western survey exam 2

Munch, The Scream

Symbolism was an international movement and Munch is a Norwegian artist who began to paint works of art about modern anxiety. Munch recalled crossing a bridge and feeling a "scream pass through nature." He uses color and linear effects along with zooming perspective to communicate this idea. Symbolists were often concerned with psychological conditions.

Which of the following paintings are Orientalist?

*Delacroix Death of Sardanapalus *Ingres Grande Odalisque *Gros Napolean visiting the plague stricken at jaffa

Turner's Slave Ship and Gericault's Raft of the Medussa have what in common?

*both are storm-tossed vessels *involve death and dying *negative political events

Goya's May 3 1808 is Romantic in which of the following ways?

*death and dying *anti-heroic *assymetrical

Which of the following tend to be true of Neoclassical compositions?

*hidden brushstrokes *classical dress of the figures *symmetry

Which of the following is true about the Rococo

*it makes use of pastel colors *it uses doll-like figures *nothing terribly serious happens

Gericault, Raft of the Medusa

16 x 23 feet. Death, a storm atsea, and being in the center of the action are allRomantic. real incident,the sinking of a ship and a life raft because ofthe incompetence of the captain, Most had died, but a few try to flagdown a ship in the distance. A black man is atthe top of the action, waving a shirt at right.Gericault was an abolitionist. Compositionallythere are two off center pyramids—the mastand the people beneath it and the figures risingupwards at right. This is very different from thesymmetrical neo-classical paintings we haveseen. Only 15 of the original 150 peoplesurvived and in order to do so, practicedcannibalism. Gericault wanted to capture thecolors of death and visited hospitals and amorgue to do studies there. There are a numberof diagonals here, typical of the Romanticperiod.

Paxton, Crystal Palace

Around the same time in London the building that came to represent the new age was built for the first world's fair, the crystal palace. This huge structure was made of prefabricated metal and glass parts and only took six months to put together. It subscribes to "undraped" construction where the cast-iron skeleton is not concealed. The idea of revealing a cast iron skeleton came from greenhouses and Paxton had created a few of these. The "crystal palace" was a huge success.

Jean watteau signboard of Gersain

At lower left Louis XIV is symbolically being putaway into a wooden crate. Louis XV littleinterest in the grand, formal style of the Frenchbaroque. elegant woman inpink casts a glance at the portrait of Louis XIV asshe enters an art gallery. figures doll-like and small, Rococo. Thepaintings for sale are mainly of mythologicalscenes. pink, light green, andblue— typical of the Rococo. The woman gazes in mirror- vain behavior, but without serious consequence. atmosphere ofsophistication. Watteau influenced by Rubenslove of color and fabric. Artists loved color are called Rubenistes, while others who preferred clarity of line are called Poussinistes

Muybridge, Horse Galloping

Before long photography had advanced to the point that split second photographs could capture what the eye could not see. Muybridge was an English scientist who settled in California. The governor of that state bet a friend on whether there was ever a time a galloping horse had all four legs off the ground at once. The governor thought that if so the legs stretched out forward and back like a rocking horse. Instead, that never happens, but there is a moment when they are bunched up beneath the horse (see second image from the left at top).

Morisot, Summer's Day

Berthe Morisot was one of two female Impressionsts at the heart of the movement. She married Manet's brother and through her influence brought him closer to the Impressionist movement later in life. Morisot was never able to sketch or paint alone in the out of doors and had to be accompanied by a companion at all times as this was conventional for the period. She tended to paint scenes of women and children, her family at home or spaces where women were allowed as in this row boat. This too is a painting of leisure. Like Monet and Renoir she uses open brushwork. Look at how abstract the lower part of the woman's skirt at left appears. We appear to be in the boat with these women, which might have been the case with Morisot.

Canova, Pauline Borghese

Canova was Napoleon's favoritesculptor and served Napoleon's family; this isa sculpture of his sister Pauline. She wasknown to have many affairs and Canovashows her as a Venus (goddess of love)figure in a manner that looks like a Greek orRoman sculpture. Pauline's husband hid thesculpture in his palatial home. Few wereallowed to see it and only at night bytorchlight.

