Paintings Of The Modern Art Era: Similar Yet So Different

In the modern art era that merges into today, there were a lot of similarities and differences between works of art. You could look at two completely different pieces and figure out a mutual inspiration. Likewise, when it comes to The Joy of Life by Henry Matisse, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon by Pablo Picasso and The Large Bathers by Paul Cézanne, you can see similarities and differences both. It can even be assumed that these paintings were painted by the same person, albeit in slightly different styles. Below I will compare both of the former paintings with the latter and see how they complement each other and contradict each other at the same time.

If you look at The Joy of Life, you can see nude figures, mostly women, strewn about in an odd imbalance with no thought given to space perception. This is quite a confusing paintings but it seems to have an effect of order. Order from chaos as they say. The colors Matisse used in the paintings are from the yellow, orange and red spectrum and quite bright giving this painting a lively feel. Little notes of green at added to symbolize nature.

The color palette and the ignorance of depth perception are two things that are completely different from The Large Bathers by Paul Cézanne. Cézanne’s painting is much more muted and somber in color selection and he has done quite a good job in making us understand the size and space in his painting. The background is hazy and small, while the nude bathers in the front are large and in focus. However, you can still derive similarities from both. The paintings seem to be in motion as if action is abundant and the solely nude figures also gives us some kind of similarity to work with.

Let’s now come to Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. This Cubism painting shows 5 nude women surrounding a small table of fruits. The Cubism style used in this painting refers to lots of geometric shapes and patterns which are put together to tell one story. Why are there different shapes and patterns? To allow the viewer to see the same scene from different angles. Cubism is a mishmash of different viewpoints and dimensions in one painting in order to give the art an unearthly and unique type of look. The Large Bathers on the other hand is more on the Impressionist side of the art spectrum.

We have normally formed nude figures surrounding a water source not painted perfectly but in blobs of color all over. There is a difference in the color palette used and the actions of the subjects but other than that, the nude figures and their focus on one specific thing (fruit table or water body) is similar in a sense that we can’t omit. Another difference is the background or the scene which these subjects are set in. Picasso hasn’t given any setting or background to his subjects while Cézanne has drawn a whole scenery along with depth perception kept in mind, trees, forests and what looks like buildings in the background.

In conclusion, we see both differences and similarities in these three paintings. I believe it is in the eye of the beholder to really be able to relate or unrelated certain aspects of different paintings. Some people might look at the paintings and not be comfortable with writing similarities while some might not see any significant differences. It’s important however to keep in mind that most of what we think and come up with comes from inspiration from an external source, whether you are consciously aware of it or it’s somewhere in the back of your head.