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Introduction
The Art Institute of Chicago presents a wide collection of artwork, ranging from paintings to sculptures and landscapes. These artworks represent different perspectives of thoughts, attitudes, and impressionism characteristics of different times in history. This paper contains a report of a sample of collections drawn from the museum’s online gallery. It presents three paintings, created at different times in history. These paintings include the “The Bedroom,” “Nighthawks,” and “The Target.”
The Bedroom
“The Bedroom” painting was done in 1889 by Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch painter who lived between 1853 and 1890. The painter liked his bedroom to an extent that he fantasized about it and decided to make a painting of it. He highly esteemed his bedroom that he made three paintings. The first painting belongs to the Van Gogh museum while the second one belongs to the Art Institute of Chicago. The bed is painted alongside other elements characteristic of a typical bedroom. These include a table and chair at the side of the bed, with picture frames hanged on the walls surrounding the bed. There is a window at the wall next to the top part of the bed. This painting marked the first time Van Gogh secured a house he called his own. The painting draws its origin from the Netherlands.
The painting is developed on a rectangular canvas, carefully created against a backdrop of different colors. The bed, which forms the center of focus of the picture is painted in brown color, a color that is typical of many beds. The table and chair, which surround the bed on one side, are also painted brown, a typical color for furniture. The walls are painted in light blue while the window frames are painted in dark blue color. The floor is maroon in color. The length of the bed stretches across the room, an indication of the artist’s desire to create a sense of space in the room. It is also a technique to create dominance by bringing out the bed as larger than the other objects in the room. Additionally, the painting brings into perspective the three dimensions of the form: height, width, and depth, creating a 3-D painting.
Meaning
This artwork is a representation of a typical life of someone who is within a basic household during the ancient era. It tells a story of the painter’s life as an individual who likes his place of sleep. It is a reflection of his love and passion for his bedroom. He is merely a homeowner who wants to show off his bedroom to the entire world. This painting comes with an important lesson: that anyone can use his talent to communicate with the world. Van Gogh has used his talent for painting to show the rest of the world what his bedroom. It means that we can always communicate and share our happiness and joy with others by levering our talents as well as passion. The simplistic nature of this painting is also an indication that one does not have to achieve sophistication when trying to showcase to the world. It is the simplistic ideas and presentations that show immense potentials to stand out.
Nighthawks
“Nighthawks” is a painting that was done in 1942 by Edward Hopper. Mr. Hopper was an American painter who died in 1967 at the age of 83 years. According to Hopper, the “Nighthawks” is a product of inspiration gained from a restaurant located on New York’s Greenwich avenue. The painting features three men and one woman. One of the men looks like a restaurant receptionist. The others look like customers who have paid a visit to the restaurant, probably for food or accommodation. The paint has its origins entirely from the United States.
The Nighthawks painting is done using a mixture of blue, red-brown, white, and yellow colors. The blue color is predominant, taking up many variations in the color spectrum. The booth is supported by columns and is surrounded by a building painted brown and blue. The use of columns and buildings creates a sense of space as it contains both width depth and height. The men and woman, the waiter, and the booth itself sit comfortably within the parameters of the picture plane. This is an indication that the work is an organized scene. The booth and the human subjects are far from view. The background is largely dark, with minimal reflections from white and yellow walls at the furthest right corner of the reception booth. There is a mixture of vivid and dull colors. This creates both saturated and unsaturated forms. Elements are placed randomly across the spaced. There is a lack of symmetrical balance in the process. While the variation of color is evident, minimal textural variation can be seen. Other variations such as line and shape are also minimal. As such, the painter does not create a picture that is capable of surprise and robust visual impact.
This painting brings into perspective the life of people during the mid- 20th century. The dressing code of the human subjects brings into perspective the paradox of loneliness. The harsh fluorescent lights grace the darkened streets with strangers sitting around the counter appearing to be physically close by psychologically apart. This is evidenced by the gazing nature of the women and the visibly unsettled man next to her. Being an American from New York, John is inspired by the lonely life of the New York City streets during the late hours of the day. The intended function of the painting is to showcase an idealistic example of the late nightlife in the streets of an urban center. The dress code of the human subjects in the painting relates to the typical dressing codes of Americans during the same period. Suits and long dresses were highly valued during this period, unlike today.
The Target
“The Target” is a painting done by Jasper John, an American-born painter born in 1930. According to an excerpt drawn from the Art Institute of Chicago, the painting was done as a result of John’s new experimentation with new concepts that were beyond the typical Abstract Expressionism. The painting is a representation of the American windows during the late 20th century, with specific to motifs. It was created in 1961.
A glance of the painting shows the dominance of the primary colors. These include red blue and yellow. Though coloring is simplistic, with well-defined lines to create a sense of space and separation. The organization is simple, with a 2-D presentation of the elements. The elements are largely defined by clear and active lines. Only three colors have been used, with the red color becoming more dominants. A glance at the painting shows a mixture of dull and bright coloring. The mixture of light and dark coloring is meant to emphasize the mood rather than to clarify forms or space. The illusion of space is missing in this painting since it is a 2-D presentation. The painter has varied strokes in the painting in a bid to create a different texture.
The painting Target does have a historical context. It is a representation of the creator’s deviation from the dominant Abstract Expressionism. While he uses brush strokes, which are characteristic of abstract expressionism, he does not create the impression of spontaneity. This is evidenced by a high level of predictability, as shown by the presence of fewer lines and lack of marks to create a sense of boundary and meaning. The painting does not have meaning, but rather an expression of the painter’s decision to combine primary colors side-by-side. This attempt comes off as experimentation.
Overall, the paintings have certain similarities and differences. For instance, both paintings feature a mixture of cool and bright colors. This is in an attempt to create different moods as well as show differences in terms of the lighting of the space. The Bedroom and The Nighthawks paintings are contextual with relatable meaning. There are more humanistic and relatable than The Target. The Target is more of abstract expression. Additionally, both The Bedroom and The Nighthawks paintings have a historical context, while the Target does not have a clear and decipherable context. The Target painting is presented in a 2-D frame with no attempts to create height and depth.
The Bedroom and The Nighthawks’ paintings contain elements that create a sense of depth and height. As such, they are 3-D frames. Strokes have been largely used in the Target painting as a way to create texture. In the Nighthawks and The Bedroom paintings, there is minimal use of strokes as a way of creating texture. Color variation is predominant in all three paintings. Primary colors have been used in each of the paintings in addition to secondary colors. However, The Target painting contains primary colors exclusively while the other two paintings contain a mixture of primary and secondary colors. This analysis shows that much of the differences are conspicuous between The Target painting and the other variants.
Links to the paintings
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/229351/target
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/28560/the-bedroom
https://www.artic.edu/articles/471/acquiring-nighthawks