"Print Gallery" - M.C. Escher

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures,” said Henry Ward Beecher. M.C. Escher uses contrast and confusion to pull in the onlooker. The spectator is obsessed to find what they want. The problem is; they don’t know what they’re looking for.

This is one of the remarkable paintings that M.C. Escher has completed. This image is called the Print Gallery. The painting twists and turns in front of a young boy gazing onward into a peaceful Mediterranean City on the water. The paintings in the hallway are set up in a straight line. These paintings are unlike any other paintings.

The artist is a master of using contrast. Even though the sun is not in the picture, you can tell that it’s rising from the upper left because the lower right side is shadowed. The shading is very precise which brings a feel of realism and depth. Escher also split his painting into four different sections. The lower left painting of a hallway has a picture that opens upward into a reality of a boat sailing by a harbor in the upper left. The upper left waterfront then travels into the upper right into a more compact town. The bottom of that town has an extended shop roof, which is also the ceiling of the museum in the lower right. From there, the hallway connects with the original bottom left. This brings the spectator a small feel of confusion.

This artist is also sending a message. He sends the spectator the message that life isn’t always what it seems. The picture twists and turns in a swooping motion. It is very similar to the problems in life and humanity’s attempts to avoid it. Anyone who accomplishes this piece is clearly a very good artist

I think that the art should be displayed for others to see, because of the talent, patience and beauty. Talent and beauty was one of the reasons M.C. Escher was greatly known for his artistic ability. He was born in 1898 and began drawing at the age of sixteen. From birth to death he made over two thousand paintings. At the age of 26, he got married to Jetta Umiker and moved to Rome for 9 years. When World War II struck, he lived and drew in the neutral country of Switzerland. M.C. Escher died of cancer in Baarn, Netherlands on March 27, 1972

"Four Sporting Boys" - Norman Rockwell

Have you ever seen the kind of painting that changes your mood? In this painting, Four Sporting Boys, Norman Rockwell is trying to tell that all boys argue when they’re trying to make their point. Rockwell’s trying to get this point across by using specific artistic techniques.

This painting depicts four kids that are arguing about which position they want to play. A kid is holding a basketball. Each boy is facing into the center. They look very agitated, and it is a lot of motion in the picture. Their skin tones are varied in color. The boys are pointing to the spots they want to play at.

Rockwell used a variety of techniques in his painting, most importantly color and balance.

The Rehearsal - Degas

Degas painting is a wonderful interpretation of life by using warm and bright colors. The Rehearsal is a great piece of work with great detail. You may note the detail in the corners of the room.

There are a number of important

details in The Rehearsal. For example, if you look closely not all of the girls are dancing together.

The girls are all dressed in big dresses and big hair. There is a piano player in the bottom right

hand corner.

Degas used the elements of depth and line to create an effective painting. The Rehearsal has a flow and airiness to it. The floor boards looked used and worn. The three big windows that Degas used helped the light shine into the room giving an airiness to the room. The girls that are dancing look like a porcelain doll.

Degas’ brilliance lay in his ability to take a setting and make it interesting. The calmness and serenely for me is the most striking emotion in this painting. I like the realism that was used. It helps the painting’s airiness some out. Its nice because it doesn’t make you think about what things are.

The Rehearsal was thought out well, this panting is a wonderfully contrast of color. Degas painted is greatly detailed warm colors and is vary special.

Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat - Van Gogh

It is rather eerie to know that this is one of Van Gogh’s last self-portraits that he painted before he committed suicide. Van Gogh used a lot of his soft colors to portray himself, which adds irony to a painting full of unsettling emotions. At first glance, Self Portrait with a Straw Hat looks very simple.

Van Gogh paints a self-portrait that shows his distinct style of painting with the short brush strokes and soft colors that he used later in his life. Van Gogh's self-portrait shows himself in a straw hat. He is wearing a peasant coat that is lined in a very striking red. Other than the blood-red coloring found on his coat, face and hat, Van Gogh chose softer pastel colors for his self-portrait.

Van Gogh's painting is not as simple as it looks. At a closer look, he uses color and lighting to express how he felt at the time about himself. Van Gogh used some very striking blood reds to probably hint at poor health and anger. He used a series (blue, green and yellows) of very soft colors that might represent fading away from life. The background is really faded out and is not all that important as the few other colors. This forces the viewer to focus on his face. Also, a classic aspect of this painting is the way Van Gogh split his portrait into thirds. The top shows his hat, the middle third shows his face, and the bottom third shows his peasant coat with a shock of red.

I see an old man that is fading away. Van Gogh looks as if he could be contemplating the end of his life. The shadows on his face are indicating that he is foreseeing his own death.

Van Gogh was a painter that was able to use color to portray his emotional self. Van Gogh had the ability to make something very normal seem distinctly unsettling. This is a great painting that can’t be completely described with words. I love it because it is classic Van Gogh and it speak of the foreshadowing of his own death.