Every Thursday, as part of my personal “enriched environment” initiative, I post a piece of art, usually from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which recently released online some 400,000 high-resolution images of its collection. All artwork will show a sun (or sunlight) somewhere.
I won’t name the piece or the artist, but instead invite you to study the art and post a comment addressing one or more of these questions:
- What is going on in this picture?
- What do you see that makes you say that?
- What more can you find?
If you have another idea, run with it.
Note: To embiggen the image, click on it!
iTs’ SO HOT TODAY i SEE THESE people IN THEIR HEAVY , C LOTHES AND i THINK , REDICULOUS !!!!
I love the colorful flowers, the sunshine and blue sky! I wonder who is on the ships in the distance and where they are going.
I see a lot happening. In the foreground four people are, at least they seem to be, relaxing on a garden deck which overlooks the ocean and lots of boats. I say the four people “seem to be relaxing,” because who knows what they are thinking or feeling? There are two couples – a man and a woman standing by the rail, and closer to the viewer a man and a woman sitting down. Their postures suggestion relaxation, especially the way the standing man is holding his cane in a non-formal way. The men are dressed in dark colors, the women wear white and carry parasols. I find it odd that the inside of the woman’s parasol (the one standing up) is a dark black. The other woman is sitting with her back to us. The way her dress billows out around her makes her look like a mound of vanilla ice cream. She and the other sitting man just seem to be sitting there, looking out at sea. Or maybe looking at the other couple who are talking by the railing.
I won’t even begin to describe all that’s going on on the water, except I do notice that you see humans on sail boat that’s closest to us, but the other boats are farther out at sea and you can’t see anyone on them.
The picture is fresh, sunshiny, brisk and colorful !!!
Four people are spending time in a small but lush garden overlooking an ocean filled with ships.
Two men. Two women.
One man and one woman are talking together. One man and one woman are just sitting.
The sitting couple have their backs to us. No, the sitting woman does and the sitting man is half in profile and half with his back to us. I don’t know the technical term for this. I only took one art (drawing) class in school and I imagine if my teacher was here she’d tell me the word.
The standing couple seems to be conversing.
What I take from this picture is contrast. The four main figures seem well-off, and they are not working but standing in a tiny garden that is bursting with colorful flowers. They are contained in the garden.
Outside the garden ships are busy ,,, they represent work, the opposite of leisure.
The boat nearest to us ? There are people on it and the boat has three sails. Are they working or relaxing? Maybe they are halfway points between leisure (close to us) and work (all those big boats in the background.)
I wonder if back then people sailed small boats for pleasure. When did “sailing” as a leisure time activity begin?
The sun seems aligned with the wind. That is, the wind seems to be blowing from where the sun is.
Additionally, this painting is like so many others in the series, in that the sun is “out of the frame on the left side.”
In addition, the smoke from the boats on the horizon seems to blend in with the undersides of the clouds.
The sun is bright but the people’s many layers of clothing suggest the temperature is not hot, but cool and (as per the flags waving in the strong wind) brisk.
The clear air suggests it’s not hot and muggy, too.
Cool. Clear. Brisk.
What this picture is missing is some kind of beverage. — A pitcher of iced tea, some Cosmos, shots of chilled vodka with sliced lime to distract the bite. That would make it more enjoyable, make the colors even more vivid.