The first painting in consideration is Picasso’s 1937 oil painting, “Guernica. ” Picasso was commissioned by the Spanish republican government, to paint a piece for the 1937’s world fair. Picasso’s piece was the cubism work, Guernica, an anti-war painting in response to the bombings of Guernica the 26th of April 1937. Deciphering this piece is not an easy feat, the black and white and gray colors give off a gloomy feel, death and commotion are apparent in this painting. The space is compressed and full with the many shifting perspectives, this piece gives off a feeling of alertness.
Even though the work is very busy and seemingly disorganized, in closer look there is some balance in the work. If we go from left to right, the figures centralized are stable by a large triangle of light. The figures to the sides are in commotion, emotions running wild. The piece can be hard to understand and grasp if you look at it in full, but if you break it into smaller pieces some sense can be made of it. The very far left there is a mother grieving as she holds the lifeless body of her young son. Below her is a wounded man clutching onto a sword.
In the center there is a startled or hurt animal, as well as there are a few more “people” in shock or obvious discomfort. The only unharmed creature would be what appears to be a bull in the upper left hand corner. Lynn Robinson notes, “The viewer is thrown into the midst of intensely violent action, everything seems to be in flux. ” This painting was used as an anti-war icon and today is still very powerful. Even though we can sense that it is depicting a violent scene, there is still no definite meaning to the characters in this piece. Picasso has only stated that the bull represented brutality and darkness.
The second painting in consideration is Van Gogh’s 1889 oil painting, “The Starry Night. ” This post-impressionism work was painted from Van Gogh’s private asylum room. Starry Night use’s curvilinear lines, through this we get a feeling of activity and motion, with a certain calmness as well. In a letter Van Gogh wrote to his sister he quotes, “it often seems to me that the night is even more richly colored than the day. ” This is apparent in his work as the colors are absolutely beautiful, the blues and yellows perfectly contrast each other, making this piece really easy to look at.
Van Gogh’s fluid brush strokes make the painting come to life and through this we feel almost as if we have the same view as Van Gogh had from his window. When first looking at this painting our eyes go to the focal area, the starry night sky. When one takes a closer look at the painting below there is a small village and rolling hills. The sky is full of energy, as it hangs over the small sleepy town. The painting includes a cypress tree which often is associated with mourning or death. The true meaning of this picture is hard narrow down, is it simply Van Gogh’s view from his window, or a window inside Van Gogh’s ill mind.
Both of the painting selected are oil paintings, with some similarities and many difference. Picasso’s work is a cubism work as Van Gogh’s is a post impressionism work. Van Gogh used bright color in his work to bring the piece alive, Picasso however uses black, white and grey to give his work a serious sad feel to it. Van Gogh forms things such as the tree and the village so we know what they are when looking at them. In Picasso’s work we see the faces and thing in the picture but have to take a closer look to really understand what we are looking at compared to Van Gogh’s painting.
Van Gogh uses space well as everything is laid out and has its place, in Picasso’s piece everything is compressed and close together overlapping multiple things at once. The meaning of both of the painting is really up the viewer’s interoperation, the meanings aren’t really clear. Both paintings are well done and are both notable pieces of the artist’s collection. Both the pieces are well done and known by a large population of people. It is interesting how Van Gogh, painting this in an asylum paints so calm and peaceful, compared to Picasso, being free and painting such a chaotic work.
It is apparent, both artist cared very much for what they were painting and used amazing detail in each of their separate works. In Van Gogh’s work the viewer goes back to the swirling brightly colored sky and notices the, scenery and the colors used. In Picasso’s work the viewer, pans the colorless tense piece and looks for something they can make sense of. As we view Guernica we start to see the figures and their emotions arising, we may not know what is going on but we know something isn’t right.
