Dreams & Reality

Exhibition

This exhibition showcased French Impressionist paintings done by famous artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Millet. It was held at the National Art Museum, Singapore.

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Painting 1


(I forgot to take a photo of the caption)

As suggested by the title of the exhibition, paintings depicted either one of the two themes. This painting depicts reality, where two female workers seem to be starting a fire. This is a common real-life scene, thus it perfectly portrays Reality.

The brushstrokes are not refined as the texture of the painting appears to be grainy. This reminds me of Pointilism which was to place dabs of paint next to each other to portray subject matter, The dabs of paint would merge together when viewed from afar. These type of paintings usually appear to be grainy as well.

The subject matter of this painting reminds me of yet another art movement called Realism. Everyday objects and people doing their daily activities were usually portrayed. These type of paintings are called genre paintings.

Hence, with all these elements that suggest that this painting may not actually belong to the Impressionist paintings, I wonder, why is this considered as one of them? Then I remembered one of the paintings that I have come across, namely, Impression: Sunrise.


Artist: Claude Monet
Title: Impression: Sunrise/ Soliel Levant
Type: Oil on canvas

Impression: Sunrise looks unfinished, sketchy and painterly. The brushstrokes are quick and gestural, which gave the wrong impression of someone trying to finish a preparatory work quickly. The painting does not have a particular subject matter, just a seascape with a rising sun, the boats and the water. There is no particular meaning to the work, just like this painting. Both just portray a scene in life, perhaps for documentary purpose.

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Painting 2


(I forgot to take a photo of the caption)

This painting depicts the French Revolution, with Liberty leading the French in the revolution. However, what’s interesting is there is a silhoutte of a black horse behind Liberty. The purpose of the French Revolution was to change the society for a better one, the dream of every French during that time. Hence, this painting represents Dreams. The colours used in the background of this painting are complementary as seen in the pink clouds and blue sky.

Back to the silhoutte of the horse, I remembered a painting of Napoleon, called Napoleon crossing the Alps. The horse silhoutte with Liberty in front resembles the subject matter of Napoleon crossing the Alps, that is, Napoleon on his horse leading his troop to cross the Alps. That painting was to show how majestic Napoleon was and portray him as the hero of the French. Hence, I think the artist of this painting wanted to show Liberty as the heroine in the Revolution.


Artist: Jaques Louis David
Title: Napoleon crossing the Alps
Type: Oil on canvas

However, what’s ironic is that the comrades are lying on the ground under Liberty who is leaping across them, seems to me that those comrades are disregarded and appear to be at her disposal. In a Revolution, when the lives of all people are involved, when all people are involved in the fight for greater good, everyone should be regarded with respect and dignity, not trampled on like this. What’s worse is that there are crows or ravens hovering on top of the dead comrades! That means the corpses are left rotting on the battleground, unclaimed! This shows how cruel revolutions are, how much blood was lost and how much sacrifices made to gain Liberty.


Artist: Eugene Delacroix
Title: Liberty leading the people
Type: Oil on canvas

(Liberty leading the doomed)