Degas, The Rehearsal

Degas was another artist with his own style. He too cuts off figures abruptly, but has a stong sense of line unlike Monet and Renoir. In fact, he is well known for working with pastels—in this case, I am referring to a medium like chalk rather than colors. This happens to be a painting, but note the strong helix curve of the stairs, the pronounced lines of the boards and the clear limbs of the dancers (compared with the Renoir). The artist liked to work with asymmetry so the stairs are to the far left and several girls to the far right—open space is in the middle. Though we think of the ballet as an elegant, graceful form of dance Degas almost always shows us rehearsals, so we see the reality of the labor involved and sometimes the awkward poses as girls fasten their outfits. The tutu of the seated girl is casually tossed over the back of the chair.

Romanticism

Described as awe mixed with terror, the notion of the sublime influenced ___________.

Neoclassicism

Exposure to ancient antiquities when travelling on the Grand Tour played a role in the rise of which movement?

Jefferson, Rotunda at the University of Virginia,

He modelled thisbuilding in Virginia on the Roman pantheon. The pantheon has a temple-like front with columns and an open interiorcapped by a dome with an oculus (open circular area). The dome of the pantheon is the largest of the ancient world. Jefferson imitates thelook of the pantheon, one of the best preserved of ancient structures. He went on to have Benjamin Latrobe create the capitol building inWashington , D. C. in the classical style. Jefferson liked Neoclassicism's association with virtues such as morality, idealism, and patriotism.

Millet, The Gleaners

In the countryside things were no better for the poor and Millet wished to focus on their lives. Gleaners are people that are so poor they have no land and do not even work for landowners; they are the beggars of the countryside. Gleaners are allowed to pick up grain after the harvest is completed though there was some resistance by landowners at this time. Millet shows them as substantial figures doing backbreaking work. He gave them a certain noble monumentality. The colors are muted but there is a golden look to suggest the fields. The gleaners each wears a head wrap of a primary color—red, yellow, and blue. Each is equally important. Paintings by Courbet and Millet were disliked by middle and upper middle class people who continued to resent those who started the 1848 workers revolution. They were afraid that the poor and working class would rise up against them again.

Rubeniste

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries an artist who preferred color to line was called a______________.

Manet, Olympia

In the same year (1863) Manet painted an upper class prostitute though, again, his model is recognizable. Olympia was a common name for a courtesan, but it alludes to classical mythology in a tongue-in-cheek way. In this case, Manet is updating that most celebrated of nudes—Titian's Venus of Urbino. But this is a modern, sexualized woman and the public was outraged. They also complained that her body was not idealized and she appears short, with knobby knees. The bottoms of her shoes are dirty and people said her hands are too. There is a strong light/dark contrast and there doesn't appear to be enough room on the bed for this woman. Her body has strong contour lines which adds to the effect of flatness. At the time, black women (the maid servant at right) were associated with animalistic sexuality and loose morals. This reinforced Olympia's purpose in the public mind.

Sullivan, Guaranty Building

Louis Sullivan has been called the first truly modern architect. He brought together strong modern structural materials (steel instead of cast iron) with exterior ornamentation on a terracotta (baked clay) façade , which gives it an elegant touch. He created light-filled, well-ventilated building. At the bottom is a place for shops, with large windows. Above it is a mezzanine level, or second story, also with large windows. Above this are ten stories with identical floors of offices, lit by rectangular windows. There is an attic story with round windows at the top where the utilities are housed. There is a thick cornice slab at the top. At the time, the building seemed extremely tall, and it featured an elevator.

Cassatt, Child's Bath

Mary Cassatt is the second female Impressionist that was central to the movement. She was an American expatriate and like Degas liked clear linear effects. Note the stripes of the robe and the contours and realistic depiction of the mother and child. Like Morisot many of her paintings were of women in her family. Her style is completely different from Morisot's however. Like our other modernists she was not interested in spatial illusionism and the space does not recede in a traditional way. All of these artists, the Realists included, looked at Japanese prints for inspiration in terms of a different understanding of space.

Monet, Gare St. Lazare

Monet was interested in new inventions like updates to trains or a metal and glass station roof. He did a whole series on this train station, Gare St. Lazare. The steam mixes with clouds to our eyes as the train enters the busy station and we see the grid shape made by the sun pouring down through the roof to the ground below. Monet has learned that shadows are not grey or black, but that all of nature is color. Despite the haziness there is a clear triangular composition created by the shed and horizontals and orthogonal lines created by the underhang. Behind the train station is a brand new department store, a new type of building.

