In this art paper assignment, I will analyze Robert Lewis Reid's The Trio as depicted above. This 1898 painting is a classic example of an authentic oil canvas painting. The Trio is currently located at the Berkshire Museum in the US. It is an impressionist painting that appears general at first impression yet objective upon further analysis. Every inch of the canvas is covered in oil paint. Lastly, in general, most of the objects and shapes depicted in the painting seem realistic.
I concentrated on both the fore to the backward of this artwork to hence noticing the solemn scene that the artist was trying to reveal. The painting shows three ladies under a tree engrossed in some form of conversation. We can further point out the middle woman, set among flowers, as the center of attraction, with the other two seemingly admiring her. One can really observe most of the detailed aspects of the women such as faces, hands, hair, and clothing. Furthermore, there two important light sources that Reid creates for this painting. For instance, for shades he uses various shadows of blue and is close to the painting's foreground. He then stimulates a sun shining in the background using lighter colors. His sky is bright and appears to cast a shadow just above the women.
Reid was indeed an impressionist whose painting style concentrated on providing a general impression of the scene in question. The artist uses primary, secondary, and tertiary colors for his painting. The prominent primary colors include yellow, red and blue. On the other hand, the secondary and tertiary colors include green and purple, and brown respectively. The red is seen in the belt worn by the woman in the middle. The yellow and green colors depict fore and background trees and floors. The blues are used for ribbons, flowers and shades along with purples. The whites are used for clothes and light. Lastly, various shades of brown are used for skin highlights.
These colors are also used to define distance using variations from lighter to darker shades. For instance, trees in the background are of a lighter shade and appear as if they are fading making the painting seem unfinished. To achieve distance, therefore, the artist puts more concentration on color and detail on the front rather than the background. This concentration is even more precise and detailed on the women's bodies than their surroundings.
The painting also reveals other moderate amounts and types of linear perspective. For instance, the use of perspective reveals the existence of distance between the trees in the background and the three women. The background on the left seems angled in a way that one can almost walk to the trees yonder. Though the artist ignores the ground, he matches the distant trees with the foreground color so that they can offer a clear depiction of distance.
However, the painting lacks a bilateral symmetry. Assuming that we divide the image into two equal halves, we cannot achieve equal happenings in these two sections. It is worth noting that the left side of the painting takes up much of the content as it is seemingly favored by the artist. Therefore, the left side not only attracts more visual attention, but also provides a better analysis of the painting. This implies that because of the women's positioning, we can only view one part of the background comprised of the greater right side. Thus, we cannot mirror this image on the left side. Additionally, there appears more empty space on the right side than the left.
In conclusion, I have always loved how impressionists utilize a radical form of art in describing the world to their viewers. Indeed, this Robert Lewis Reid's masterpiece does not fail in bringing out the beauty of humanity and nature. The core idea of this simple painting is that of three women engaged in a conversation under a tree. It, according to me, captures the fun we all can have by socializing with each other. These include dancing, walking, or attending a ceremony. In my own opinion, however, Robert Lewis Reid's the painting is a bit disappointing as it lacks Reid's color vibrancy signature.
One thing that is weird about this painting is the artist's use of white to depict a ghostly ground in the middle front. This lacking in choice has two main effects as follows. First, causes the observer's eye to hover around as if looking for other objects before settling back on the white spacious area. Second, it makes it difficult for the eye to check out the rest of the painting that include the blue shadow cast upon the ground in the immediate background. Indeed, this white emptiness is the only connection that the background has to the foreground, besides the branches above. Nonetheless, we can rule this as an attempt to achieve the distance effect.