Pieces of artwork

Sample Solution

  Two pieces of artwork that I have chosen to compare are The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, which is in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso, which is housed in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) in Barcelona, Spain. Both of these works were created between 1888 and 1907, during a period known as Post-Impressionism.

The Starry Night was painted by Van Gogh in 1889 while he was living at an asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The painting depicts a night sky filled with swirling stars and a rolling countryside below. It draws on elements of Expressionism and Symbolism as it conveys both emotional intensity and a sense of tranquility at the same time. The texture is built up through layers of paint applied thinly with a brush or palette knife. In addition to its emotive content, this work also makes use of several key compositional elements such as contrast between light and dark elements and strong directional lines that draw the viewer's eye around the canvas; all united by color harmony achieved through complementary colors used throughout. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was painted two years earlier than The Starry Night but holds similar themes such as human emotions expressed through line, shape and color composition – but approached differently due to Picasso having already moved away from Impressionist style painting at that point into Cubism. This painting depicts five women arranged together against an undefined background with their faces partly obscured or distorted unnaturally – creating a feeling unease for viewers rather than feelings associated with nature like with Van Gogh’s work. Furthermore, unlike Van Gogh who largely worked intuitively using thickly layered applications for expressive effect - Picasso takes more calculation approach her - making sure each element fits within his cubist framework carefully designed to convey something about modern life instead of simply expressing emotion directly onto canvas like many other impressionists did previously before him.. These two works differ stylistically yet still carry similarities because they are both aiming to convey emotion without depicting any particular events or subjects explicitly within them – instead allowing viewers to interpret their own ideas onto these paintings instead.. Whereas van gogh uses this approach through blending traditional techniques such as complementary colors & contrasts between light & darkness; picasso pushes further into abstract territory refusing linear perspective altogether & distorting figures so they no longer represent anything recognizable specifically - looking more like representations ideas then anything else.. Ultimately we can see how within just two small period over 20 years art had evolved significantly from one place based off traditional techniques introducing some new ones along way too – showing us how incredibly dynamic history actually is when you look closer - proving there always challenging status quo if necessary!