Manets On the Beach and Vincent van Goghs The Sower - Essay Example

Manet’s On the Beach and Vincent van Gogh’s The Sower The two works of art to be compared are Edouard Manet’s On the Beach and Vincent van Gogh’s The Sower. Both of these paintings are from the Impressionist era. Each painting depicts a scene with people. However, the subject matter is very diverse. The style, color, and techniques of paintings are both Impressionist, but very differently executed. These two paintings will be contrasted and compared. Each painting has a unique position in art history.

Impressionism is painting that gives the impression of the subject instead of the realism, proportion, and detail of the Renaissance. Ordinary subjects are used. The painter uses small stokes, sometimes even using pointillism, to create the impression of their subject. The use of color is more vivid in these scenes. Movement is also a characteristic of Impressionism. Both Manet’s On the Beach and van Gogh’s The Sower use impressionism as a style. Manet’s On the Beach and van Gogh’s The Sower use everyday subjects.

Manet’s subject was his wife and brother at the beach. Van Gogh’s The Sower depicts a field worker leaving the fields at sunset after a long day reaping wheat. Although Manet used his brother and wife, the beach scene could have been any two people. The ordinary subject did not matter as much as catching the moment in time on canvas. While Manet captured family members, van Gogh painted a random worker. The other difference is Manet captured people at leisure, while van Gogh painted a worker.

The two scenes are polar opposite. One shows people that are well off enough to go to the beach and relax, while the latter shows a worker. Both are ordinarily different.The technique and style used in both paintings make them Impressionism. Manet has smoother small strokes, but they are still small. Van Gogh’s picture has more visible small strokes. The contrast is Manet’s painting looks smoother than van Gogh’s rough picture. Although both are oil paintings, the blending method makes the visual impact different.

This type of painting technique gives the impression, but no real detail in features like the face, hands, or legs.The color in both paintings is striking. In On the Beach, Manet uses different shades of vivid blue for the ocean and sky. Yellows, grays, and black make up the rest of the scene. Vincent van Gogh’s The Sower has more color, but along the same lines as Manet. Van Gogh used the same yellow as Manet, but added blue, purple, pink, white, and green in his colorful palette. Van Gogh used the colors to create a combination scene of small strokes.

These vivid colors in nature can be found, but both men took liberties to make the impression of reality with the colors.As all good Impressionist paintings, both Manet’s On the Beach and van Gogh’s The Sower give the impression of movement. Manet used the ocean as his movement. The ocean looks as if the waves are rolling in On the Beach. Van Gogh’s movement is reflected in the sower striding across the field at the end of the day. The movement in both paintings is only impressions, since this medium is only a painting.

However, both men pulled off the impression well. The painting makes it seem like the view is at the beach, or in the field with the sower. These two really created the illusion of movement. Edouard Manet’s On the Beach and Vincent van Gogh’s The Sower are paintings from the Impressionism era. Both paintings give the impression of the subject. The ordinary subjects used were Manet’s wife and brother, along with an anonymous sower in van Gogh’s painting. Manet use small strokes, but blended the strokes well giving a smooth look.

The Sower looked rougher with small strokes that were not blended as well. The vivid yellows and blues are in both paintings, but van Gogh used a larger range of color. The movement in Manet’s On the Beach and van Gogh’s The Sower give the viewer the feel of the scene. Both paintings are classic. ReferencesManet, Edward. On the Beach. 1873. Sayre, H.M. A World of Art. 7th Ed. New York: Pearson, 2012.Van Gogh, Vincent. The Sower. 1888.