Pablo Picasso, Girl before a Mirror, 1932, oil on canvas, MoMA
I was really drawn to this piece by the unique use of shape and color. This painting is a great example of Picasso’s cubist work. Here he is dissecting the forms and space of the girl looking at herself before a mirror so that they are pure geometry but still are able to be representative of the subject matter. I really loved the use of color in this piece specifically, I like the way the patterns and different vibrant colors interact with each other across the canvas and I think it adds to the piece a lot. I find myself drawn to abstraction quite often so I appreciate the formal qualities of this work by Picasso and also consider it to be a great example of some of his cubist paintings.
Gerald Murphy, Wasp and Pear, 1929, oil on canvas, MoMA
I chose this painting because it is a still life and therefore applicable to the assignment we have coming up with our alla prima painting. I really love the way the forms are abstracted in this work where they are somewhat recognizable, yet Murphy abstracted their formal qualities into a flat space that is very compelling to me. I also like the way the colors interact with each other in this piece. Although I am usually drawn to vibrant, saturated colors, I appreciate the color palette in this piece as all of the colors are very harmonious with one another in a way that I hope to achieve in my paintings.
Pierre Bonnard, The Dining Room at Vernonnet, 1916, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
I was drawn to this piece because of the wispy brush strokes that are present throughout the work. I really love how the way this work was painting adds to the domestic and casual sensibility of the scene. The chair and right hand side of the painting as a whole is my favorite part. I think the use of mark making is really unique and something I would like to maybe experiment with in the future. I was also really drawn to the richness of each color present in this scene. Even the table cloth, which is just a white table cloth, has so much depth and variety of color within it. I would like to maybe utilize these elements in my own future paintings.
