Display Explanation:
My installation would be displayed in a smaller room where the walls are painted, and the ceiling is made of glass to let light in so the colors of the paintings can pop. The walls would be painted white so the colors on each of the paintings will truly shine and will be the focus of attention. I want these images to be big so that when the viewer comes close they can see the fine details of the brush strokes and how the brush strokes range from fine to think. The room would be a long hallway where there will be an image on each wall, and at the end of the hallway is a door that leads to the exit. Before you reach the door there will be a wall holding the third painting which you can walk around to reach the door to exit. When it is dark outside there will be small lights that frame each of the paintings so you can still see them when there is no light. It is supposed to make the paintings look softer. The paintings would reach from floor to ceiling so it will be easier for viewers to see all the fine details. My goal would be for the viewers to look beyond the subjects of each piece of art and instead look at the story each one is telling, and wonder why the artists chose certain colors to compliment the women in each art piece. The image on the left wall would be Matisse’s Blue Nude and on the right wall would be Munch’s Model by the Wicker Chair. On the wall right before you reach the door would be Matisse’s Luxe, Calme et Volupté. I want it to be like this because I want the single subject paintings to surround the one that includes multiple subjects, so it looks like Luxe, Calme et Volupté is bringing everyone together. I want the dimensions of the room to be 13 feet long by 7 feet wide, with the wall in the middle before the door to exit to be 10 feet long. The height of the room would be 10 feet long. The doors to enter and exit the exhibit would be 7 feet tall and would be painted with light pastel colors and the paint would be dots, so it matches the style of the Matisse painting Luxe, Calme et Volupté. I want the door to look like this because I want it to be a little bit of a preview of all the color that is inside the exhibit. It should be welcoming and inviting so that people would actually want to come in and appreciate the art that is inside and the story that it tells. I want the viewers to be able to appreciate the style of art in these paintings since it is not realism and I feel like realism art tends to be more appreciated than this kind of art.
Installation Note:
The three art pieces that are in my installation exhibit are Matisse’s Blue Nude, Munch’s Model by the Wicker Chair, and Matisse’s Luxe, Calme et Volupté. I felt that each image is connected to each other in a couple of ways. The art style is the same in each painting, that is that there are wider brush strokes and each woman in the paintings is nude and they all are comfortable in themselves.
My first painting is Model by the Wicker Chair, which is on the wall to the left when you first walk into the exhibit. This painting features a woman posing nude next to a wicker chair. The colors are warmer toned, being oranges and yellows, and I thought it contrasted well with Blue Nude. I thought it also matched Luxe, Calme et Volupté since the yellows and oranges and other colors can be seen within Luxe, Calme et Volupté. The blues from Blue Nude go really well with the oranges and reds of Model by the Wicker Chair. This painting depicts sexuality since it shows the female figure being comfortable. I do not feel that the woman in this painting is being sexualized at all, instead, she feels comfortable with herself and her body. Just because she is nude does not mean she has to be sexualized. She instead looks comfortable in herself; the viewer should be able to tell this in the way she is standing next to the wicker chair and how natural her pose is.
My second painting is Blue Nude, which is on the wall to the right when you walk into the exhibit. This painting features a woman laying down on her side posing nude. The colors of this painting are cooler toned, with blues being the primary color. The colors contrast against Model by the Wicker Chair since it is primarily cooler colors. The model in this painting wears a similar expression to the model in Model by the Wicker Chair and she too does not look like she is being sexualized. She shares a similar body type to the other models in each of the paintings. Her pose is casual, she does not look like an object to be fantasized by the male gaze. She instead looks beautiful, like someone who should be appreciated and admired. Her expression is natural and she looks comfortable in the pose that she is in. The colors would normally make the mood somber, but her facial expression makes it instead look like she is confident in her own body.
My third painting is Luxe, Calme et Volupté, which is on the wall right before the door to exit the exhibit. This painting features multiple women laying nude by a lake. The colors in this painting are pastel, with the brush strokes being on the finer side. The women all look comfortable around each other as they each are doing different things along the lakeside. They all look natural and carefree, which is the vibes that the viewer should be getting when looking at this painting. Compared to the paintings viewed earlier, the viewer should understand that these paintings show bodily expression in a way that is supposed to be freeing, not sexualized. The women look free, and there is nothing holding them back. Women should not be seen as objects, they are real people.
Citations
Munch, Edvard. Model by the Wicker Chair, 1919-1923, Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_by_the_Wicker_Chair. Accessed 13 Feb. 2023.
Matisse, Henri. Blue Nude. 1907. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse#/media/File:Matisse_Souvenir_de_Biskra.jpg. Accessed Feb 15, 2023.
Matisse, Henri. “Luxe, Calme Et Volupte.” 1904 Luxe, Calme Et Volupté, Wikipedia, 2023, Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxe,_Calme_et_Volupt%C3%A9. Accessed 16 Feb. 2023.