Rossetti, Beata Beatrix

Morris was close to a group of artists called the Pre-Raphaelites. The very name tells us they were interested in art before Raphael, that is, before the Renaissance. They wanted to create a fresh and sincere art that was free from the artificiality of Raphael and those who followed. Rossetti brings up a character from the late medieval poet Dante's Vita Nuova. Beata Beatrix is beloved of Dante and dies young. The real meaning has to do with Rossetti's own life for his wife died of an opium overdose at this time. A poppy (signifying opium) commemorates this and is delivered to her by a red dove, symbolizing death and the spiritual. An old-fashioned time piece shows time has run out.

Gros, Napoleon visiting the Plague Stricken

Napoleon campaigns of conquest in the near east. when some of his soldiers caught theplague Napoleon left them behind to die. suggests he not only stayed, but fearlesslywalks among the dead, dying, and sick eventouching their sores with his finger like a Christfigure as if his touch could heal. He is thesmallish figure in the center. Disease and deathis a Romantic subject as is the exotic setting.The Moorish architecture of the Muslimmosque places us outside the western world.The growing fascination with the east is calledOrientalism. The orange and gold palette is alsoRomantic and attracts the eye. Gros's mannerof painting makes use of fluid, openbrushstrokes which we would not see in David.

canova

Napoleon's favorite sculptor was ____________________.

Moreau, The Apparition

One favorite subject of the Symbolists was the "fatal woman," the femme fatale. Gustave Moreau often used mythology or the bible as a source for his imaginative paintings. This one is based on the biblical tale of Solome who dances before King Herod. In return she asks for the head of John the Baptist. She is scantily clad and is an image of eroticism while the head, dripping with blood, is both death and eternal life (halo). The painting is somewhat vaporous and suggests the indeterminate. Moreau would turn his paint brush around and incise into the still wet canvas to create a ghostly effect.

Wright of Derby,

Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery In this case, people of different agesare learning about the rotation ofplanets around the sun. The days ofGalileo's persecution are long over. The"sun" is a hidden light source, providinga strong light/dark contrast. Twochildren eagerly look to see theworkings of the Orrery.

Renoir, Dance at the Moulin de la Galette

Renoir is also an Impressionist who cuts off his figures to suggest a slice of life. His style, like Monet, makes use of broken brushstrokes and flecks of color. We are at a working class outdoor dance hall with friends of the artist. Light comes down through the trees casting lavender shadows and patches of light. The poses are casual and we have the impression that the scene continues beyond where our eyes are at the moment. Leisure time activity is a typical subject of the Impressionists

Rodin, The Gates of Hell

Rodin's most famous sculpture is a complicated field of suffering bodies in "doors" that are non-functional. Originally they were to be part of a museum and Rodin thought about the great tradition of sculptural doors of cathedrals or The Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti, which we have looked at in class. What we see here though is hell itself as imagined by the poet Dante (who sits in the center near the top). In Dante's Divine Comedy (which is not a comedy at all) the poet travels through hell and purgatory and in the Gates we see the stories he has encountered in a region devoted to the lustful (thus, sex and death are here). There are over 200 figures here.

Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte

Seurat liked the subject of leisure and focus on outdoor light of the Impressionists, but he felt they didn't give their paintings enough structure. He also felt they weren't scientific enough in their approach. He studied manuals on optics and decided to use tiny touches of unmixed paint that the eye was to unite at a distance. This is called pointillism or divisionism. His color theories were influence by Delacroix (who had written about using pure colors set down next to one another rather than mixing them) and the scientists Chevreul and Helmholtz. Seurat shows us people from different classes—at lower left is a man without shirt sleeves whose cap suggests he is from the working class while next to him is a bourgeoise gentleman with a walking cane and top hat. The figures are carefully distributed across the painting rather than the casual groupings of Impressionism and are visually unified by their reductive forms and umbrellas. There are row boats, sail boats, and and tug boats. The large woman at right is a prostitute and her pet monkey identifies her as less evolved than others (such was the application of evolutionary theory at this time).

Thomas Jefferson

The American leader ____________ embraced neoclassicism because of its associations with important virtues such as morality, idealism, and patriotism.

Eakins, The Gross Clinic

The Realist movement spread to the U.S. and elsewhere. Eakins had studied medicine in the past and here he depicts an operation. He may have had Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp in mind. In his case, the Realism was considered so brutal the painting was rejected from its intended exhibition. Eakins believed that observation and scientific knowledge were prerequisites for his art. He pictures himself here standing in the doorway observering. The doctor has blood on his hands and the woman covers her eyes. It is a celebration of the advances of science. This is the era before germ theory and the environment is not sterile. There is an anesthetist who holds a cloth over the patient's face. Eakins himself is the shadowy figure in the doorway at right. Eakins interest in Realism was such that he became involved in photography in its attempt to capture animal locomotion accurately.

