![]() ![]() ![]() “The icebergs”, 1861 (Dallas Museum of Art) Is the sea a neutral background behind the monk’s deliberations, or perhaps are we looking at a strange dialogue between the man and the neverending ocean, a mystical mirror of the monk’s thoughts? Caspar David Friedrich – Der Monch am Meer – 1809-10 The notorious horizontality of the picture and the evident contrast in the scale of the monk, almost insignificant when compared to the magnificence of the sea, fill the picture with a quite uncertain romantic message. “The Monk by the sea”, 1809/10 (Berlin Nationalgalerie)Ĭontrary to the glorious calm of the work by Lane or the dramatic exuberance of Aivazovsky’s masterwork, here we face a much more difficult work. Nevertheless, the centre of the composition is the powerful -almost mystical- and diffuse representation of the sun, which illuminates the scene with a strange, oneiric range of green and pink shades. Petersburg, State Museum)Ī seascape devoted painter, Aivazovsky reaches in this painting an absolute technical perfection, depicting a group of unlucky castaways trying to survive to the merciless ocean waves. Fitz Hugh Lane – Becalmed off Halfway Rock – 1869 In this highly appealing canvas, the artist brilliantly portraits two large ships, accompanied by three support boats, surrounding a little rock that, although small in size, possess a considerable importance in the composition. “Becalmed off Halfway Rock”, 1869 (Washington, National Gallery)Ĭonsidered one of the greatest all-time marine painters, Lane is arguably more of a “naval portraitist” than a traditional seascape painter. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |