National Gallery of Art - Quick Takes

Descent from the Cross, Rembrandt Workshop, Oil/Linen, 1650/52, NGA


Adoration of the Magi, Fra Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Tempera/Wood, 1440/1460, NGA


The Kitchen Maid, Chardin, Oil/Linen, 1738, NGA

On Sunday, I went to the National Gallery of Art - West Building. These are some of my observations.

The Rembrandt paintings express such a broad range of thought and feeling - like life. Regardless of subject matter, he seems to consistently explore a portraiture of sorts. During this visit, I thought about the connections between the way he thinks about the head and the way he approaches landscape and narrative. I think his deep understanding of the head infuses his work with unrivaled emotional depth and awareness. I look at his work as often as possible and each time experience something different and new.

This time, the Italians offered me a fresh look at the round format. Aware of linear perspective and yet unencumbered by it, they freely altered scale to better express their ideas. A meaningful composition in the round reveals a more obvious relation between the composition and format and helps deepen my understanding of composition in general.

Looking at the space in the Chardin paintings was a remarkable visual experience. Instead of receding pictorial depth, his space seemed to also press forward - almost bubble towards the viewer. Two paintings - The Kitchen Maid and The Attentive Nurse - defy obvious and predictable pictorial space. In both, especially The Kitchen Maid, the figure seems to be on the verge of falling head first out of the painting. He is a genius at pictorial tension and balance.

What marvelous teachers!

Link National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC