EXHIBITIONS at school
Italy

Ireland
France Primary
Spain

France Secondary

SOME PAINTINGS

PAINTINGS AND ARTISTS

During this term we will know some famous paintings and its artists.

We hope to be closer to Art.

SPAIN
"The horse's bath" by Joaquín Sorolla
"El baño del caballo" de Sorolla

Artist

Joaquín Sorolla

(1863 – 1923)

Date of creation:

1909

Details of the work

Dimensions

 Height = 205 cm;

Width = 250 cm

Technique
Oil

Material

Canvas

Is part oF

Sorolla Museum. Madrid

This is one of the artist’s most popular works offering Sorolla’s best-known features : “a symphony of whites and blues”.

Sorolla was known as "The painter of Light”.

This artist was able to capture light and movement in his paintings like none other.

The point-of-view is above the height of the youth in the scene, but the focus seems to incline. Thus, the spectator’s attention is centred and the gaze is trapped on the surface of the canvas, moving through the reflections of light and the undulating line created by the water on the shore.   Sorolla was undoubtedly much more interest in what was happening on the ground than in the sky. The shoreline is full of visual effects: the brilliant bodies of the wet skin, the sheet of water making the sand a mirror, the reflections of light on the unsettled water and the shadows.

FRANCE "Primary School"
"The Eiffel Tower" by Georges Seurat
"La Tour Eiffel" Seurat

Artist

Georges SEURAT

(1859 - 1891)

Date of creation

1889

Dimensions

24 x15,2 cm

Technique

Oil

Pointillism

Material

Canvas

Is part of

Fine Arts Museums of San Fransisco

Seurat is the pioneer of the pointillism. ( Technique based on scientific laws which clarify that the light results from the combination of several colours. Thus a set of juxtaposed colours can, observed from a certain distance, recompose the unity of tone).

Seurat's technique has seduced young painters such as Paul Signac and Camille Pissarro.

The picture represents the Eiffel Tower in construction. Seurat is one of the first painters to have painted the Eiffel Tower.

The picture is sober with few details.

Colours are warm (red – yellow – light blue).

The picture is divided into two parts, the bridge in the foreground wich gives a deep effect, then the tree and the tower on the top.

The light results from the top right hand corner. There is an effect of shadow below the bridge.

ITALY

"Madonna of the Yarnwinder"

by Leonardo da VINCI

"La Madonna dei Fusi" DA VINCI

Artist
Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci

Technique
Oil on walnut

Dimensions
48.3 cm × 36.9 cm

Location
Scottish National Gallery, Edinburg
(on long-term loan from the Duke of Buccleuch’s collection)

Owner
Richard Scott, 10^th Duke of Buccleuch

The Madonna of the Yarnwinder is a subject depicted by Leonardo da Vinci in at least one, and perhaps two paintings begun in 1499 or later.

The painting shows the Madonna seated on a rock in a loose position with her legs to the left, the front body and head turned to the right, where the Child, as well sprawled along the diagonal play smiling with a reel (a stick with two boards at right angles at the ends to wrap the skeins of spun wool), holding and securing it with intensity like a cross. Despite the theme that foreshadows the Passion, Leonardo, renewing the iconographic tradition, inserted into the subject a certain serenity, which implies full acceptance of Jesus' future sacrifice. The meaningful relationships, between the mother and her son, are unpublished with a gesture somewhere between surprise and protectiveness shown by Mary’s hand, which, like other famous Da Vinci’s masterpieces, is projected forward with a bold foreshortening, almost out of the picture . The volume of the protagonists (the "Model") is given thanks to the delicate shifts of light and shadow, the typical soft style "shaded" by Leonardo.

The atmospheric fusion between the figures in the foreground and the very broad landscape in the background is also extraordinary, in which you can see a river and a series of rocky peaks in sequence, that some identified as the Badlands of the Lower Valdarno, near the origin area of the painter.

IRELAND

"THE LIFFEY SWIMM" by Jack B. YEATS

Artist

Jack B. Yeats

(1871-1957)

Date of creation

1923

Dimensions

61 x 91 cm

Technique and Material

Oil on Canvas

Is part of

National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

About the Painter

Jack Butler Yeats was born in London in 1871, the youngest son of Irish portraitist John Butler Yeats, and the brother of the Nobel Prize winning poet William Butler Yeats. He studied painting and drawing at the Westminster School of Art under Fred Brown, before leaving to work as a graphic artist, cartoonist (in 1894 he created the first cartoon strip of Sherlock Holmes), illustrator and water-colourist.

About the Painting

In The Liffey Swim Jack B. Yeats captures the atmosphere and thrill of an event that has been part of Dublin’s annual sporting calendar since 1920. The swim, held between late July and early August, was promoted in 1923 as ‘the biggest free spectacle of the year in Dublin’. The competitors raced from Victoria Quay to the Butt Bridge, a mile and a half downriver, where prizes were awarded to the first six home. In the uncertain atmosphere of Dublin in the early 1920s, the Liffey Swim was a celebratory event, in which citizens, regardless of age or class, could participate in either a competitive or supportive capacity. The early races were even scheduled to take place in the evening to allow people to attend after work.

In his painting, Yeats invites his audience to engage with the event by cleverly placing them among the people. The crowd leans forward, drawing the viewer’s eye to the swimmers, who have reached a key point in the race and surge towards the finish line. By distorting the perspective, Yeats allows his picture to encompass the entire occasion. In the foreground, spectators jostle for position, while people on trams crane to catch a glimpse of the race. It is likely that the character in the brown fedora is the artist himself, and the woman wearing the elaborate yellow hat his wife Cottie. Yeats was awarded a silver medal for The Liffey Swim at the Paris Olympic exhibition in 1924.

FRANCE

"PAYSAGE EXOTIQUE" by Henri ROUSSEAU

Artist:

Henri Rousseau,

named Le Douanier

(Laval, 1844 - Paris, 1910)

Creation:

1910

Support:

paint on canvas

Dimensions:

130 x 162 cm

Technique:Oil

Origin:

Fondation Norton

Simon à Los Angeles.

Style:

Naïve art

Henri Rousseau was born in Laval in Mayenne in 1844. His job at the customs gave him his nickname (In French, « customs » is « Douane » hence his nickname « Douanier Rousseau »). He is a self-taught man and his entry in the artistic life is rather late. Concerning the paintings evoking the jungle, Rousseau finds inspiration in the Botanical Garden of Paris and uses an album, "Wild Beasts."

The term « Naïf » ('Naive') was used from the late 19th century to describe the works of Henri Rousseau. First used pejoratively, that name, although inadequate, is still the most widely used to describe self-taught artists' productions practicing an art that is outside of any stylistic category.

Playmobil and Classical Painting

The creations of

Pierre-Adrien Sollier

A selection of creations from the French artist Pierre-Adrien Sollier, who mixes the plastic universe of the famous Playmobil with the great masterpieces of classical or contemporary painting, from Leonardo da Vinci to Edouard Manet through Dali, Basquiat, Diego Velázquez or Edward Hopper…
I am sure you will enjoy them
Do you recognize the original painting?
If not, look for it and you will see the differences.