Courbet, Stonebreakers

The Realist movement was Gustave Courbet. In 1848 uprising in France, replaced monarchy w Republic. lasted for a few years before government by Napoleon's nephew, Stone Breakers difficulties very poor individuals breaking up hauling stone that railroad tracks or roads laid down. Old+ young wear tattered clothing, malnourished and overworked, no real reward for their labor. The colors of soil—dirty brown and grey. People on margins are being celebrated and the painting is huge. They almost look awkward as if sliding down a hillside; the artist has been inspired by folk art rather than academic art. He avoids conventional illusionism. In light of the 1848 revolution salon jurors (those who chose paintings for the salon exhibition) were suspicious of the painting as socialistic.

Gaudi, Casa Mila

The Spanish architect Gaudi worked in the Art Nouveau style creating organic looking buildings like the Casa Mila. This looks like a cliff or a cave and undulates around a street corner. The railings look like seaweed. This may owe something to the discovery of prehistoric cave art a few years earlier in Spain. Here is a view into an interior courtyard of the Casa Mila and a view on the roof with the spiraling chimneys.

Jacques-Louis David

The artist whose work seemed to be inspirational to the French Revolution was which of the following?

Walpole, Strawberry Hill

The medieval revival is apparent inarchitecture as in Walpole's Strawberry Hill,which looks like an authentic castle. Walpolewas also an author and wrote a frighteningGothic novel The Castle of Otranto.

Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge

The radical angle of the railing, the clear contour lines, and the asymmetry of the composition was inspired by Degas. He shows us female entertainers with their "pancake" makeup and those who are drinking. He himself was addicted to absinthe. While cafes are typical of Impressionism, Toulouse-Lautrec exaggerates the elements within them. There is a caricature like quality about his figures. Toulouse-Lautrec was famous for his poster art which advertised the bars and cafes of Paris.

Goya. Third of May, 1808

The worst possible events occurredpolitically. The king's son joined forces withNapoleon in France to overthrow his father.However, Napoleon wanted power overSpain so he put his own brother in charge.The Spanish fought back, but the Frenchretaliated and rounded up the men of onevillage and killed them. Death and fear arealso Romantic qualities and we see themhere. The "martryr" (man in white) is offcenter in a Christ-like pose. Dead lay on theground and more are lined up who will bekilled. We are in the middle of the actionwith horror on the faces of the Spanish.Bright light is thrown on the figure in white.The French are faceless and ruthless.

Rosa Bonheur, Horsefair

There was an official brand of Realism as well as by the time Napoleon's nephew, Louis Napoleon, was in power, and the paintings of Rosa Bonheur where much admired. She avoided the political and social themes we find with other Realists, but like the other Realists was interested in accuracy. She was an animal painter and her paintings did not seem dangerous or suggestive of the power of the poor. They showed cattle in the fields, farmers plowing, horse fairs, and other interesting but fairly complacent scenes. Bonheur was interested in the strength and beauty of animals. Here the horses are life size. The large, broad horizontal format is like Courbet's Burial, but otherwise this is a very different painting that does not challenge social conventions in the same way Courbet does.

Ingres, Grande Odalisque

This is another Orientalist painting by a Davidstudent. In this case we are looking at aharem woman as a reclining nude (anodalisque). She has an exotic headdress, apeacock feather fan, and has been smoking ahookah pipe (at far right). Unlike Gros,Ingres maintained the tight brushwork andglossy surface of a David painting. Ingreswas a master of fabric. David found Ingres'stendency to distort the body disturbing—note the sinuous, impossibly long arms andlong, curving back of the Odalisque (recliningharem woman).

Delacroix, Death of Sardanapalus

This painting is an Orientalist fantasy of anexotic Assyrian king who is being surroundedby his enemy. Rather than have hispossessions stolen he has his Arabian horsesand concubines killed and his richesdestroyed. He will then set fire to his ownbed. He is brooding and set at a diagonalwhile all is chaos. The women add a note orerotica. Death, sex, an exotic setting, brightwarm colors, and dark psychology are allRomantic.

