A Sense of Place

Andrew Wyeth

Edward Hopper


These two paintings are very different in mood for a number of reasons. The one by Andrew Wyeth looks gloomier and darker, whereas Edward Hopper's looks brighter and happier. Unlike Hopper's painting, Wyeth has an animal as the subject. The first painting looks sadder, empty, and more enclosed. The second painting looks happier and more open because of the opened door with a wide view of the bright, calm ocean. The darker painting uses more neutral and dull colors like various shades of whites and greys. The brighter painting uses a variety of bright colors.

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

I think this is the most interesting painting because the artist uses his colors in a nice, clean way. He also uses a lot of green in this painting but also uses small hints of pink, which is the color of the flowers. The pink creates a nice contrast between the other color. Monet uses texture to make the painting look softer. The composition of the painting is nice as well because Monet spreads out the subjects throughout the painting, so there isn't much blank space in it. It also forces your eyes to look at the entire painting rather than just one specific part of it.

I think this painting represents calmness and tranquility and is very pleasing to the eye. Monet painted a series of 250 oil paintings of water lilies and this painting, which was painted in 1905, was part of this series. These water lilies were from his flower garden in Giverny, which was the focal point of his paintings for the last thirty years of his life. His paintings are being displayed in museums all over the world. This specific painting is also currently being displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.