The Figure in Nature - from the Rococo to Impressionism with Leve and Yeth

Hello, welcome to Leave and Yes. Today we will be talking about two paintings from the Rococo and Impressionist eras. The first picture called The Shepherdess by Fragonard is from the Rococo period. The colors are very vivid and the young girl is often described as the epitome of feminine beauty. She's sitting and waiting for her lover who is off in the distance. However, something odd about the painting is that she is dressed in an elegant way, something that is not very Yes, that's completely true. People with that status would not be caught dead sitting in a pasture. This painting is also supposed to be erotic and will probably be hung in a bedroom. The young girl is blushing because she is excited for her lover to come back to her. The painting itself could also said to be blushing because of its light tones and sort of careless brushstrokes. Agreed, yeah, even her small feet seem to be blushing. The second painting is called Garden at Saint-Adjace by Monet. Monet splits the canvas into three different parts to emphasize the flatness of the painting, something borrowed from the many Japanese paintings that he collected. This piece was made in 1867, part of the Impressionist period. It's clear this painting is from the Impressionist era because the faces of all the figures are obstructed so you're able to put yourself into the painting. Yes, Monet often paints pictures of the seaside, a landscape he loves because he grew up in vacation there. The colors are very vibrant and it seems to be a very peaceful scene, similar to the first painting. Note another similarity between the paintings is the romanticizing of nature. Both of these paintings portray nature as beautiful, elegant, and romantic. In the background of both of the paintings, you can see distractions. The first is the lover of the young girl and in the second painting, it is the ships which have steam coming out of them. These perhaps symbolize that there is more to the story than what is on the canvas. They have brilliant blue skies and use shadows to try to highlight the figures. They also both have upper class people as the subjects of the painting. There are a lot of differences between the paintings, including the color palette and the use of figures. Although both of the paintings use rather bright colors, the first painting is softer and has a pastel color palette, while the second has more primary colors. In the first painting, it seems as if everything is about the young girl and she is front and center. In the second painting, the people do not matter because it's much more about the flowers and nature. Leave that's true, Monet painted nature much more often than people, while the Rococo period was all about people and nature. That's true, yes. These differences are what help us differentiate between Rococo paintings and Impressionist paintings. Thank you for listening and catch us next time on Leave and Yes, where we'll be talking about what's better, lemonade or water?