BP #10

The artwork I selected for my final blogpost is a painting I found at the Museum of Modern Art entitled "The Sleeping Gypsy" (1897) by the French artist Henri Rousseau. Rousseau uses cool colors and horizontal lines to give a calm, warm and relaxed appearance to the painting. 

The use of monochromatic color gives this painting the appearance of a warm, calm summer night. The dark blue and black of the sky contrasts with the dark brown color of the sand. The sky and sand create the negative space in this painting and the majority of this canvas is taken up by it. The dominant objects at the center of this painting are the gypsy woman who has bedded down for the night in the dessert with a guitar and vase lying next to her, and a lion who appears to be passing by. The darkness of the sky and the lions mane is contrasted with the brightness of the moon and the lions eye. Generally, when one thinks of a lion interacting with a human, we think of violence, the lion attacking the human but in this painting Rousseau use of color and calm horizontal lines gives this painting a peaceful and tranquil. feel.

I chose this artwork out of the many beautiful pieces in the MOMA painting gallery because the colors really made it stand out. There's something about the overall calmness of this painting that really drew me to it, the use of dark colors to invoke tranquility in the night when the night is usually considered something to fear. I also read that Rousseau was never able to enroll into art school in Paris despite many attempts. That was also a huge factor in my enjoyment of this artwork, if Rousseau can paint something this incredible with little formal art training than I believe it is possible for anybody to do something similar using their natural talents.

The visit to MOMA yesterday was my second since I started this class, early on in the semester, being constantly shown various works of art had already had its influence on me. I felt a need to spend more time in the various museums I have access to living in this city. Not taking advantage of that would be a huge loss. Although I feel that learning the various technical terms to describe art didn't change how I appreciate it, learning the background and history of art an artists certainly has.