Comment on the following painting in terms of its proportion, perspective, light, color, and composition. Narrate an imaginary story out of the picture, and state my personal response toward this viewing experience.
Monet, In front of the window
This painting didn’t have obvious proportion or relative size. We can recognize the foreground, middle ground, and background. But they are indistinct. The foreground is the inside of the house. The middle ground is the lady who is the most important figure of this painting. We can find the vanishing point in the background when we follow the edges of the walls of the house. That is exactly perspective.
The background is bright and the foreground is dark. We called this backlight method. In this picture, the light comes in through the door and is reflected by surface of the floor. It is snowing outside and there is a white snowfield behind the lady.
We can say this is a monochromatic painting, because the painting uses one color family, that’s green. All the colors in this painting contain green except for a small bit of red on the scarf around the lady’s head. Green is considered cool color and red is warm color which has a special effect when put together. They are complementary colors. When we see these two colors side-by-side, they seem brighter and more alive.
The artist uses a technique called compositional framing in his picture. There is a large object in the foreground, the wall, which frames the middle and backgrounds. In this picture, the proportion and composition allow the viewer to feel close to the wall, as if we are standing in the house look out on the lady and snow scene. The lady is looking out at us.
The painting is not realistic because it is not painted in detail. The artist didn’t want to create a feeling of depth and just like to build a tranquil or a poesy atmosphere. A young lady in the middle ground is passing by the house and looking back at the house as if deep in thought.
I imagine a story out of the picture. That is, the lady had a bright remembrance in the past but now nothing but a empty room is left. She was the private teacher to the landlord’s son of a single-parent family. She was in unrequited love with the landlord. But because of the war, the man left without saying goodbye. A love story didn’t have a start but ended suddenly. There is some thin sadness in her mind when she passes by the house.
I think the atmosphere of this painting is more important than the technique. After all, the atmosphere building is an expression of aesthetics. Without atmosphere, it is just an act of craftsman, not a work of art. The technique is easy to do, but the expression of feeling can not achieved by common people. I like the atmosphere of this painting that involves in some sentiment of sadness. It gives me a lot of space of imagination.
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