Edouard Manet, The Balcony, 1868,
Oil on Canvas
Birds.
Birds in a cage.
Contented and lulled into inactivity.
No real life.
Rich kids of 1868. Sort of like American kids of 2009 without electronics.
We stop. We look. We sigh. We breathe. We think. We take our gloves off. We blink.
The man standing reminds me of a bird with his bloated chest and strange stance. The sitting girl looks intently out at the world. Her eyes strikingly resemble parrot. The guy in the background croons his neck...with his pots of treats. Nothing but the best for our chickies. I find it interesting that the artist here paints things hanging from the ceiling. The 'V's at the necks look bird-ish, the parasol and fan lend image to tails. The balcony and shutters (cage), natural plant in corner, tails for girls, and stripe of adornment for man bird (tie), all and only have color. Oh yes...and standing girls' foot... Who out there agrees with me? Birds in a cage. Am I crazy?
(I do appreciate the treatment of fabric here. Lace, ruffles and stripes. It is beautiful!)
This work was done in studio. One model was a cellist named Fanny Claus.
No disrespect intended to the artist. What a gift to make anything so lovely look like something else altogether while not marring his first intention.
Floor is open. What do you think?
Do you like the use of color?
How about the figures? What do you see??
Hoe does this painting affect you?
Go for it!
6 comments:
I don't really see the whole bird thing, sorry... the whole picture doesn't make sense to me. I'm having trouble creating a story around 3 people who seem disparate and unconnected to me. Hmmmm.... perhaps that is exactly the point? I am however drawn to the seated woman... her expression, the stripes in her gown, the small dog at her feet (I want to see it's face!), and I love the pot of flowers in the corner! Overall it seems too colorless.
Auntie Ski:
Not so compelling, huh?
The smallness of the computer screen presents limitations that I don't find when looking at the bigger picture in the book. So sorry I can't fix that!
Thanks so much for your thoughts Bonn!
It's all good!
I did wonder why he bothered to paint the dog in- in the first place.
I noticed the dog too. It's really hard to see in such a small rendering of the painting.
Does anybody think the woman on the right looks Japanese? I'm trying to figure out how a Japanese girl fits into the story. Even her dress has a Japanese flavor to it.
But, Anne, the bird thing is TOTALLY obvious to me. Not that I would have thought of it without your help! The man just looks like the cock of the roost to me! You seem to have nailed it! It seems so clear now that you mention it! Thanks!
Thanks David.
She Does look Japanese, doesn't she?! Didn't notice that.
(Next time we'll try something a little bigger if I can get it.)
tweet. tweet.
I did discover that if you click on the picture, it will open in a new window, at twice the size. That helps, I wouldn't have figured out the dog was a dog without doing that. It's great that you can find the pictures online!
Auntie Ski-
Thanks for the tip!
(That makes me feel a little better, too.)
Love ya!
Mia
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