which affection, envy, formality, respect, admiration, suspicion and competition were mixed.

The last Van Gogh's Letter

Wheat fields with crows, 1890

Yesterday was Vincent Van Gogh’s 125th death aniversary and that’s why I share with you an extract of his last letter to his brother Théo.

Holidays!!!!!

Sorolla, Niña en mar plateado, 1909

Only Sorolla is able to paint the sun radiant over the sea this way...

Today’s quiz:

        1)Who´s the painter of sky´s blue?  

        2) How many times was the Ghent´s Alterpiece stolen?

        3) What´s the color of life? And the one of death? 

        4)There is an artist that shows up again and again on our blog: how could it be?

You can find out the answers using our search engine, press enter.

Today´s game: Do you recognize what painting is this image taken from? 

Share your answer on the comment section or send me an email... The correct answer, next Thursday!

Last week's solution; Gauguin "Two taihitian Women".

Quiz:

1) Banana eis cream with cream; 2) Vincenzo Peruggia and Eduardo Valfierno; 3) brown; 4) Vicente Carducho.

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Long time ago

São Paulo Museum of Art

(Image: Wikipedia)

I’m about to tell you something that happened a long time ago. I had to travel with Teresa to an Art Fair in. She’d exhibit her ceramics and I would do the same with my oil paintings. Those 3 days were some busy ones, and even if we had no time at all, we wouldn’t waste the chance to visit some museums there.

São Paulo is huge, chaotic and has some hellish traffic… and weather is too hot. In fact, everything is huge there.Yet, we could visit the Pinacoteca do Estado and, the day after, we escaped during the noon to the Museum of Art in the Paulista Avenue. We had just an hour and half. An almost impossible task: the collection is fabulous, it’s impossible to admire all of it, and even more, in such a little time. We split in order to look what each one of us was really interested in.

Cézanne, Mme. Cézanne
in red, 1890

I didn’t need much to think what I wanted: Renoir, Manet, Renoir, Manet, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, Matisse… I stayed long enough in front of the Degas's dancers, trying to discover what makes those oils seem pastels. But soon after, I was attracted by Cézanne, and his characteristic brushstroke. Constable with his Salisbury Cathedral and an unfinished Van Gogh, where you could totally admire the way he used to cope with his work, were just breath-taking.

Botticelli, Virgin and Child with
John the Baptist, 1490 (Wikipedia)

I felt a bit guilty, and passed by Raphael and Botticelli: I wasn’t really impressed by them, maybe I didn’t spend enough time to admire them completely. I had to take a look at Velázquez, Titian and Tintoretto… I would have never forgiven myself otherwise. I took a glimpse of Picasso, Modigliani, Turner and Goya, since there was not much time left: I had to meet Teresa at the Museum’s shop. 

But something attracted like a magnet just right before the end: a beautiful painting by Chardin. Intimate, tiny, without stridencies, every brushstroke was part of a deep feeling: a kid playing with a spinning top, the Auguste Gabriel Godefroy Portrait. His books, his quill by his side, like if the kid was procrastinating, and leaving his school tasks for later. It’s curious: who would have said I was going to stay still there contemplating a painting from the epoch of white braids and wigs? However, it captivated me, and I still remember it until today.

Chardin, Portrait of Auguste Gabriel Godefroy, 1741

As you’ve seen probably from the list of artists I mentioned, this Museum has a really important collection, maybe the one with the most quality in whole South America… even if I still didn’t mention all the Pre-Columbian works, the Latin American art, or the Asiatic and African art pieces…

Van Gogh, Twilight Walk,
1889 (MASP)

It was founded in 1947, impulsed by Assis Chateaubriand, a press entrepeneur, which is why the Museum bears his name nowadays. The base of the collections are purchases carried out by when prices collapsed after WWII. The Italian critic Pietro María Bardi was in charge of them and added his own collection. The current building was built in 1968 and is an architectural wonder. If you travel to São Paulo, it’s not to be missed.

