Differing Scapes of Similarity - Essay Example

Differing Scapes of Similarity It is evident from even a primary glance that both Church’s ‘Heart of The Andes’ and Monet’s ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ are extremely different in style. Whereas ‘Heart of The Andes’ is much darker and thus tends to evoke stronger emotions, ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ appears more light-hearted and brighter-coloured, making it easier on the eye. However, it is commonly accepted that art is often misunderstood upon a mere primary glance, and deeper analysis and examination of a piece can reveal so much more than one anticipates. This is what I aim to achieve in this paper – I will explore on a deeper level and conduct a profound analysis and comparison of the two pieces in order to understand their similarities. It could be said that these similarities run much deeper than the primary differences between the two pieces; thus, by such an exploration I will assess whether indeed the similarities become more prominent. ‘Heart of The Andes’ depicts a beautifully detailed landscape of South America. It is a harmonious depiction of nature – with realistic colouring and immense depth. In the background is Mount Chimborazo of Ecuador, and the foreground features a moving waterfall leading to a lake. It is nature at its finest, a magnificently awe-inspiring piece with such detail that one cannot help but fall mercy to the dark, deep beauty of this landscape. ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ consists of a scene along the English Channel, from the viewpoint of a garden. A family dons the garden; they appear to be spending time enjoying the weather and the view along the horizon of Honfleur. It is a domestic portrait of an upper-class family, and this serves to completely remove the sense of loneliness conveyed by ‘Heart of The Andes’. ‘Heart of The Andes’ strikes on with its intense depth – one is able to grasp the dimensions of the landscape; the vastness of the view. The eye is drawn to the dark mountains on the horizon, which tends to cause one to feel these primary darker, more emotive feelings. It is noticeable that without the mountains, the piece would not be much darker than ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’. The delicate detail allows one to become immersed in the landscape and properly understand its beauty. It is extremely realistic, and this serves to increase its depth and scale. It is on a much smaller scale than ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’, which could also be another contributor to the lost feeling it evokes. Despite its smaller scale, it is much more detailed than Monet’s ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’, which increases its depth and overall primary impact on the eye. However, ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ also contains a strong degree of detail – though it is much smoother and less intense than ‘Heart of The Andes’. Monet has used longer, lighter strokes to give depth to the landscape, and the bigger scale retains depth and dimension through Monet’s use of perspective. Indeed, ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ is much easier on the eye, and thus allows one to experience a much less intense array of emotions upon analysis. It appears much easier for one to relate to ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ on a humanistic level, which is achieved by the figures. They seem to be the central element of the piece; placed in the foreground and rather conspicuously so. This causes one to understand its familial character – a character much different from that of ‘Heart of The Andes’. As has already been examined, Church’s piece is more naturalistic, evoking less familial emotions, and rather highlights the beauty of the world around us. In ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’, one is observing a relation between humans, within a landscape, whereas ‘Heart of The Andes’ focuses one’s attention solely on the relationship between human and nature. This is also accented by the placement of the horizons in each piece. Monet actually places the horizon not much differently from Church, however, he creates a different sense of depth and perspective to Church. This could be explained by Monet’s use of the foreground. In general, Monet’s piece is much closer than Church’s – assumed to be employed in order to focus on the foreground. Church places focus on both the foreground and background of his piece, although the foreground is slightly accentuated by the luminosity of the lake. If we are to assume that Church intends the lake to be the subject, then both artists place the subject at the front of the pieces. Both pieces are crisp, although in different manners. Monet appears to use much less detail than Church, yet he still achieves a satisfactorily detailed piece. Church employs the use of crisp, sharp colour and texture to create detail, whereas Monet uses brush strokes to create a sense of ‘messy’ detail; it is much less precise than Church’s piece. For example, the details of the character’s clothes in ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ are much less detailed than the mountain crevices of ‘Heart of The Andes’. This suggests that Monet relies more on the use of colour contrast to create detail and depth, whereas Church uses a wider array of colours and lines to create detail. Monet’s use of colour is much more exaggerated than Church’s – this gives it a less intense air, which in turn causes it to be easier on the eye than Church’s intense use of realism through his choice of colour. In turn, Monet’s piece is much smoother and flows more easily than Church’s, which appears rather disjointed in its intensity of colour and detail. Monet’s use of colour is much smoother than Church’s, which causes one to assume that he is depicting rather the situation of the scene than the scene details in itself. As has already been examined, Church uses more ‘earthy’ colour tones than Monet, who seems to focus more on primary colours. This accentuates the natural theme of Church’s piece whereas Monet’s brighter colours depict a brighter atmosphere, less realistic, but more focused on the characters. Each piece is extremely emotive, but in a very different manner. As has already been explored, by the use of intense, earthy tones and focus on the delicate detail of every aspect of his piece, Church is depicting nature, the beauty of nature. The inconspicuous characters to the bottom left of the piece suggest that this is human with nature, but he is tiny in comparison to its vastness. It is quite simply picturesque – the juxtaposition of the smooth and the jagged, the aesthetical impact of the colours and the detail all contribute to depicting nature at its finest. The characters are almost irrelevant in their placements and size – he has focused on the immense size of the landscape. John Ruskin’s depiction of art and his emphasis on nature as a spiritual element has a clear influence on Church. His relentless attention to detail on every scale causes one to fully become emerged in the concept and beauty of nature. Monet’s style is somewhat highly contrasted to that of Church; his piece is much less deep than Church’s. Monet seems to have painted a family portrait, but this it is suggested otherwise, as his relationship with his father was somewhat strained at the time. Perhaps it is ironic. There is much more movement in Monet’s piece, created by the quick and swift flow of the brush strokes, which makes it less ‘heavy’ than ‘Heart of The Andes’. The Japanese flag is prominent, and highlights Monet’s fondness for the Japanese woodblock prints which he collected. This would also explain the two dimensional aspect of the piece. Fundamentally, one can see many differences in almost every aspect of the two pieces. Each is magnificent in a completely different manner. Although one is more likely to be immediately impacted by the weight, vastness and detail of ‘Heart of The Andes’, ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ allows one to gradually become immersed in, and thus affected by its various attributes. This creates a major similarity between the two – that they do not necessarily depict that which one first appears to assume upon primary viewing. Both express influences of the artist’s lives and both cause a relation to occur between the observer and the painting – yet Monet causes one to question this relation on a much deeper level than simply ‘familial ties’. Indeed, one would learn to appreciate the concept of Monet’s ‘Garden at Sainte-Adresse’ on a much more delayed timeframe than Church’s, but this is not to say that the impact of both are less than monumental. Read More