Two Still Life Paintings

Paul Cezanne ' Still Life, Flask, Glass and Jug' 1877 oil on canvas	'Sunflowers’ by Vincent van Gogh. Oil on Canvas,

Paul Cézanne (1839 - 1906) Post-Impressionist
KEY FACTS

• Cezanne was a highly influential French Post-.Impressionist painter
• Cézanne originally trained as a lawyer then moved to Paris and became influenced by the Impressionists’ style of working. He worked with light colours and then developed a newer style of more solid shapes.
• He interpreted what he saw as simple shapes , the cylinder, sphere and the cone. He analysed colour carefully. For many years still-life paintings and landscapes were Cézanne's preoccupation. Completing more than 200 still-life compositions in his lifetime, Cézanne wanted to 'conquer Paris with an apple', and become famous for his still life paintings. 'Apples and Oranges' is one of his most well known still-life compositions.
• His work is well known for carefully balanced composition and underlying use of blue colours.
• Cézanne would paint the outline of his compositions in blue and then develop the shapes with many layers of thin paint to create the solid forms.

Van Gogh  KEY FACTS (1853 - 1890)

• Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter. He was largely self-taught as an artist.. He moved to Paris in 1886, living with his devoted brother, Theo, who as a dealer introduced him to artists like Gauguin, Pissarro, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec. His struggles with his art were recorded in his many letters to Theo .In Paris, he discovered colour as well as the distinctive dashed brushstrokes of his later work. He moved to Arles, in the south of France, in 1888, hoping to establish an artists' colony there, and was immediately struck by the hot reds and yellows of the Mediterranean, which he increasingly used symbolically to represent his own moods (e.g. Sunflowers, 1888, London, National Gallery). He was joined briefly by Gauguin in October 1888. but the visit was not a success. A final argument led to the infamous episode in which Van Gogh mutilated his ear.
  "In 1889, he became a voluntary patient at the St. Remy asylum, where he continued to paint. His palette softened to mauves and pinks, but his brushwork was increasingly agitated, the dashes constructed into swirling, twisted shapes, often seen as symbolic of his mental state. He moved to Auvers, to be closer to Theo in 1890 - his last 70 days spent in a hectic program of painting. He died, having sold only one work, following a botched suicide attempt.

 COMPARE THE TWO USING THE NOTES TO HELP YOU

LOOKING AT PICTURES

This sheet is designed to help you look at works of art. It suggests you think about different aspects of the picture separately. It provides you with headings to think about. In each section there are some questions to help you but you do not have to use them all as some may not apply. Write some of your own ideas and responses too.

FACTS

What is its title? Who was the artist? When was the picture made? Did the artist belong to any particular group? Was there any important event in the artist’s life or in history around the time the artist lived that may have influenced the way the artist thought and worked?

CONTENT

What can be seen in the picture (what is it of?) Was the subject matter observed first hand or from memory or the imagination? Is it representational, realistic or is there some distortion or abstraction? Is there any hidden meaning suggested or obvious symbolism?

PROCESS

 What medium has been used? (For example, oil paint, watercolour, pencil, charcoal?)  What techniques have been used? (For example, thick paint, heavy brushstrokes, brushstrokes going in certain directions, light paint strokes, soft washes of colour, dark tones, light tones, bright colours, dark colours?)

FORM

How are the main shapes arranged in the composition? Describe it using the specialist vocabulary of this subject. How has the artist used line, colour and texture? Do the colours harmonise or contrast? Does one colour predominate and do a few balance each other? Is there one main shape or are there many linking together to make the composition?

Are any shapes repeated? Are there curves, spirals, sharp shapes, and angular forms?  Why might the artist do this? Are any areas distorted deliberately? If so, why do you think the artist did this?

MOOD

What is the mood of the picture? What feelings and emotions are suggested in the work? (Is it happy, sad, peaceful, lively does create an anxious feeling?) How has the artist created the mood? Do you like the work? Say why if you do and give reasons also if you do not like it.

CONNECTIONS TO YOUR WORK

What connections to your own work are there? How might you be able to learn from this work?