Constable, Salisbury's
Cathedral, 1821 (Wikipedia)

I still wanted more...enjoy every artwork, spend more time every in hall… and I still couldn’t come back there. Maybe life will take me to other places and other museums, making have to be satisfied with my memories of those 3 days in which we had to struggle against the heat and the hellish traffic in order to be on time for everything.

I never knew about Teresa again.

 web São Paulo Museum of Art

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The dark side of orange: brown

Rusiñol, Montmartre Café, 1890

Brown doesn’t appear in the light spectrum: it’s just a weakened orange light, with the same wavelength, but with less intensity. As a pigment, it’s a tertiary color, or which is the same, a mixture of 2 primary colors (red and yellow) and another one, black. That’s why it isn’t shown in the conventional color wheels. It’s one of the first used colors by humans: in caves, obtained from burnt woods or dust.

Meléndez, Stil life with
chocolate dishes, 1770

It’s everywhere in nature, taken from tree trunks, in autumn folliage, on rocks… this is why it’s related to soil, comfort and security. In decoration it’s used for cosy and rustic ambients. It’s highly present in several foods: chocolate, coffee, roasted meat, tea, nuts. The brown meals give us an impression of a more intense flavour and of a high quantity of calories. So if you want what you just cooked to seem tastier, serve them on brown dishes!

It represents simplicity and humbleness. In Middle Age, it was used by the poor, beggars and servants, just because they couldn’t dye their clothes; which led them to wear not-whitened wool or linen. It’s worn by members of religious orders as way to follow the poverty vow. In Ancient Rome, the pullati, (“those with dirty or dark clothes”, in latin) were barbarian or poor, those who couldn’t pay the dye for their clothes.

However, nowadays it’s not a trendy color, simply because it’s always used: it’s easily matched with the rest of colors. Somebody wearing in brown gives an impression of sociability and kindness, but with it, originality and individuality are also lost, since it fades the other colors. We’ll never see a Queen or a celeb dressed in brown: it’s not a sign of elegance, but of daily routine. It’s the same for suits and male shoes.

Another of its negative aspects is due to its connection to comfort: it’s associated with laziness, lack of intelligence, conventionalism and traditionalism. And since the lazy ones don’t worry about the rest, brown also alludes to egoism. It also is related to excrements and dirt: to ugliness and antipathy. In it, all passions, energy and vitality disappear.

Van Gogh, Country woman
with brown coif, 1885

Suntan was a sign of poverty for many centuries, since countrymen had to work under sunshine for hours. Elegant ladies would cover themselves to keep their skins white. But after World War II this perception changed, if anybody was tanned, they had spent their holidays in Southern Europe, therefore, they could pay those holidays, and it soon became a sign of status. And later, also a proof of health.

After having read this, you now understand why you should never take brown clothes to a job interview.

Tapiès, Big Brown Cross, 1982

Welsch, N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V., 2004;

Heller, E. Wie Farben auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;

personal notes

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Orange: the color that didn't exist

Botero, Oranges, 2000

Okay, yeah, it has always been there in the light spectrum, and in China and India, it was used a lot in Buddhism and Confucianism as representation of the maximum grade of perfection. In China, it’s the Emperor’s color, since it’s a result of mixing yellow and red, light and fire, sensuality and spirituality, sky and soil.

Meléndez, Stil Life with Melon and Oranges,
ca. 1775

But in Occident, orange wasn’t considered a color. It was either red o a dark yellow. It’s not there in any artwork or clothes. But one good day, the crusaders brought oranges from Arabia, (Even though they are originarily from China) and started to grow them in the Mediterranean. Since then, orange, as a color, appeared to us.

