Salvador Dali, Fridah Kahlo, Henri Matisse Paintings Analysis Paper Example

Salvador Dali- Unsatisfied Desires (Form and Composition)

As a composition, I must say that this painting lacks luster and is bleak. A red kite is depicted high in the sky, followed with long tails that are not linked to anything. In the foreground, there are two subjects. The one on the right is two soft cones coming from a flat edge on the right side of the composition, with a minute red stick protruding from a cone at the bottom. The one on the left is a pink hand with the thumb and finger pointing downwards, and the pinky moved towards the right. Two of the subjects have been positioned in the midst of crushed shells that have been stacked onto the canvas methodically the same way as it would have been in a mosaic. In the painting, there is an image of a vaginal opening between the pointing finger and the thumb (SFMOMA, Dali). This would make any audiences to look at the picture in a very different method. Many people have speculated that the artist was expressing his emotions through the painting; trying to pass a message that there is a disconnect between what he wants to realize sexually and what he is presently getting at the moment. There is also a mix-up of genders. The hand that is located on the left side of the painting holds onto the opening of the female genitalia, but the extended pinky finger has knuckles that are very hairy and extended the same way an erection would. On the right is a figure that resembles a pair of breast, and the small penile projection stems from one of them. Overall, it is worth mentioning that this abstract piece by Dali is fascinating and surreal (Palladino, 2006).

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Henri Matisse- The Joy of Life (Materials and Methods)

Henri Matisse made use of pure oil color and the white of exposed canvas to bring about a light-filled atmosphere within his Fauve painting; The Joy of Life. As opposed to making use of shading or modeling to lend structure and volume to the composition, the artists made use of different areas of unmodulated and pure oil color. The above method of using oil color went on to be relevant to Matisse all through the completion of the painting.

This particular piece, The Joy Of Life, was relevant with respect to endorsing the importance of decor in Avantegarde art. All the same, even though audiences that look at this particular piece are bound to perceive the painter as someone who is committed to contentment and pleasure, his utilization of pattern and color is many a time unsettling and disorienting (SFMOMA, Matisse).

Through Matisse's The Joy of Life, art enthusiasts can be able to attest to the fact that the artist was heavily influenced by artistic methods from other cultures. Having traveled to North Africa and Asia and witnessed several exhibitions of Asian art, he factored in some of the angularity that defined African sculpture, the decorative qualities of Islamic art, and the flatness of Japanese prints into his personal style.

By making use of oil color and no other media, it is evident that the artist wanted his artwork to be one of purity, balance, and serenity devoid of depressing or troubling subject themes. The Joy of Life suits all audiences that look upon art to get shelter from the disorientation of the present day world ("Matisse the master: a life of Henri Matisse: the conquest of colour, 1909-1954", 2006).

Fridah Kahlo-Frieda and Diego Rivera (Proportion and Scale)

Seen side by side in the painting, the couple presents a picture of an almost comic posture. The fact that his girth dwarfs her small frame would make an onlooker think that Fridah was not keen to address the issues of proportion in her work. For the record, it is worth mentioning the size of Diego made Frieda's parents refer to them as the elephant and the dove the moment they got married.

From the painting, it is evident that Fridah Kahlo's Frieda and Diego Rivera was proportionally executed. Given her husband's physique and her small stature, I must say that matters of perspective were not very applicable (SFMOMA, Fridah).

Critically speaking, it is worth mentioning that Fridah's painting is not characterized by what I Iike to term as enough "breathing space" (the space between objects in the foreground and the frame). Both her physique and that of her husband almost touch the picture's edges. Another feature of the painting that can be critiqued is the way Fridah executed her feet and those of her husband. Even though her husband's feet were characteristically bigger than hers, in the picture, her feet are so tiny in an overrated way while those of her husband are big in a way that is exaggerated. What's more, given that her husband was a big man, his upper torso ought to have been bigger in the painting, but that is not the case because his lower body appears bigger. Finally, it is worth mentioning that I find myself compelled to comment on the size of Frieda's husband's fingers; they are not proportional to his body size.

References

Matisse the master: a life of Henri Matisse: the conquest of colour, 1909-1954. (2006). Choice Reviews Online, 43(08), 43-4452-43-4452. doi: 10.5860/choice.43-4452

Palladino, N. (2006). Salvador DalA: i luoghi della letteratura. TRANS-, (2). doi: 10.4000/trans.169