Impressions from Class: Week 1

In class, we had a brief overview of the history of art. While it was pretty funny to see that the Romans shamelessly copied the Greeks, I was most interested in the eras of art from the 20th century to now. Here are some of my favorites from each of these eras:

Impressionism 

In this painting, you can see the extreme care that was taken to perfectly portray the way the artist saw the sun illuminating the clouds and reflecting across the water. The people boating across the lake are barely discernable, and the same goes for the dark city in the background. The painting is vibrant and emotional, capturing a fleeting moment of perfect lighting and atmosphere. 

 Post-impressionism 

This self portrait of Van Gogh struck me because it has a haunting tone to it. It uses dark colors and swirling patterns to create a discomforting atmosphere. I liked that this portrait was able to make me feel a certain way (distressed). The portrait seems to reflect Van Gogh’s troubled mind, much in the same way Dorian Gray’s portrait mirrored the condition of his soul.

Modernism

This painting is extremely surreal, with clocks melting away. To me this seems to signify how our perception of the timing of memories is often not lined up with reality. It may be a reference to the telescopic effect, which basically states that as we age, we view distant events as having occurred sooner than they did, and recent events as occurring more distant than in reality. The phrase “it seems like only yesterday …..” is a perfect example of this. The distorted clocks are bent, changing the path of the hands of the clock, just as our memories seem to follow a bent timeline rather than the straight path of reality.

Post-Modernism

This picture is a mockery of The Persistence of Memory. I liked it because it is funny, mocking the art elitists by centering the picture on popular culture, allowing everyone, not just those with advanced degrees to appreciate it.