And now there’s orange everywhere, not only on oranges, but also on setting sun, on the Autumn leaves, on molten iron, on some cheese rinds, on carrots and some other fruits…

It’s a really vibrant color and visible from great distances, which is why it’s used in safety vests, in taillights, in lifeboats, to mark toxic substances, or on any other sign of danger. When associated with other color, it enhances their qualities. The blue-orange duo (complementary colors) is the ideal match: energy and serenity.

Delaunay, Rythm: Joy of Living,
1930

Its positive side implies activity, sociability, youth or fun (e.g., clowns wear orange wigs!): in short, it’s related to anything that shows the joys of life. It’s the color of the individualists and extroverts ones. The fruit is also a symbol of fertility, reason for which its flower is present in bridal bouquets.

Negatively, it imploes few seriousness, lightness and impertinence, what doesn’t make it suitable for advertisements or luxury articles or cars.

It is also associated with Netherlands Royal House. When William of Nassau (1533-1584) inherits the Principality of Orange, in Southern France, he receives the name of Oranje and includes this color in his Coat of Arms. This is when it becomes Netherlands’ emblem color, for which it’s their sport uniforms’ color despite not being on their flag. It’s associated with Protestantism, referring to the Dutches who fought in Spanish territories. When William III of Naussau becomes King of England, orange is included in Ireland’s flag, symbol of rebellion against Catholicism.

Van Gogh, Stil Life with Oranges, 1888

And mandarins? They also come from China. Its name was given by Portugueses, referring to the clothes of Chinese public servants, the mandarins.

So now, each time you peel an orange off, remember the long journey it had to travel to have its color accepted as one …

Welsch, N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V., 2004;

Heller, E. Wie Farben auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;

personal notes

Yellow’s Contradictions

The color of light (according to Goethe), of the sun, of Autumn… but also the color of envy and betrayal… These are yellow’s contradictions.

In those cultures in which sun is part of their divinity, gods are represented by this color, they were even imagined blonde in Ancient Greece! It’s also the color of the Chinese Emperors, Sun’s descendents, just as European Kings dressed in purple, a quite expensive pigment. So did those in Orient, but dressing in saffron, another rather inaccessible pigment. In Asia, yellow also represents happiness and wisdom, which is why Buddhist Monks dress in yellow. Also, the Yellow River (Huang He) owes its color to the amount of mud it carries, which makes it the river of fertility.

In most countries, post services use yellow for their logos, that’s because Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor’s Coat of Arms was yellow and since then its use spread all over the rest of countries. Consequently, this color is used by messengers in general.

Van Gogh, The yellow house,
1888

Due to its brightness, it’s connected with optimism and happiness, why else would you think Smileys are yellow? In Tour de France, the top cyclist is given a yellow jersey so he can be distinguished from the distance; also in the first televised editions of Wimbledon, the tennis balls used were yellow so they would be more visible than the formerly used white ones. In soccer, just like in traffic lights, a yellow would mean ‘warning’. A yellow flag shown from a ship would mean ‘plague’, ‘disease’ or ‘quarintine’. Those yellow traffic signs with black letters or symbols are those that must be seen and followed from the distance, same happens with the signals that warn about poisons, explosives and radioactivity.

Toulouse-Lautrec, In the room
of the Rue des Moulins, 1894

But a yellow not obtained from saffron, but from reseda seems dirty, dimly lit and isn’t resistant to washes. In Middle Age it represented shame, betrayal, envy, jealousy, selfishness, greed and it was used by the prostitutes, glambers, jews, single mothers and witches of the time. Judas would be painted in yellow for his betrayal. Toulouse-Lautrec also painted the prostitute’s skins yellow. In XII century, jews were told to wear yellow hats: it’s not a matter of luck that centuries later, nazis would make them wear the Star of David’s of the same color.

Giotto, Judas Kiss, 1302

Since it has always been related to Devil and sins (due to sulfur's color), it’s not a liturgical color for the Catholic Church.  In theatre, it was always considered a bad luck giving color. (It’s said that because Molière died while playing his role in The Imaginary Invalid and being dressed in yellow.)