Wright of Derby

This painting reflects the new scientific rationalism of the Age of the Enlightenment--recording a scientific demonstration. The artist is ________________.

Fuseli, Nightmare

This painting shocked its audience. It isabout a nightmare, demoniccreature of medieval folk tales, the incubus.attacks women in the night. Awild horse peaks through a curtain at thescene. The word "mara" (night-"mare")itself comes from folk myth—it referred to aScandinavian spirit that suffocated itssleepers. The artist Henri Fuseli was aninternational figure. He was fromSwitzerland, but settled in England. Fuseli'simage is sublime because it mixes awe withterror. He was one of the first Romanticartists to depict the dark terrain of thesubconscious.

Cole, The Oxbow

Thomas Cole was an English painter that settled in America and became the leader of The Hudson River Valley school of landscape artists. They were interested in presenting a specifically American landscape. Here Cole wants to give a sense of the wilderness that still existed alongside cultivated fields. He is here with a top hat at the bottom, tucked away with his umbrella, painting the Oxbow River. At the left is a stormy sky and evidence of natural events in the twisting trees. At right we see a sunny scene and cultivated fields.

Gauguin, Vision after the Sermon

Van Gogh's friend Gauguin also believed in the expressive use of color, but in his case he was willing to paint what wasn't there. He also used large areas of color rather than elongated brush strokes. Here we see a vision of Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, which our group of women from western France (Brittany) also see. Gauguin himself is at far right as though he is some kind of a priest. Not only do we see the influence of Japanese prints in the flattened look of the painting, but stained glass as well.

Watteau, Pilgrimmage to Cythera

Watteau, Pilgrimmage to Cythera Watteau "amorous festival" (fete galante) scenes. Depict the amusements and entertainments of the upper classes. aristocrats taken a trip to Aphrodite's island of love. color more important than form and his paintings have fluid brushstrokes, without solid form. The color seems hazy. Small figures and pastel colors. Cupids appear among the aristocrats as symbols of love. This is the type of painting that gained the artist admission into the still prestigious Royal Academy of Art (established by Louis XIV). The paintings is hedonistic and fantastic. All the way at right is Aphrodite as a statue. The elegant poses of the figures are hallmarks of the artist's style.

fuseli

______________ was one of the first Romantic artists to depict the dark terrain of the subconscious.

Friedrich, Abbey in the Oak Forest

a pendent of Monk by the Sea. a number of monks carry a coffin into theremnants of a religious structure, they end up outside,suggesting monk reaches nature. left are crosses to mark a cemetery. The bare trees tell us it is winter (death), the scene is gloomy. The referenceto a Gothic ruin suggests the medievalrevival, the spiritual, and the ruin itself as aRomantic element. The ruin, which crumblesback into nature, is the color of the trees.The Germans claimed the oak trees ofGermany were the inspiration for Gothicarchitecture

The African American artist

artist Henry Tanner studied with Eakins the moved to Paris. He focused on poor black families and thus, the kind of social realism concerned with ordinary people we find among European artists. This is a quiet, reverent painting where shadow and light reinforce both stillness and deep spiritual belief. Later Tanner turned to biblical painting.

Turner, The Slave Ship

best known paintings.firey sunset, water aflame. slaves were thrown overboard from the ship the Zong, sailors could collect insurance ifthey fell overboard, but not if died onboard. see legs &arms withmanacles still attached as many drown. fish gathering around dying humans. stormy sea and the boat is tossed about. fluid in its brushwork, Turner makes use of intensecolor to convey emotion and spectacle. Slaveryhad been abolished in England when Turner didthis painting, but he had read about this specificincident in the book The History of the Abolitionof the Slave Trade.

Vigee-Lebrun, Marie-Antoinette

children should be breastfed andraised by mother, not a nanny.feeling, sensibility, and emotions camebefore reason. The queen's children arelovingly gathered around her and the babyshows familiarity with her breast. An emptycradle indicates the death of a newborn. Theportrait did not help the queen and she wasbeheaded during the French Revolution,along with her husband.

