The Many Marked Lives In the novel Girl in Hyacinth Blue, the author, Susan Vreeland tells many stories about different people who all share one thing in common, the admiration for one painting. These stories follow a painting through time, but in a reverse chronological order. The beginning starts out in present time, and the end of the book takes place when the painting is being made. The significance of this painting is that it has changed every person’s life that it has been owned by. The many different characters seem obsessed over it and become changed after first encountering it. This one painting is what connects all of the characters and makes their stories significant. Vreeland uses the phrase “… few there are who go through life unmarked” to represent how easy it can be for people to find themselves permanently affected by something, in this case a piece of art (120). The first characters who were affected by this painting are Johannes and Magdalena Van der Meer. Johannes is the artist who painted the work of art, and Magdalena, his daughter, was his inspiration for it. Johannes was changed by the painting in an odd way. He had been struggling to make his next great piece and found inspiration in his daughter, however he asks himself “Was it possible to paint with good conscience what he didn’t understand?” (162). He …show more content…
The different characters show signs of obsession and longing for something the desperately need. While many of the characters found a connection between the painting and their problems, the painting was never the source of their misfortune. Their own thoughts and actions marked their lives. Their experiences in life have shaped who they had become, not the painting. It is easy for them to credit the painting for changing their lives, but it was their actions that did. But in the end, no one goes through life
As Hirsch intended, the painting is meant to teach a lesson in judgement and retribution. Hirsch’s painting showed the how we as human are susceptible to greed and it is something we need to overcome or we will be judged and punished.
The Girl with the Brown Crayon tells a simple personal story of a teacher and a child, interweaving the themes of race, identity, gender, and the essential human needs to create, and to belong. With these characteristic charms, and wonder, Paley discovers how the unexplored territory unfolding before her and Reeny comes to mark the very essence of school, a common core of reference, something to ponder deeply and expand on extravagantly. The child, Reeny, meets a writer of books and story-teller, is introduced to his fictional characters, and debates, with other children, their virtues and weaknesses.
The composition of this painting forces the eye to the woman, and specifically to her face. Although the white wedding dress is large and takes up most of the woman’s figure, the white contrasts with her face and dark hair, forcing the viewer to look more closely into the woman’s face. She smokes a cigarette and rests her chin on her hands. She does not appear to be a very young woman and her eyes are cast down and seem sad. In general, her face appears to show a sense of disillusionment with life and specifically with her own life. Although this is apparently her wedding day, she does not seem to be happy.
This painting of the industrial revolution is very thought provoking, and causes a person to think about of what was happening during the industrial revolution. He shows the horrors of the factories and the serenity of the nature. He makes someone want to go back in time where things were peaceful, and there was just nature. Everything was in it’s own natural state and peaceful. This painting gave viewers a small glimpse into the past of the United States and the industrial revolution. Even though this picture showed a small glimpse of the past, a picture (or painting) is truly worth a thousand
...n the painting as it is made apparent that it requires an immense amount of effort on his part to break away from his Zulaykha’s advances. However, she fails to focus on the surrounding structure of the painting. According to Humphrey, the painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha portrays the cautionary tale that good things come to those who wait.
he had troubles with finances, he had familial issues, and he had issues in his romantic pursuits. But, instead of letting himself be crushed under the weight of his troubles, he took a stand and created beautiful paintings out of it.
