Museum Review#1

Naturalistic representations in painting and art as a whole are, as Emile Zola contends, but “a corner of nature seen through a temperament.” An artists rendering of nature is subject to the many limitations of man and his perspective, therefore any representation of nature is not an accurate representation of the natural world but how one receives and interprets the natural world. This is painstakingly evident in Vincent van Gogh’s “Cypresses” and Henri Rousseau’s “The Repast of the Lion”. Both contain naturalistic representations, but are asserted in strikingly different styles.

Vincent van Gogh’s “Cypresses” was completed in 1899 using oil paint on canvas and stands 36.75 x 29.125 inches. “Cypresses” lacks warm color, van Gogh instead chose to utilize multiple shades of green and blue that give the painting a sense of serenity, as if it were a late spring afternoon. The paint is visibly applied very thickly, the viewer can see the differences in texture throughout the canvas. The mountain in the background sits under billowing, grey clouds and a crescent sun, providing a basis for perspective and in turn gives the scene depth. The tree is likely a great distance from the mountain, possibly on the apex of a hill. “Cypresses” is a naturalistic representational, but lacks an attempt at imitating the intricacies of nature.

“The Repast of the Lion” painted by Henri Rousseau was completed in 1907 with oil on canvas and it’s dimensions are 44.75 x 63 inches. “The Repast of the Lion” is a representational painting containing much value, shadows come across the growth as the sun has almost completed it’s descent into the horizon. The flowers accentuate a predominantly green forest with warm oranges, deep blues, and pure whites. The lion and his repast lay in the center of the canvas in all it’s savagery. The blood lines it’s mouth as it engulfs it’s prey as the fall of the night shade prepares its entrance. The sky is a cool blue wrapped around a white light source that could be a sun or moon. Rousseau’s interpretation of nature tries, to some degree, faithfully represent nature as seen in real life. 

The manner in which “The Repast of the Lion” contrasts “Cypresses” is emblematic of the unique perception of each artist. Both represent scenes in nature but the styles of van Gogh and Rousseau violently clash. van Gogh’s brush strokes are deliberate and swirling, as if his intention was to inform the viewer of the limitations of a two dimensional canvas as opposed to Rousseau who employs a much more precision based style that attempts to give the viewer a three dimensional perspective. “The Repast of the Lion” shows the barbaric side of nature, the lion engulfing his repast in the thick of the growth in anonymity. This is the part of nature man tends to forget, the ferocious and unforgiving reality that violence occurs in the seemingly sublime and serene wilderness as well as the human inhabited cities and towns. “Cypresses” comes across as having being created with very little detail, almost lackadaisical in it’s depictions of a curving cypress surrounded by grass and mountain sides. It lacks any elements that would give it a three dimensional consciousness, which then begs the questioning of van Gogh’s intentions when painting “Cypresses”. He may have been attempting to recreate how nature makes him feel, rather than recreating nature itself. 

Vincent van Gogh’s “Cypresses” and Henri Rousseau’s “The Repast of the Lion” offer several interpretations of the the infinity of nature, and succeed in capturing an infinitesimal of what nature is in reality. Each scene although similar in idea, differ in their rendering, and in doing so display the potency and freedom of painting and art as a whole.