Friday Favorites 8/13/10
When I traveled regularly to Washington, D.C., I tried to schedule at least a half day of free time to visit the museums there, and my favorite was the National Gallery of Art. It has a fine collection of Impressionist works, my favorite style of painting. I’d probably say my favorite artist was Claude Monet, but my favorite painting would be Girl with a Watering Can, by Auguste Renoir. Artistically, there are a number of Monet’s works I appreciate more but I had a very visceral reaction to Girl that you can’t get looking at a print. But standing in front of the original, which is 39 1/2 by 28 13/16 inches, the subject matter, the brush strokes, the choice of color and the painting’s brightness … it seems to be illuminated by sunlight from within … won me over. As it says on the museum website, Brilliant prismatic hues envelope the little girl in an atmosphere of warm light and charmingly convey her innocent appeal. If you ever get a chance to see it in person, do it. For now, enjoy this very good print …
Tags: art, favorites, Friday Favorites, painting, Renoir
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Older Eyes 
August 13, 2010 at 6:19 am
What a stunning painting…when I win the lottery I will pop over to see it in real life!
Have a great weekend bud.
August 17, 2010 at 5:18 pm
For someone who considers himself to lean a bit in the dark direction, that’s a very optimistic painting! 😉
Seriously though, I like it. It has a calming effect.
August 18, 2010 at 12:10 pm
We darker souls need to cling to brighter things so we can average out average.