Dallas Art Museum: Mountain Landscape With An Approaching Storm
Event Paper One – PAINTING
ARTS 1301.002
David Tran
October 6, 2014
On September 8, 2014 I visited the Dallas Art Museum to see a painting titled Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm by Claude–Joseph Vernet. This oil on canvas painting was created to show the terror that was associated with the destructive power of nature. The painting is incredibly successful in depicting the fierceness of nature and humanity’s insignificance through the showing of the smallness of the humans against the natural surroundings, the delicate handling of the details, and the color choices used by the painter. The people that are depicted in the painting are seemingly very small compared to their surroundings in the painting. Surrounded …show more content…
His making the humans seem small in comparison to their surroundings is very effective in showing the incapability of humans to defend themselves against the awesome power that is nature. The waterfall, towering mountains, and ominous storm clouds are all depicted as very large. With the humans in the landscape, they are proportionately very small to nature’s surroundings. The humans are painted at the perfect size, small enough to create the effect of insignificance to nature, but large enough to be important to the painting. In addition, the details also contribute tremendously to the success of this painting. The details shows that the storm will be arriving at their location soon and that the people have to move or get stuck in the storm. The storm itself, with detail, is very terrifying, especially the lightning strike. The details also depicts the terrain as rocky and difficult to traverse on. However, the most important purpose of the detail is to make nature seem all powerful and a force that should not be taken lightly. From the rocks and water fall in the foreground to the huge mountain in the background overlooking the city, everything is detailed with the utmost care, thus making nature tremendous over man and their creations. There is also the choice of colors, mainly dark. The dark colors throughout the painting accomplishes the feeling of despair in facing against nature. This in combination with the red of the storm creates a sense of great fear. Even the light shining upon the city of hope against the storm seems overwhelmed by the darkness that surrounds it. There is a feeling that even this light will be enveloped by the darkness soon. While in the presence of this painting, I stood in awe and had respect for the potential power of nature. The painting made me realized that even with all of the available technology at humanity’s disposal, humanity has no
ARTS 1301.002
David Tran
October 6, 2014
On September 8, 2014 I visited the Dallas Art Museum to see a painting titled Mountain Landscape with an Approaching Storm by Claude–Joseph Vernet. This oil on canvas painting was created to show the terror that was associated with the destructive power of nature. The painting is incredibly successful in depicting the fierceness of nature and humanity’s insignificance through the showing of the smallness of the humans against the natural surroundings, the delicate handling of the details, and the color choices used by the painter. The people that are depicted in the painting are seemingly very small compared to their surroundings in the painting. Surrounded …show more content…
His making the humans seem small in comparison to their surroundings is very effective in showing the incapability of humans to defend themselves against the awesome power that is nature. The waterfall, towering mountains, and ominous storm clouds are all depicted as very large. With the humans in the landscape, they are proportionately very small to nature’s surroundings. The humans are painted at the perfect size, small enough to create the effect of insignificance to nature, but large enough to be important to the painting. In addition, the details also contribute tremendously to the success of this painting. The details shows that the storm will be arriving at their location soon and that the people have to move or get stuck in the storm. The storm itself, with detail, is very terrifying, especially the lightning strike. The details also depicts the terrain as rocky and difficult to traverse on. However, the most important purpose of the detail is to make nature seem all powerful and a force that should not be taken lightly. From the rocks and water fall in the foreground to the huge mountain in the background overlooking the city, everything is detailed with the utmost care, thus making nature tremendous over man and their creations. There is also the choice of colors, mainly dark. The dark colors throughout the painting accomplishes the feeling of despair in facing against nature. This in combination with the red of the storm creates a sense of great fear. Even the light shining upon the city of hope against the storm seems overwhelmed by the darkness that surrounds it. There is a feeling that even this light will be enveloped by the darkness soon. While in the presence of this painting, I stood in awe and had respect for the potential power of nature. The painting made me realized that even with all of the available technology at humanity’s disposal, humanity has no