Art Comparison

The two paintings that I have chosen to analyze are the "Still Life with Three Puppies" from Paul Gauguin and "The Sleeping Gypsy" from Henri Rouseau. The obvious alikeness for the two paintings would be that they have animals in the them, the obvious difference between them is the style in which they were painted. Even though both of these painters were from the Postimpressionist period, their art were extremely different in many ways.

In Gauguin's painting "Still Life with Three Puppies" you can see that the three puppies are drinking what looks like milk. On the table there is three of everything for the puppies. The shapes and lines that Gauguin uses make the painting look more like it was made for children to see. The shapes are smooth in a circular motion which gives a sense of playful emotions. The light colors display a feeling of playfulness and fun that would reach out to children on their level. There is a sense of innocent that is evaluated from this painting. Although Gauguin was raised around art his whole life, this painting is a simple kind of painting because each of the shapes and forms created to complete this painting are mostly simple circles.

In Rouseau's painting "The Sleeping Gyspy", you can see that there is a man that appears to be a gypsy sleeping in the middle of nowhere and behind him is what looks like a lion who is appears to be just standing there. This painting appears to be very complex because of all of the lines and forms that Rouseau used to complete it. The colors that are used in this art display a dramatic feeling to the painting, almost like you are waiting for something to happen to the gypsy who is laying on the ground. The multitude of colors used in the robe worn by the gypsy brings some light to the painting. This painting has more lines than shapes throughout the art work. The moon in the top right corner gives a sense of time that represents night in the work of art.

Citations:

"WebMuseum: Gauguin, (Eugène-Henri-) Paul." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gauguin/>.

"WebMuseum: Rousseau, Henri." Ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Web. 05 Jan. 2012. <http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rousseau/>.

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art through the Ages: a Concise History of Western Art. 2nd ed. Cengage: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.