(14/100) Whispers From Masters.

When I paint, especially canvas painting, I sometimes feel a connection to different artists.  I felt this when I was painting my Ophelia.  I wouldn't at all call this any kind of channeling, but at the same time it feels like a nudge or whisper to look at their work.  
So today that is what I've been doing. and this is what I found. 

The first artist Gustav Klimt is not one of my most favourite artists, though I greatly admire his artistry. But coming across these paintings done just before he died and being portraits of a young woman who had committed suicide because of rejection from her fiance, has amazed me at the connection to the subject matter and the abstracted expression of it.  

Gustav Klimt  'Portrait of Ria Munk III'  (unfinished)

Ria Munk on the Deathbed(or Ria Munk I)

Here's an interesting article about the history of these paintings.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-gustav-klimts-unfinished-ria-munk-iii-finally-escaped-the-nazis

The next artist, Odillon Redon really astonished me, because I found he had also painted Ophelia, and exactly the same subject, her walking among flowers.

Odilon Redon 'Ophelia Among the Flowers' (Pastel)

What an interesting composition. I'm fascinated to see where he has placed his subject showing only her face, and also how he has smudged her and the background and brought the flowers into focus, showing us what she sees, but the flowers and berries are not realistic, they are a heightened expression, perhaps becoming symbolic of the oncoming madness and death.

And the final artist, Bonnard.

The painting I chose is not such a typical Bonnard, it's unusual to have the drawn lines visible, but the abstraction of the interior and the colour in this fascinates me, although which is the more accurate reproduction? I like the lighter one because the details can be seen better.

Pierre Bonnard  'The Bowl of Milk'

What am I learning from looking at these paintings?  The main lesson right now is the attention to the abstraction around the figure, what is in those shapes and spaces.  Next week I will do some sketchbook studies, and I'm thinking of doing another Ophelia painting.  I have a rough idea of one possible composition. maybe this could be my first series, I've never done a series before.