This piece of painting is called 'La Tour Eiffel', which was produced in 1889 by a french artist called Seurat. The painting consists of the eiffel tower; a popular landmark of France.
Seurat created this painting through the use of a primary source. The picture conveys the realistic view of the Eiffel Tower, but it has been simplified in its own way. As a result, the painting does not go into much detail of its subject. However, the basic shapes and outline of the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible.
From observing the painting, I have realised that it does not portray any immediate symbolism or metaphor. But it could be said that Seurat chose this specific landmark as a feature of his picture, to convey its magnificent architecture through his painting.ContentThe main focus point of this particular paintig is the 'Eiffel Tower', as the landmark takes up most of the picture. The colours used are very light and neutral such as yellow and orange. These warm colours radiate a relxed atmosphere in the painting. The picture is made up of a basic compisition; the foreground consists of a bridge that is immediatly above the Eiffel Tower; the pictures middleground.
For the background there is a huge amount of plain sky. This arrangement of the painting displays a spacious mood as it is not jammed with lots of objects. The use of tone in this painting is successful in applying a varied range of tone from light to dark. For example this is shown in the background of the picture, as the sky portrays tones from light to dark. The use of different tones emphasizes the object of the painting.ProcessThe materials used to produce this painting was oil on canvas.
Seurat specifically specialised in impressionism (much like Claude Monet), so in this particular picture he used the technique of pointalism. From my own expreinces of using the technique of pointalism, I predict that the painting would have been produced over a huge period of time. this is because pointalism is a very strenuous excercise which needs alot of time and patience. The artist also used supporting studies of sketches to produce this painting. The skills that would be needed of the artist to produce this particular type of painting would be patience and steady hands. Also the ability of working at a systamatic pace would be useful, in order to keep the same brush strokes for the consistant look of pointalism throughout the painting.
MoodThe overall mood of the painting is relaxing and carefree. The artist shows this through the use of colour as it consist of mainly light tones. The artist also creates this mood through using a very limited amount of objects in the painting, it has one major feature which will allow the viewer to connect with the subject of the painting easier. We could say that the simplicity of the composition of the picture may also portray the relaxed mood, as it conveys a spacious atmosphere which will display a relaxing mood more than a complex compisition would.Personal ResponseAs a viewer the effect of this particular painting of Seurat's is that it implys the 'Eiffel Tower' as a centre piece of France.
This is because the 'Eiffel Tower' in his painting is very bold and has a certain supriority over the rest of the painting. It stands overlooking the foreground which could be said to display its importance. The relationship between this picture and my own work is the picture portrays a very popular landmark of the city of Paris. This is relevent as the idea of using famous city landmarks can convey the project 'My City'. The work that I could adapt from this painting for my own use could be the technique of pointalism. I could also use a similar idea by painting a famous landmark from my own city in the same manner of Seurat.
