Painting- research

Franz Marc

Franz Marc was born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria in 1880. From 1900, Marc studied at the Academy of fine arts in Munich. In 1903 and 1907 he visited many museums in France, using other artists in order to influence his paintings. Marc frequented artistic circles and met many artists, including the actress Sarah Bernhardt. He was particularly fond of the work of Vincent Van Gogh.

Marc’s work includes mainly animals in their natural surroundings.  His work is characterized by using bright primary colours in order to give an abstract effect as well as creating a sense of emotion about the paintings. His work is an almost cubist like and attracts notice in influential circles.

Marc’s career was cut short due to the first world war after having been the most popular of all German expressionists in recent years.

I really like how Franz uses vibrant, bold colours in order to express the emotion within the painting. For example the bold red within his images portray a sense of anger. I find how Franz uses patterns within “Fighting forms” in order to emphasize the anger within the painting very effective as well as it appears like the wind which may link to God being angry.

Pablo Picasso...

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) was a Spanish-born painter, sculptor and draughtsman. He lived in France for most of his life where he did various paintings, using many techniques, adapting his style constantly. He came to be one of the most well known figures in the 1900’s for inventing cubism and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work.

Examples of different syles:

1901-1904 – Blue Period (using different shades of blue to portray a sadness and depth to his work)

When Picasso’s close friend, Carlos Casagemas committed suicide Picasso was deeply upset which led him to create the painting “The death of Casagemas.”

Picasso did many paintings about Carlos. For example in one of his last blue period paintings called “Life,” Casagemas is shown with a lover and a mother with a child. Picasso painted this as Casagemas had shot himself after having been refused by a woman he loved. However, in this painting, Carlos is alive and is shown as undefeated. This painting marks the end of Picasso’s blue period as the theme in this image is strength and life as appose to death and sadness.

1904 – Rose Period ( Warmer, more optimistic mood)

Picasso’s rose period involved a more romantic mood. The breakthrough of this period consists in the fluency of line he began to achieve in 1904. An example of a painting Picasso produced in this period is called “Family of Acrobats with Monkey” which he produced in 1905. This painting is very classical in style as well as the fact that its line suggests a more abstract work. The basis of his Rose period is how he combined classicism with expressionism.

1907 - He and a French painter, George Braque pioneered cubism.

 This image is an example of some of Picasso’s cubist work. He has painted the image of some woman in different viewpoints. This is one of Picasso’s characteristics within his cubist paintings. This painting is called “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon” and was painted in 1907. Picasso’s cubist paintings marked the beginning of real abstract art and inspired many artists.

1912 – Used collage within his work.

Late 1920s -  He turned toward a flat, cubist-related style.

1930s – His paintings became militant and political.

After World War 2 - Picasso’s work became more gentle and more historical (He spent the remaining years of his life exploring earlier artists and using them to influence his work.)

I really like how abstract Picasso’s work is and how it’s extremely unique. I also like the bold colours he uses in order to make his paintings appear more visually interesting.

Salvador Dali...

Salvador Dali was born on May 11 1904 in a small town of Figueres in Spain. Dali attended the San Fernando Academy of fine arts in Madrid. Then, in 1925, he became internationally known for three of his paintings including 'The basket of bread' during his one-man show in Barcelona. The following year, Dali joined the surrealists and soon became the leader of the surrealist movement. However, he was later expelled from the group during his "trial" in 1934. He did exhibit his work in international surrealist exhibitions throughout the decade.

Dali made his home with his wife nearby port Lligat when he was older. Many of his paintings therefore reflect his love of this area of Spain. Salvador Dali was not limited to a particular style or media, his idea's and style changed a lot over the years. He was an extremely creative artist who used a range of watercolours, paints, oils, objects, graphics, objects, films and photographs to create his pictures. He was a constantly growing and evolving artist with an incredible use of symbolism within his work. Unfortunately he later died on January 23 1989.

The image is of an eye floating in the middle surrounded by a stormy sky and some land with a mountain in the background. The colours used are quite dull colours to emphasise the stormy weather and almost eerie atmosphere. The colours used are mostly a mixture of blue and green to exaggerate the sky and the land, to give a tone to the image. They are also quite deep colours and the different shades of the colours blended together give a realistic effect. The compostion of the image is extremely effective as it instantly draws your attention to the eye in the middle as the background is all pretty much the same, therefore the eye stands out. Brushstrokes are visible within the image, however other areas such as the eye are smoother, blended areas. The oil is quite thickly applied, especially with the eye. This helps to give a bold appeal to the image. On the other hand, Dali uses lines in order to draw your eye in to the eye as the lines gradually join together in the distance at a perspective point.

The thing that caught my eye about this image is the eye in the centre as the lines help to draw your attention to it. I like the abstract, 3D effect of the eye and how Dali has blended the colours and added reflections in order to create this effect.

Salvador Dali was working with Alfred Hitchcock at this time. Hitchcock was deeply interested in contemporary art and wanted Dali to create a new kind of filmic dream which was sharp detailed and slightly disturbing. Dali worked hard to realise Hitchcocks ambitions and therefore produced this painting.

Dali's work interests me as i like the surrealist effect and the idea of encorporating dream like figures/ objects into my work. I also like the use of the body parts ( an eye in this example) to encorporate the theme of work.