Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Traveling? Have you of all time asked yourself these inquiries? The chef-d’oeuvre, “ Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Traveling? ” from a celebrated Post Impression painter, Paul Gauguin may give you some inspiration.
In this paper, we will foremost utilize theoretical positions and ocular rules to analysis the picture. Then we will concentrate on how effectual are the elements to convey a message. Finally there will be some historical, ethical and cultural analysis.
Theoretical Analysis
In this portion, we are traveling to analyse the picture by colourss, lines, accent, integrity and assortment and beat.
The usage of colour is the most seeable property of the picture. The background is in a broad scope of combination of bluish and green to stand for a natural home ground. Gauguin used orange, yellow, green and brown colour to stand for the tegument colour of 12 characters in the work. This skin colour contrasts with the background because orange and blue is opposite colourss on the colour wheel. For the adult male at the centre, the yellowy viridity used is brighter than others. So the focal point is located at adult male. In contrast, the remainder of the characters have dull tegument tone and some about blend into the land colour. At each terminal of the drawing, the outermost characters are darker than others. Color tone creates brightness and darkness. For blink of an eye, the cardinal adult male is brighter than others. We can see the visible radiation is really radiances from the top of the adult male. The brightness, once more, do the cardinal character the focal point.
The usage of line besides plays an of import function. Gauguin uses largely curvilineal lines in the whole work. No crisp borders or consecutive line is observed. Gesture lines are used in the background drawing and briefly describe the forms of the object. Outlines are blurred and some of them even fused together. On the contrary, the lineations of characters in the foreground are more precise which allow viewing audiences to see the form of characters easy. This besides shows the usage of contour line pulling. This technique clearly separates the figure from the land.
Before speaking about the accent in this, it is of import to observe that the regulation of tierces ( Golden Proportion ) was used to make the focal point. The proportion of each component was non distorted in a great extent. For illustration, the babe male child and animate beings were smaller than the grownups besides them. Besides, figures are every bit spread in the composing in order to accomplish asymmetrical balance by value.
The propinquity of characters divides the picture into three parts. Each portion has one focal point. The focal point in the right subdivision is the babe with three people. The in-between subdivision is the adult male picking the apple. The left subdivision is the old adult female. They are all emphasized by contrast. For illustration, the skin colour of the old adult female is different from others. The in-between adult male standing really directly and comparatively large in size is different from people sitting on the land.
We can detect the ocular integrity between each component in this picture. The characters are about naked so we considered them as the same race of people ( Tahitians ) . The colourss of the vesture are similar to the background colour. Besides, each individual has their ain facial look and oculus contact. They look really sad, down, and dying. It helps to put the tone of the work in one emotion. Animals, like birds, Canis familiariss and cats, could be found in this image. Although it seems that it is non maintaining integrity with characters ( assortment ) , their colourss echoes with the background and people. It makes the integrity of each elements even stronger. Integrity with assortment was found in this picture, making a ocular involvement.
Gauguin uses tree short pantss in background to make a sense of beat. The short pantss are curvey and maintain repetition in the background. This guides the viewing audiences ‘ eyes from one terminal of the picture to another terminal when they are analyzing the background. Furthermore, the short pantss are linking with one and other and they are fluxing throughout the work. This is a Legato beat which gives viewer a composure and relaxed emotion, particularly used with cool colour, blue in this work.
Effectiveness
This picture has used a batch of techniques to convey the message about human being. This picture is effectual in stand foring its message. These three groups illustrated the inquiries posed in the rubric. “ Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Traveling? ” From the subject, we know that this picture is about the life of homo.
Harmonizing to the creative person, this picture should be read from right to go forth. The three chief figures in the picture represent the three inquiries of the rubric. Get downing from the right, it is the get downing phase of life ( three stooping adult females and a babe ) , to the maturity of human, and to the elder-aged figure on the left ( chew overing immature lady and the adult female in dark stood for “ where we are traveling to ” ) . Harmonizing to the creative person, “ an old adult female nearing decease appears reconciled and resigned to her ideas. ” Gauguin used a unusual white bird puting the adult female ‘s pess to demo the futility of words when decease was nearing. The bluish graven image in the background represents what Gauguin described as “ the Beyond ” .
The picture echoes the subject really good. The picture represents the procedure of human life. The usage of colour helps convey the message of the picture. Gauguin used the bluish colour to convey his sad and pessimistic feeling toward life. Furthermore, the yellowy green colour creates ocular integrity on characters despite the difference in tone. This ocular integrity, represented by the bluish colour, the natural tegument colour and about bare characters, gives a sense of antiquity towards human being.
The constituents of nature, human, animate beings are related to the subject of the life of human. This rational integrity is combined with the ocular integrity to efficaciously convey the bluish feeling of Gauguin towards life of homo. Besides the confusion and unhappiness convey in their look connoting the complications encountered in everyone ‘s life. Therefore the thought of life is brought out efficaciously and consistent in each of the ocular component and tone.
The graceful integrity of colour in characters makes the picture lively and set accent on the people in the center. This helps to place the figures in the foreground efficaciously that they represent for rubric of the work.
For the adult male, the focal point, the colour is brighter than others. He represents the aureate age of homo. The apple-picking male and the miss sitting at his left feeding apple inferred the corruptness of Adam and Eve in the Bible. The figure whose dorsum is turned to the spectator and who appears to inspect his or her underarm could be understood as the beginning of an person ‘s realisation of gender. In contrast, other characters have dull tegument tone and some about blend into the land colour. At each terminal of the drawing, the outermost characters are darker in tone so others. This usage of contrast and assortment helps convey the message in an effectual manner.
The usage of line besides plays the similar function to stress the of import figure. This helps the picture focal point clearer. The gesture lines merely briefly depict the background but lines of the figures in the foreground are more concise that let people concentrate on the three chief parts of the work in order to show the message.
The tree short pantss in background create a sense of beat. They are curvey and maintain repetition in the background. Furthermore, the short pantss work as a linkage that they are linking each other throughout the work. More significantly, it helps guide people ‘s eyes efficaciously from one terminal to another terminal that is the thought of the work – from the birth to the decease.
Historical, ethical and cultural analysis
Paul Gauguin, one of the taking Gallic painters of the Postimpressionist period. In 1897 in Tahiti, Gauguin finished this picture, which he regarded as a chef-d’oeuvre and expansive extremum of his ideas.
Influenced by folk art and Nipponese prints, Gauguin ‘s work evolved towards Cloisonnism, a manner of painting with level countries of colour and bold lineations. Subsequently his picture evolved towards Synthetism in which neither signifier nor colour predominance but each has an equal function ( colour and organize complement each other ) . We can see this manner in this picture.
The Postimpressionists push boundaries of colour and signifier into more abstract picture. It uses graphic colourss and thick application of pigment. It emphasizes geometric signifiers, to falsify signifier for expressive consequence and to utilize unnatural or arbitrary colour. The manner besides appears in this picture.
Decision
From the above analysis, we can see that the ocular elements and rules has their ain and different manner to work together to make ocular involvement to viewing audiences. Under the same subject: human life, the elements echo successfully to convey out the inexplicit reply to the rubric: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Traveling? Therefore, the message of human being and procedure of life is conveyed efficaciously.
