Rene Magritte: Untitled

I chose this painting by Rene Magritte mainly due to being a fan of surrealism. I had remembered seeing Magritte’s paintings in the past, specifically the piece called “Philosopher’s Lamp,” and enjoyed the oddities that came along with the paintings. Albeit the painting I had chosen is untitled, it had stood out to me among the surplus of Magritte’s work. It appears the individual presented in this painting is starting his day deciding whether to be sad or happy, regardless of what the he is truly feeling. Some say this painting applies with how we all put on masks in the social construction of reality.

Claude Monet: Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son (1875)

I chose this painting by Claude Monet because this painting is very different from others. Monet did not focus on the lady's features, giving her a more faded appearance. Monet focused more on the lighting and the direction from which the light is coming from. He gives it a more realistic look by adding shadow. Also, this painting is of Madame Monet and her son on a casual family day. I like how Monet focused more on a family scene rather than just a portrait of his wife and son.

Mary Cassatt: Young Mother Sewing

I chose this image by Mary Cassatt because I have seen this painting time and time again and have always admired it. Many of her paintings actually involve a mother and her daughter. The young mother who is sewing, which is not something that we see practiced anymore, shows a flashback of what women did at home on a daily basis. The daughter just carelessly leans on her looking bored. I really applaud Cassatt's painting because it captures a woman who is working hard even when she has a daughter interrupting her, an uncomfortable, small environment for women to do their work, and very little opportunities for women to be as successful as men.

San Giorgio Maggiore At Dusk by Claude Monet

The reason I chose the San Giorgio Maggiore At Dusk by Claude Monet is because it reminds me of home.  In my opinion, Monet’s painting looks like a glimpse of the skyline in New York City.  One of the many things I like about this painting is how he incorporated warm and cool colors.  I also liked how he created texture with different strokes from his brushes which in my opinion made the painting more appealing to the eye.

Claude Monet: The Cliffs at Etretat

I chose this painting by Claude Monet because I liked the scenery of the painting and how it stood to most of Monet's paintings because he typically painted scenery and landscapes, but this one was different than the others.  Usually, Monet paints nature from the water of ponds, rivers, woods, and inside the forest.  This water landscape was different than the others because of where it took place and that is what I liked about it.  Also, I feel that this picture is telling a story unlike the others because people are in the water meaning this took place in the summer and the people were swimming in the water enjoying a summer's day.  I also liked the colors used for the rocks, in the water, especially reflecting the rocks, and the strokes from painting.  This work of Monet's seems very simple and to me looked a little different to what he usually paints.

  Claude Monet : The Bodmer Oak, Fontainebleau Forest

 I chose this piece by Claude Monet due to the contrast and sharpness of the painting. 

Monet has many other landscape paintings that also hold these qualities. The texture in the bark and shadows of  the limbs really pop out and give depth the the painting. I also like how clean the sky appears  through the leaves and the contrast from light blue to dark green/black. The beams of sun shining  through the trees to the ground also provide a warmth feeling to me when i look at the piece. I also  found out that Monet would sometimes damage his paintings so that the land owners would not seize  them.This suggests that Monet maybe sometimes painted things that he didn't have  permission to, so  the rebelliousness adds to the piece as well. All in all this to me is easy and attractive to look at.

Salvador Dali:Melting Clocks

I chose this painting by Salvador Dali because I have seen this painting all my life and I always thought it was a very interesting and distraught. I never knew the true meaning of this painting, however some people think it relates to Albert Einsteins theory of relativity and how the theory is complex due to the fact that time is being related to something that is not fixed or easily tracked.