Ophelia and the Water Lilies
“Water Lilies” is painted with the same depth as “Ophelia” – the same thought, layering, penetration. The rushes are not the fronts of rushes but bushes of unseen rushes. It is hard not to admire both paintings with hushed reverence for their detail. I believe “Water Lilies” is the more successful because it does not let the detail overwhelm the big picture but balances its merits to compose a harmonious whole.
Boldini and Renoir’s Females
Do you not see the resemblance? It is a bit difficult. While Renoir’s ladies are always puffs of air, floaty china dolls with winsome mouths and pleading eyes, Boldini’s are fierce nobles of high society. Yet this coy woman at the dance is as aloof as Boldini’s princess. Both artists painted beautiful women over and over again, and their women are all very woman-like but very different. Renoir’s are plump, rosy-cheeked, and bourgeois. Boldini’s are slim, rouged, and oozing with old money. Renoir painted as a true impressionist, with soft dashes of color, while Boldini’s brushstrokes are harder swishes of light. Though both placed great emphasis on light, Boldini, as a portrait artist, used light to flatter his subjects while Renoir washed his entire paintings with cheery warmth. The resemblance between the artists is in their material (women) not their styles.
Ugly Babies (and a Sunflower Soapbox)
Van Gogh’s ugly baby is just silly. But a quick search on the Web made me grateful Van Gogh’s baby even looks like a baby. There are many paintings of baby Jesus and Cupid that paint them looking like old men.
I’m glad Van Gogh practiced painting his subjects over and over again, because some of the sunflower pictures are disgusting – weird, gross colors – while others are beautiful.
(scroll down to see sunflowers)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Boldini
