Art 101 Final Exam - Museum Paper

The Japanese Footbridge, 1899
by Claude Monet, oil on canvas



Still Life with Sweets and Pottery , 1627
by Juan van der Hamen y León, oil on canvas



This essay is a comparison and contrast analysis of two compositions created by French artist Claude Monet, The Japanese Footbridge, 1899, oil on canvas and The Spanish artist Juan van der Hamen y Leon, Still Life with Sweets and Pottery, 1627, oil on canvas. Although Monet composition is similar to Leon in that they both have a representational appearance with a naturalistic approach; they were created during different historical periods. The Japanese Footbridge was created in the Modern Period during the Impressionism Movement, which began in 1874, and Still Life with Sweets and Pottery was created during the Baroque Period. The Modern Period 1800 – 1945 was characterized by the rapid advancement of technology and the effective way it changed our society and way of life. The Baroque Period developed in Europe around 1600 to the mid 17th century and emerged after the Late Renaissance period. Baroque art is full of color, emotion and energy, with a greater contrast between light and dark. The Impressionism Movement, took art outside to experience a true reflection of light and dark values. These artworks will be analyzed on design, mood, style, medium, technique, and subject.

The subject directly corresponds with the theme and purpose that's represented within the portrait of the composition. Monet used Art and Nature as the theme (pg.50) to compose this beautiful composition; in contrast to Leon’s theme of Visual Delight and the Arts of Daily Life. The subject is the focal point (pg. 134) of what the artist is depicting, and Theme is the unified, statement, purpose or description that runs throughout the entire artwork. Monet’s used the forward placement of the bridge and its horizontal blue lines, which extends from side to side as the subject; this is also supported by the title. Where as Leon places emphasis on the bright red vase on the vertical axis accompanied by the implied light and contrasting earth tones, as a focal point, however, this is only part of the subject. The subject is the entire collection of still life and pastries which is supported by the title and content of the artwork.

Each art work contains a variety of visual elements and principles of design to build the content (chapter 3). Content is the visual elements and principles of design used to create the artwork. Both artist employ Asymmetrical balance (pg. 129), visual weight that’s unevenly distributed to both halves of the composition. Notice how Monet placed the bridge near the top of the composition; however, notice that under the bridge, where the water meets at the vanishing point, you can see that the vanishing point is slightly off center to the vertical axis of the painting, making the right hand section of the painting visually heavier than the left (sample essay). In Leon’s composition, the artist places the bulk of the still life objects on the left hand side of the work contributing to the asymmetrical balance. The use of marks or placement of objects also contributes to the rhythm (pg. 141) of each work (sample essay). Rhythm is based on repetition. Monet’s content is designed by the use of tertiary colors such as yellow-green and green-blue which is used throughout the composition to help support the theme and produce a calming emotional effect on a two-dimensional (pg. 86-86) plane. Where as Leon places emphasis on the bright red vase on the vertical axis accompanied by the implied light and contrasting earth tones. Next he used, model (pg. 92), the use of light and shadow to give a three-dimensional (pg 87-88), appearance to the geometrical shapes (pg 87-88), which brings the still life alive and sets the mood.

The mood of the composition is the overall subjective feeling that the artwork projects upon the viewer. Monet’s composition of art and nature use cool tertiary colors of blue and green with tints of red that produces a unified mood of calm, serene and tranquility. On the other hand, Leon uses the strong contrasting of dark and light values in his Visual Delight and the Arts of Daily Life composition. With the placement of bold red pottery against a dark plane with implied lighting, this gives more of a dramatic atmosphere, however with imagery the gives a sense of joy and pleasure. The mood of the artwork is also enhanced by the medium and techniques used.

Both artists used oil on canvas as the medium to create their compositions. Oil paint consists of pigment mixed with oil, usually linseed oil (pg. 172). In observing the effects of the medium, I noticed that Monet used an oil technique called broken color (pg. 176), individual strokes of different colors. The use of oil, along with this technique allowed the artist to use thinner paint that created well defined long and short broken brush strokes of cool colors that created the trees and bushes to frame the upper portion of the artwork. This added an element of texture to the painting that becomes part of the painting and used throughout. Although both artists used oil on canvas, unlike Monet, Leon used an oil technique called Glazes (pg. 175), a thin translucent veil of color applied over a thick layer of under painting. Glazes produce a smooth flawless finish of glowing color. These two compositions were created during a time when mediums and techniques were limited; this also played a role in the style of the compositions.

In terms of style, Monet composition is similar to Leon in that they both have a representational appearance with naturalistic approach. Representational (pg. 29) is composing artwork of the visible world in such way that we recognize the likeness. Naturalistic (pg. 29) is faithful to visual experience and record how forms are revealed by light and shadow. However the contrasting differences come into play with the type of imagery represented in the compositions. Monet’s artwork represents Art and Nature. An element that is actually living, breathing has movement and the ability to absorb light. On the contrary, Leon’s artwork is a still life of innate objects, with no true value of life or breath.

In conclusion, Monet and Leon created two phenomenal artworks for their historical periods of time. Monet one of the greatest French artists of the Modern Period and Impressionism Movement and Leon a master artist of the Baroque Period used a variety of principles of design to construct a coherently flowing visual composition, although in contrasting ways; such as the use of light and color to create emphasis. The mediums were the same; however the technique was different which enhance the style and mood of the compositions. I choose these two artworks because I thought they were completely different and I simply like them without any reasoning or knowledge of art. Monet’s composition gave me a feeling of tranquility and freedom to a certain degree, where as Leon composition sparked my interest in his use of light and dark colors.

Work Citations:

Getlien, Mark. Living with Art. McGraw-Hill, eighth edition, Chapters 2,3,4,5,9,17, 21 and pages 168 – 174, 181 – 184, 265 – 291, 274 - 275, 290, 211-216, 222 and 223.

Professor Brews Sample Essays