And it was also usually rejected in fashion for its negative connotations, not in Asia, though; and it’s for the East’s influence that yellow appears for first time in European fashion in XVIII century. Even though it’s sometimes seen now in Winter catwalks, it’s usually just worn during summer, when sun brights the most!

(What about Beatles’ Yellow Submarine? And Tony Orlando’s ‘Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree’?)[1]

Sources: Welsch,N.-Liebmann, C.Chr. Farben. München, Elsevier V.2004;

Heller, E. Wie Farben auf Gefühl und Verstand wirken. München, Droemer V., 2000;

personal notes.
Translation: Lorenzo Vigo

---

[1] Listen to these songs through these links: The Beatles and Tony Orlando.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island La Grand Jatte, 1884 - Georges Seurat

They are thousands of pure colored dots, painted on a canvas during 2 years. Seurat considered that the painting was a scientific experiment of color and composition.
We analyze today his work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island La Grand Jatte, 1884.

If you want to know what the Golden Section is, read this article, and if in case of the complementary or analogous colors, see this other post of our blog instead.

If you are using a smartphone or tablet, you can click here to check the alternative YouTube version of the post.

cristinadelrosso.com // cristinadelrosso.artproject@gmail.com

Fuentes: Gage, J.  Color and Cultur, Berkeley, U. of California Press, 1999;

Bretel, R. Modern Art 1851-1929, Londres, Oxford, 1999;

personal notes.
Translation: Lorenzo Vigo

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A color is not only a color...

Colors aren’t only reflected light getting into our eyes: they influence our mood, they also have different meanings determined by cultural, psychological and subjective factors… fron now on, we’ll analyse each one of these.

We tend to paint our room’s walls with cold and light colors to improve our rest. Take the opposite example, if we painted our room red, we’d find it more difficult to fall asleep… Hot water is represented by the color red; cold one by blue.  In anatomy’s ilustrations, arteries are colored red while veins are blue. Same happens with traffic signs.

Try this: use blue food coloring on rice or cookies. I bet people will feel reluctant to have a taste of them. Why does this happen? Because blue isn’t originary from the products we usually use for meals and that makes us suspicious.

Most of these facts are a result of the characteristics of each color (black equals darkness, for example), but also of the psychological connotations and symbolisms of each culture and its traditions (while in West black means death and night, in the East, white is used for funerals).

Cimabue, Virgin
enthroned with Angels,
1270

The choice of colors in art, fashion and design, isn’t done randomly and mostly is determined by the influence of the subjective dimension of color.

In the Middle Ages, when almost everybody was illiterate, faith and religion was spread through images and colors were set in a symbolic way so that we could identify the figures in it easily. Virgin Mary used to wear a red dress and a blue cape, sky will always be blue and Heaven and Paradise green. Red was also used for martyrs and blood. Kings wore purple…, etc. Later, artists will try to represent the color’s object (which is named ‘local color’) but the symbolic use of color will often appear throughout the history of Art (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Munch…)

Soon, we will analyse the effects and subjective connotations of the color red.

Next week we will talk about the Jacques-Louis David’s painting The dead of Marat.

cristinadelrosso.com // cristinadelrosso.artproject@gmail.com

Sources: Nerdinger, W., Elemente künstlerischer Gestaltung. München, Martin Lurz, 1986

Welsch, N.-Liebmann,C.Chr., Farben, München, Elsevier, 2004

Translation: Lorenzo Vigo
Picture of blue rice: Cristina del Rosso

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Le Moulin de la Galette, Renoir

A dance, a friendly meeting, nostalgias from old Paris.

Today we are going to analyse this painting by Renoir and what he pretended to express… and also the history of the second Moulin that almost got cremated with its owner.

I hope you enjoy it!

If you've entered the blog on a smartphone or tablet, there's a video available on Youtube: http://youtu.be/wOvqbeZUynU. In case of iPad or iPhone, you can also download the Prezi app.

 
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