As such, they provided a telling symbol for the alienation of avant-garde artists such as Picasso. Circus performers were regarded as social outsiders, poor but independent. A more immediate inspiration for Picasso came from performances of the Cirque Médrano, a circus that the artist attended frequently near his residence and studio in Montmartre. The theme of the circus and the circus performer had a long tradition in art and in literature, and had become especially prominent in French art of the late nineteenth century. This is an early painting by Matisse, and yet the idea of balance and serenity found here would remain a consistent theme in his work throughout the next 50 years.įrom late 1904 to the beginning of 1906, Picasso's work centered on a single theme: the saltimbanque, or itinerant circus performer. Matisse said, "What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter."1 Matisse wasn't interested in conflict or politics. The painting takes its title, which means "Richness, calm, and pleasure," from a line by the 19th-century poet Charles Baudelaire, and it shares the poem's subject: escape to an imaginary, tranquil refuge. He also used a palette of pure, high-pitched primary colors (blue, green, yellow, and orange) to render the landscape, and then outlined the figures in blue. Matisse favored discrete strokes of color that emphasized the painted surface rather than a realistic scene. The forms in the painting-the figures, tree, bush, sea and sky-are created from spots of color, jabs of the brush that build up the picture. Thanks to Stephen for “The Work of Art” and for all those who posted on this site.Matisse made this painting in the south of France, in the town of Saint-Tropez, while vacationing with family and friends. In case you do read this, I’m born foreign to English, and pointing out wrongly used words or sentences would make a difference in my evolution. Whether you see them and acknowledge them, does not matter to me. Writing is the medium which I not only admire but I visualize the ideas and insights written down.įor the first time, posting on a site feels like ideas and insights are popping their heads out. So long I use the medium which feels right. Whether I start writing them down, painting, singing, present, or whatever way, does not matter. It’s not writing per see but the way I like to play around with words, especially concerning philosophical ideas and insights. I think you just pointed out the notion that I knew it all along. What is my territory? Which Muse should I call upon? What talent is buried underneath the surface of my Ego? Yet all the way through I had a recurring question. Just worked through the book “The War of Art” in a devastating short amount of time, although speed doesn’t matter but it reveals where you’re passion lies. Do that enough, and all you will need is an hour a night to get some really good stuff done. Searching for inspiration and working over ideas is a 24/7/365 thing. We really neglect to appreciate how much work must be done outside the studio. If you wait until you are sitting in front of your laptop before you start going, “Okay, I need an idea now please!” it’s already too late.īy the time Saturday morning arrives, a writer/composer/artist will have gotten an idea while stuck in traffic or eating lunch on Tuesday and worked it over in their heads for the rest of the week, and they can pick up the brush and immediately get to work. We all need to be rolling ideas around 24/7. We fetishize having the time to actually be in front of our instrument, be that a canvas, a laptop, a piano, or whatever. Artists are the same way they will roll ideas around all day long, and when they finally pull on the smock and pick up the brush, they already have an idea of what to start putting up there. I’m thinking about music all the time, and by the time I get home, or by the time Saturday morning rolls around, I can sit down at the thing and just start in. A good writer will play with words in their head all day long, and by the time they get home that night, they don’t sit at the laptop and start having ideas, but they empty out all the ideas that have welled up for the other 23 hours in the day into the laptop. You know though, I’ve found that one of the most under-appreciated aspects of creativity and inspiration is that it doesn’t have to happen at the canvas, at the piano, or at the laptop. The patience to just stubbornly park your ass on the chair and work long enough at something to get it done. There’s a Yiddish word for this: sitzfleisch.
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