Because Vigee-Lebrun's eighteenth century painting of Queen Marie-Antoinette is aristocratic it is a Rococo painting.

false

Constable's Haywain shows the reality of life in the countryside with its peacefulness, quiet, and content peasants.

false

Hogarth's Breakfast Scene from Marriage a la Mode conveys the hope and sweetness of the moment and Greuze's Village Bride conveys the foolishness and corruption of an overindulged segment of society.

false

odalisque

harem woman

Greuze, Village Bride

interest in lives of not wealthy. Greuze specialized scenes peasants. sentimentalizes circumstances many struggled. center, couple tomarry. The father is giving the young man asmall dowry. many children. The henand chicks suggest a new born. The circumstances are humble, but love is genuine. Whowould buy a painting like this? middle class.wealthy were interested in sentimental peasantscenes as long as they did not seem to threatenthem.

Walpole's Strawberry Hill is a response to which Romantic revival style?

medieval/gothic

Fragonard, The Swing

obsession with female sexuality.commissioned by a Baron in the bushes in order to look up the dress of girl on swing. She knowshe is there and tosses a shoe in hisdirection. The shoe flies in the directionof the cupid. An elderly man is unawareof what is happening as he assists thewoman with her swing. The hazy lightingof the Rococo, the pastels, the smallfigures, the reference to mythology, and areference to a Baroque diagonal (now alively addition, but without serious drama)are all here. The woman, in the brightestcolor, is at the center of the composition.

Constable, The Hay Wain

return to nature. against industrialization. peasants such as the young man in the wagon or the laborers in the distance were actually suffering and rebelling in the countryside, not pleased with their lot in life. realistic, but sentimental. Constable seemed to admit as much when he said. no spot that looks exactly like this one. Constable was fascinated by meteorology and did many cloud studies, which contributes to what appears to be realistic. house based on one but it was not located next to a river. The painting details contributes to its realistic look. picturesqueseems accessible, quaint and rustic.

Hogarth, Breakfast Scene

series about animpoverished aristocrat who marries a wealthyyoung English woman. Both are unfaithful. Theman has been out all night—another woman'scap is in his pocket and the dog sniffs it; he hasa syphilitic mark on his neck; the girl, who hasbeen up all night yawns and stretches; a butlerholds unpaid bills, and in the far room a manwho has passed out awakens and puts an icebag on his head. In the far room are religiouspaintings right next to a reclining nude, partlyhidden behind a curtain. Putting these togetherindicates bad taste. The paintings in the serieswere engraved in popular prints. Hogarth likedto create satires, showing the immoralities ofthe elite.

David, Oath of the Horatii

three triplet brothers vow to fight to the death on the swords held by their father. visual signifier of need for citizens to unite and David's art the onethat best spoke for the French Revolution. Itseemed to be a call to arms. It is very detailed andsymmetrical with fairly muted colors and stronglycontoured forms, gesture is as electrifying as that of God and Adam by Michelangelo. look like on a stage with the three arches as backdropsover the figures. noblebehavior and civic intent. The clothing andarchitecture are classical. David emerged as asupporter of the Revolution.

Friedrich was a transcendental landscape painter. He believed that the experience of nature could lead to a deeper understanding of god.

true

The Rococo was a style that appealed to the aristocracy.

true

Van Gogh, Night Café

van Gogh began as a missionary, but eventually moved to painting learning about contemporary art styles from Impressionism to Seurat's style. He felt Impressionism lacked a strong sense of emotion and began to use color for its expressive purposes. Like the Impressionists he painted current scenes he was familiar with, including this bar in the city of Arles in the south of France. We can see it is late at night and some are passed out and a couple converses. It looks like we are entering only to have the proprietor (next to the billiard table) tell us it is too late. As is the case with other modernist works of this period the perspective is unconventional—we are in mid-air looking down. The colors are discordant and expressive and we can see the thickness of the paint. Van Gogh said he wanted to communicate the madness of the place and does so by juxtaposing vivid hues which augment their intensity. use color more arbitrarily to express myself forcible...I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green." One critic said he could almost feel the splinters in his feet when he looked at the floor. Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese prints and had his own collection. He even did paintings directly based on these prints. The influence of Japanese art on so many of our modernists is known as Japanism.

Kauffman, Cornelia Presenting Her Children as Treasures

woman is a good mother. Her sons will be important Roman political figures. She istelling the seated woman she doesn't need jewels, As a painting about virtue Corneliaembodies Enlightenment ideals. The idea ofnatural emotions, the moral and the genuinewhich we saw with Greuze solidifies into thegood citizen, self-sacrifice, and patriotism in theNeo-classical period. The figures are dressed inRoman garb with Cornelia in the center and twofigures on either side. Symmetry, classical calm,and the subject matter itself all contribute to asuccessful Neo-Classical painting.