Musuem Assignment

Charles Angrand
French, 1854-1926
1892
The Harvesters
Oil on Canvas

The canvas that used is a pretty nice size. The colors are very earth tones. They are very cool and natural looking. The colors make the picture look very realistic. The oil used on the canvas actually leaves a textured mark with each brush stroke made by the artist. This piece of art is composed of numerous short brushstrokes that individually creates each of the objects in the picture. If you were to look art the drawing close up all you would see is a variety of tiny, short dot-like brush strokes that overlap with many colors that seem to change once it starts forming another object. For example the grass and the trees are composed of darker colors then you will see they colors get lighter when a person is being depicted.
 This piece is representational not only because of it's title but mainly because the painting clearly depicts a moment in a day that harvesting is taking place by harvesters. On a day which seems like a very good day to be outside to do the task. You don't see a lot of sunshine by the colors used. It seems like a warm but cool day. The colors do not change drastically or abruptly. The changes are very subtle and gradual.
The objects in the picture are not really contour but are outlined. This picture is very similar to the drawing we briefly discussed in class by Vincent Van Gogh "Starry Night". The picture is all about the lines. They all seem to be short but they tend to get thicker and or wider or the opposite depending on what is being depicted. You can actually see and visualize the movements of the harvesters. Them bending over to pick up, putting things in the bags, and dumping what they have collected into the wagon. In my opinion everything is depicted perfectly, naturally, and realistically in this painting. The picture is calming and very relaxing.
I believe the main reason of the artist composing this painting was to paint an actual and realistic day in time. That shows exactly what takes place in harvesting.