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Strange garden

Jozef Mehoffer • Painting, 1903, 217×208 cm
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About the artwork
Art form: Painting
Subject and objects: Landscape, Genre scene
Technique: Oil
Materials: Canvas
Date of creation: 1903
Size: 217×208 cm
Artwork in selections: 23 selections

Description of the artwork «Strange garden»

"The amazing garden" Mehoffer like oozes sunlight. The play of light and shadow, the glow almost gold in the body of a baby, which itself emits light waves of color, deep blue mother's dresses, the branches of Malwa in the hands of a child and a flower garland, flashes of red and white in the costume of a nanny – this picture of the sun, light and color. The artist began work on it in 1902, during a summer family vacation close to Krakow. The child and his mother, the artist painted with his beloved wife Jadwiga and son.

Interesting picture in the first place so that it clearly demonstrates the mixture of different artistic directions in the works of Jozef Mehoffer. Admiring the time and concentration on the questions of light and lighting refer to impressionism, the brightness of the colors, the boldness of the colors, the contrasts argue that rather talking about the post-impressionist work. And gorgeous, as if from another canvas gold dragonfly had flown over the child, leaves no doubt – from Mehoffer in Poland started art Nouveau. And, in fact, what does it symbolize? And symbolism paintings begin to try to understand since, as noticed this dragonfly. Her appearance makes the plot meaningful output beyond the image of a Sunny day in the garden.

Against the background of a sound built of the composition, creating a feeling of spaciousness, of depth, especially clearly noticeable that a dragonfly suddenly flat. Clean lines on the wings, filled with Golden wings – dragonfly something vaguely reminiscent of stained glass, in which Mehoffer was a master. It is the presence of the artist on the canvas, looking at favorite family on top? Or this dragonfly signifies danger looming over the defenseless Golden child and invisible while in the sunlit garden? The viewer's gaze glides diagonally into the canvas and not immediately snatches a dragonfly.

The picture does not answer, the artist leaves the viewer the opportunity to combine these seemingly disparate elements – the sun, filled with a summer bliss and the hot flower and fruit abundance scenery, fun kid, thoughtful, loving adults, and obscure, sophisticated and yet very strange dragonfly (giving a feeling of strangeness and mystery in the garden as a whole).

Author: Alain Esaulova
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