Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a museum with rich and high-quality collection of art objects of all historical periods. The objects are nicely presented within the framework of their origin, meaning, role in society, temporal affiliation. Here, the accent is put on the painting section. Regarding the permanent painting exhibition, the museum’s richest collection represents periods from Baroque and Classicism onwards. The majority of these are represented by European and American artists of these times. Paintings are set in a way that visitor can get a good insight in evolution and changes of the art through time.
The two selected paintings belong to the 19th century French artists:
1. Edge of the Forest, Sun Setting (1845/1846). Pierre Etienne Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867).
Rousseau was born in Paris to a tailor's family, but his affection and talent for art, lead him to become a painter. He studied art and painting several years with masters Charles Rémond and Guillon-Lethière, applying this knowledge to his future work (“Théodore Rousseau”). Together with a group of painters who painted landscapes and nature, he was one of the founders of the Barbizon School Movement, which became popular in France during the mid-19th
century, a movement which was in between and overlapped with romanticism and realism. The artists gathered mainly in the forest of Fontainebleau, which was one of their greatest influences (“The Barbizon School”). Rousseau’s love for nature always accompanied him through his work, which reflects in greater detail and realistic representations.
Edge of the Forest, Sun Setting represents a typical scenery of the Barbizon School Movement. It is a mysterious forest, in this case dominated by one tree, as opposed to the clean sky and the setting sun. The dark colors overwhelm the natural, materialistic world, contrasted to the sky, which is represented in a somewhat more gentle manner. Although dark in hue, vegetation is depicted with sophisticated detail and realism. The whole painting is dominated by brown, dark green and yellow tone.
2. The Swineherd (1888). Paul Gauguin (1848-1903).
Gauguin is one of the most recognized French post-impressionists. Even though he died at the age of only 54, he had an exciting and rich life. He started working as a merchant, which lead him travel to South America and Scandinavia. He started painting around 1870, after being introduced to the French impressionists. He exhibited throughout the Europe and became a renowned artist fast, who expressed himself not only through painting, but also through ceramics. In 1981 Gauguin left for Tahiti, exploring the lives of peoples which were seen as “savage” to Europeans of that time. He spent there more or less the rest of his life. The experience he had gathered through his voyages and acquaintances reflected through his uniqueness in art, through experimentation, freedom of expression and reawakening the “savage” in artist (Gauguin 26).
The painting The Swineherd represents a typical rural landscape, dominated by light hues. The exaggerated color pallet and the overall setting of the painting leave an impression of a landscape under the bright light. This painting shows freedom in combining colors in order to contribute overall impression of the painting, such as yellow color of the pigs, for example. Nevertheless, this exaggeration and highlighting of objects fits in the whole representation as inevitable part of the composition, which cannot be observed as isolated elements. Hence, there are not sophisticated details, but highly emphasized segments.
The two paintings represent expressions of two different approaches to art, which can be nicely seen, since the main theme of the paintings is landscape in France. Even though they were painted only 40 years apart, they reflect very different styles. In the Edge of the Forest, Sun Setting, we can see the sentimentality and canonical approach to realistic depicting of nature. On the other hand, in The Swineherd we can see freedom in experimentation with color and shape. In the Sunset we can see perfect details of a tree, while in the blurry Swineherd we are able to see only the detail that the artist lets us see. Both paintings show the artist’s view and experience of nature, which they nicely transfer to the audience: we can see the emotions that dominate - both in the gloomy sunset as well as in an ordinary rural sunny day. The effect of both paintings is deepened by the use of color. One is reached with great contrast, and the other with the use of strong and bright hues.
The overall opinion on these two works of art is that they do represent masterpieces seen from a perspective of a neutral observer, each in its own way, and as the response to the time and circumstances in which they were panted. They both are pieces of the most important representatives of the two movements: Barbizon School Movement and Post-Impressionism.
Art can be a good indicator of changes in society. Since both artists originate from France, on these examples we can nicely see how a 19th century European society has undergone quick changes. From reawakening the romantic experience of nature, to the rebellious experimenting and reawakening the savage within. And even if we stand from Gauguin’s point of view, we can even see the intentional will to be different, since Rousseau was one of the painters that he “couldn’t stand” (Gauguin 16).
Works cited:
Gauguin. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture. The art institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959, http://m.artic.edu/sites/default/files/libraries/pubs/1959/AIC1959Gauguin_comb.pdf
The Barbizon School: French Painters of Nature, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/bfpn/hd_bfpn.htm
Théodore Rousseau, https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1846.html
