Impressionism Blog

I really like the Impressionism style because of how all the bright colors blend together, the sketchy lines, and the loose brush strokes that are used to create a beautiful masterpiece.  I also like the fact of how artists would regularly work outdoors.  As an artist myself, it is peaceful, not stressful, and helps you clear your mind to create creative artwork and to express yourself.

The Impressionist paintings of the 19th century focused on subjects such as the effects of light and weather, the recreation of the middle and upper classes, and enjoyable moments.  Impressionist artists didn’t choose a traditional subject like history, traditional antiquities, and religion.  Impressionist paintings are characterized by rough lines, loose brush strokes, importance on light in its changing character, and dots of bright colors that mix together creating optical realism.  The artists portray a brief moment, a feeling.

One of the artists from this time period that I liked is Edgar Degas.  I really like his art piece, The Dancing Class.  I love how it pictures a certain moment in a dance class and the colors that are being used make it feel how serious the people are about what they are doing throughout painting.  As a dancer, I really appreciate this piece of art.

Edgar Degas (1834–1917)

The Dancing Class
Edgar Degas
Oil on wood
1870

Edgar Degas was called a linear Impressionist.  He was influenced by photography.  Degas had painted many scenes of ballet dancers that were going through their moves in studios and rehearsal rooms of the Paris Opera.  When Degas painted this picture, he used many study drawings of dancers.

The dancer in the center of this painting is Joséphine Gaujelin.  In this painting, Joséphine Gaujelin is waiting for the ballet master to start playing the violin.  In the painting there is a watering can, a top hat that is used as a music holder, and an empty violin case.  These objects are used in other ballet pictures by the same artist.  He uses these objects to liven up his pictures.  The positions of the subjects would reappear throughout his work until he died.

Another artist that I really enjoyed learning about was Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  One of the works that I really liked was called Dance at the Moulin de la Galette.  I really like the colors being used and all the light sources being used throughout this piece.  I feel like I’m actually there outside enjoying life with the people in this painting.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

The Moulin de la Galette
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Oil on canvas
1876

Pierre-Auguste Renoir used the Impressionism style to paint people of the middle class that were enjoying life and events.  He would paint people at gardens, boating, dancing, at races, and outings.

This painting shows people at a Sunday afternoon at Moulin de la Galette in the district of Montmartre in Paris.  During the late 19th century, the working class would dress themselves up and go dancing, drinking, and eating at events like the one pictured above.

Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette and many other works of art that he painted is a Impressionist photograph of real life.  He shows a strong powerful form, different styles of brush strokes, and a gleaming light throughout his pieces of art.

I really don’t have a preference of a style of art.  I really like both Impressionism and Realism.  I do like the fact that in Impressionism, artists paint a certain moment for a viewer to see what is happening at that time.  In Realism, an artist paint what the world seems and limits the perspective of people around us.  I like paintings that are realistic and show the truth behind it.  I like a painting that expresses ideas and feelings of an artist through the forms of subjects, the movement throughout the painting, the colors that are being used, and the light source that is being used in the painting.

Sources:

Wikipedia. “Bal du moulin de la Galette”, February 21, 2010.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_du_moulin_de_la_Galette  (accessed March 24, 2010).
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.  “The Dancing Class”, 2000.   http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/29.100.184  (accessed March 24, 2010).

Classical Blog

Ludwig Van Beethoven

(1770-1827)

Moonlight Sonata

1801

Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor “Quasi una fantasia”

Ludwig Van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist.  He was a key figure in the in-between period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and he remains one of the most highly praised and powerful composers of all time. Beethoven’s music includes nine symphonies such as the Eroica Symphony, the Pastoral Symphony, and the great choral Ninth Symphony.  He also wrote piano music, such as the Pathetic, the Pastoral, the Moonlight, the Kreutzer, Waldstein, and the Appassionata sonatas.  He started to lose his hearing in the late 1790s, however, he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming deaf.

He completed the Moonlight Sonata in 1801. The rumor is that he dedicated this piece to his pupil, 17-year-old Countess Giulietta Guicciardi, whom Beethoven was in love with.  The name “Moonlight” Sonata comes from an 1832 narrative of the first movement that was written by the music critic Ludwig Rellstab and who compared it to moonlight immaculate upon Lake Lucerne.

The reason why Beethoven included the phrase “Quasi una fantasia” in the title is because the sonata does not follow the usual sonata pattern.  A first movement is in a regular sonata form, and the three or four movements are set in a fast-slow-fast-fast series.  The Moonlight sonata has an end-weighted route.  The climax is not until the third movement.  The difference from traditional sonata form is deliberate.  In his study of this piece of artwork, the German critic Paul Bekker thought that the opening sonata-allegro movement gave the work a specific personality from the beginning and which the following movements could increase but they would not change.  Beethoven did not like this and went against this determinative excellence in the first movement of the piece.  He wanted a prologue, an opening, not a proposal.  By putting the most theatrical form at the end of the art piece, he could enlarge the dramatic intrinsic in the form.

The first movement in the Moonlight Sonata is written in a rough, condensed sonata form.  This movement is played very quietly and the loudest it gets is fairly loud.  The second movement is a moderately conservative moment of virtual calm.  The violent final movement is the weightiest of all three movements.  It reflects a test of his position of the most important movement of the sonata’s last.  The melodic dynamic that dominates the last movement is a piano.  Beethoven’s serious use of sforzando notes, and together with just a few tactically fortissimo passages, creates the intelligence of a very powerful sound in the whole overall dynamic.

During the classical century, music was for the aristocratic patrons and the style was courageous.  The music became less complex than the Baroque style of music.  The music became more a melody driven.  The Homophonic texture was preferred over the polyphonic texture of music.  Because of this, there was a demand from the middle class for music that was available, recognizable, and serious.  Later, composers began to break away from the aristocratic patrons and create music for everyone.  The Moonlight Sonata was very different from any sonata that was ever written, therefore, people would be interested in it because it wasn’t like anything that they had heard before.  It probably was in high demand when it was finished since he was a unique, creative, and powerful composer.

I really liked this piece of artwork because it has a very strong beautiful rhythm to it.  While listening to the movements, you can tell how passionate the sound is.  The music seems so sad that I can see a story while the music is playing.  After listening to the whole piece, I really like how it was different from any other sonata that I have heard before.

The Sheet music:  http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/pdf/beethoven/moonlightsonata.pdf

Sources:

Wikipedia. “Piano Sonata No. 14 (Beethoven)”, February 10, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Sonata_No._14_%28Beethoven%29 (accessed March 3, 2010).

Wikipedia. “Ludwig van Beethoven”, March 4, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven (accessed March 3, 2010).

Music with Ease. “Pictures of Ludwig van Beethoven”, 2005-2010. http://www.musicwithease.com/beethoven-pictures.html (accessed March 3, 2010).