Activity # 2

Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The Vintages
1879
Oil on Canvas





The Vintagers by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
The painting I have chosen is The Vintagers by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. This painting has become a favorite of mine and I only noticed it a few days ago. I have always loved impressionist paintings and this one is a great. Impressionist painting seeks to re-create the artist's or viewer’s general impression of a scene. It is characterized by indistinct outlines and by small brushstrokes of different colors, which the eye blends at a distance. Soft, pastel colors appear frequently in impressionist paintings. I love looking at impressionist paintings up close and not being able to really decipher what I am looking at. It is only when you step back and look from a far do you see and entire scene unfold right in front of your eyes. I had no idea what a vintager was so I looked it up. A vintager is a producer or a harvester of wine grapes. The focal point of this piece is close to the bottom in the middle where the dark shading of the field. The deep green draws you in and directs you to the path the vintagers are on possibly on their way back from harvesting grapes. As ones eyes follow the vintagers and the path it leads into the town. Analogous harmonies are all over this piece. The yellow-green scheme of the fields is apparent of this. There are patches of brown within the field where possibly the pigments of yellow and green and brown were mixed making a deeper brown through a subtractive process. The pale almost pink hue of the roofs of the homes in this piece stand out against the fields very well. Near the top right corner hidden among the lightly colored brown trees is a large protruding structure, which may be a church. It is well shaded and almost is overlooked if not studied carefully.

Thomas Cole
The Voyage of Life: Manhood
1842
Oil on Canvas






The Voyage of Life: Manhood
Thomas Cole
I chose Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life: Manhood because it looked very interesting to me as I looked at it more and more. As I examined the piece I discovered so many elements that made me love it. It is a dark piece that can almost be expressed as monochromatic with it’s over all dark red appearance to it. With exceptions of the angel, river, boat, a grey almost blue cloud, and the man’s clothes the hue is a very deep dark red. This red can be seen as symbolizing the evils or temptations of the world. This piece is overwhelmed with movement and line. There is a lot of use of diagonal: the upward jutting rocks, a downward sweeping river. Directional line moves from the man on the boat through these dangerous waters and into the narrow rock face. This symbolizes some of the trials and tribulations of middle age. After our eyes flow through the rock face we can see that the river runs into an ocean with a setting sun on the horizon. Here is the actual focal point of the painting. The horizon is the only horizontal line in the painting. This setting sun is a warm color which immediately grabs our attention away from the hectic scene around it. This ocean symbolizes the end of life. There is also a hint of atmospheric perspective with the mountains in the distance looking as if the were shadows they are so dim. There is a constant use of shading on the mountains as a result of the light from the angel as well as the approaching sun.