The painting express creative drive that they give form to immaterial ideas and feelings (this is relevant to abstract art). Since the author had mental health issues during the creative process of the painting I believe, he didn’t just used art and beauty themes to express his paintings, he wanted to show the world what he was feeling inside. Although, many people can view this painting’s major theme as Art and Beauty, I also viewed it as Art and Spiritual Belief. The reason why is because according to Sayre, Gogh wrote a letter to his brother by saying: “My paintings are almost a cry of anguish.” Gogh utilized a variety of colors on the spectrum, giving his paintings life. He often used the art style of Impressionists in that his paintings are depicted as he sees fit, and not how they are naturally viewed. His heavy brushstrokes and vivid colors portray the night sky as crazy and chaotic and the village below as peaceful and
The novel depicts the protagonist, Dorian Gray, coming to realization of how everything in the world is not permanent, including his beauty due to a painting from Basil Hallward and a lecture of life from Lord Henry Wotton. In response, Gray sells his soul to the painting for eternal beauty, and that the painting should take his sins.Gray is content, even purposefully using trial and error on the emotions of people around him. Yet, the past comes back to haunt him, and Gray has to come to terms with time passing even if it is against his
Though most works of art have some underlying, deeper meaning attached to them, our first impression of their significance comes through our initial visual interpretation. When we first view a painting or a statue or other piece of art, we notice first the visual details – its size, its medium, its color, and its condition, for example – before we begin to ponder its greater significance. Indeed, these visual clues are just as important as any other interpretation or meaning of a work, for they allow us to understand just what that deeper meaning is. The expression on a statue’s face tells us the emotion and message that the artist is trying to convey. Its color, too, can provide clues: darker or lighter colors can play a role in how we judge a piece of art. The type of lines used in a piece can send different messages. A sculpture, for example, may have been carved with hard, rough lines or it may have been carved with smoother, more flowing lines that portray a kind of gentleness.
We see what people have gone through in their paintings, by looking at every single detail big or small. Every detail that’s in a painting could have a deep meaning to it. The colors give an idea of what the painting could be about, is it exhilarating or depressing? Although it may be surprising, art helps express emotions. “I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed with this decent and good feeling.” Kahlo had finally gotten past her desolation. Sometimes art could help you become a stronger person by helping you with personal issues. It’s also a stress reliever for some people it’ll relax them and put them in a good state of mind. Kahlo stayed strong throughout all the pain she went through her whole life. For instance, she had 30 operations throughout her whole life and they were all because of the bus
... turning some who can be seen as a blank canvas into someone new. In both ways, Evelyn and Henry Higgins are the artists to their work. Though they might not treat the people they are working with as a human, in the grander idea they have made them better. Adam finally comes to terms with his true personality, while Evelyn exposes what society believes are the norms for a person’s appearance. While, with Eliza, she leaves the life of being a beggar and becoming a duchess, showing how through hard work a person can change, and it becomes hard to return to one’s prior self. Both instances show art playing a large role in shaping their lives. From learning about life through art, people then strive to be on the same level as the art the see, trying to live a grander lifestyle. Showing that to a certain extent art can influence life more than life can influence art.
In an empty room at the Timken Museum of Art hangs one of the most iconic paintings of Johannes Vermeer, the astonishing painting, Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. In the painting a pale woman’s stands patiently while reading a letter. The woman appears to be wearing a blue jacket and a long gray skirt, and only gazing at the letter, ignoring all of her surroundings. The top right of the painting seems to be a map of the Netherlands, which attracts the viewer because it explains the setting of where the painting took place. The blue jacket around the woman’s torso appears to exaggerate the woman’s stomach, giving the impression that she might be pregnant. The blue chairs resemble a sign of absence as if she lives alone. The light on the top left shines on her face which enhances the viewer’s view of the woman’s facial expression. Johannes Vermeer’s interpretation of complex colors, the light, and her body language inflicts a persuasion on the viewer that the women is traumatized by the news in the letter.
In regards to the unpainted house: At the end of the book, only a corner of the house needs painting to be complete. It would have been very easy for our author to have completely finished in painting the house. However, that’s not what the premise nor the promise of the book contains. There is a big difference in completing a challenge, and being successful. Although life’s problems and challenges are never ending, the success in dealing with a challenge has more to do with the way it is done than in its completion. ‘The joy is certainly in the journey’ when reading the novel, ‘A Painted House’.
...s of the people that cared about Jesus and also to see the anger that God had for what the people had done to his son by showing the stormy clouds and gloomy surroundings. But he also wanted us to see that even among the gloom that good can come because Jesus has died on the cross for our sins so that we may join him in Heave with our father. I believe he shows this by the light surrounding Jesus. I think this is a great master piece. Tintoretto has so much going on throughout the painting that you can go back and look again and find something going on in the picture that you missed before.
To me the painting is a way of showing you what everyone else is seeing. That the painter had the men looking right at each other so they can see themselves running away. In turn I got to see myself doing the same thing and was able to change because of it. When other people look at the painting they probably see something else. That is why I choose to do the painting, it gives you the choice too interpret it any way you see fit. Or it can just be a beautiful painting to look at, but the painting was so much more to me. It painted a thousand words for me.