RomanceEverAfter

Melissa Newton
aka Melissa Hamilton Profile

Paintings - My Favorite Masters

Museums and galleries are some of my favorite haunts. (I have to confess bookstores and libraries are too!) Over the years, I have been fortunate to view the marvelous works of countless artists.  My many favorites list can go on and on, i.e., Gustave Caillebotte (Paris, Rainy Weather), Pierre Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, and one of my favorites, the "Mars and Venus, An Allegory of Peace" by Louis Jean Francois Lagrenee hanging in The J. Paul Getty Museum in California.  

For the sake of space, I have opted to display a selection of my favorites from Renoir's work.

Impressionism:  My favorite Renoir works

"The Dancer"
Oil on canvas, 1874
It is observed that "The Dancer" displays the figurative side of Impressionism which was seen in the works of Edouard Manet and Edgar Degas.

"Girls at the Piano"
Oil on canvas, 1892
Renoir was commissioned by the director of fine arts (France) to paint a work to hang in the Luxembourg Palace. He chose this subject and painted several versions.   (The painting pictured here was not the final version which was delivered to the museum).

"The Umbrellas"
Oil on canvas, 1881 and 1885
Renoir began painting this work in 1881 and completed the left side of the painting four years later.  Art critics note that Renoir's change in style of his brushwork is seen in this work. I find this work intriguing.  It reflects how an artist can grow and change.  We're fortunate that this experience is reflected in one painting in lieu of a series of works.

Abstract Expressionism

Of the abstract artists, the list is growing.  My admiration reaches to the works of Jackson Pollock (1912-56: American painter, significant figure of the Abstract Expressionist movement), Rebecca Roberts, Nancy Ortenstone, and Jack Roth.

I have come to appreciate abstract painting because it offers an experience to the viewer. It tells a story, but the interpretation is subject to the experience or perspective of the viewer.

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