For this assignment, you should have decided on and at least briefly visited the museum of your choice. I’d like to see a draft of one page or more (300 words) of your Museum Review/AnalysisActions

 assignment, preferably the first two paragraphs or so where you introduce the museum and set the context for your essay. However, it can be a start on the analysis of the work of art you’ll focus on that will come later in the paper (see the student sample). It’s up to you. I will be trying to give everyone feedback on this before the final assignment in Week 6–first come, first read. 

This would be a good time to get the formatting correct if you can. See the MLA Formatting TemplateActions

 if you don’t know how to correctly format an academic paper. Open it and change the personal/class content and get started. The you can upload it here after you have completed the draft. 

If you don’t want to do that, you can type into the text box or copy content into it. 

You should write or submit at least 300 words. While this is a draft, try to be as clear, precise and grammatical in your language as possible. And don’t just copy what you wrote last week, please–I need to see progress on the assignment.  

Answer

Museum Visit Review/Analysis

The National Gallery of Arts: The Railway, 1873

The National Gallery of Arts is one of the major museums in the United States that are open to people of all walks of life who feel the urge to explore and experience art, creativity, and the sense of humanity shared by all the Americans. The National Gallery of Arts has a great collection of iconic works of art that exhibit a high human creativity level.

As an enthusiast of art, I have been studying his art to analyze their meaning and relevance during his time and their relevance in present-day life. Manet is one of my favorite artists as I can easily connect with his art. The particular painting that caught my eyes during the virtual visit to the Gallery is titled the painting “The Railway” and was done in 1873 by a French artist named Edouard Manet It is a painting of a white woman and a child, possibly her daughter and behind there is a railway. The woman holds a book in her hands as a young stroke her hair.

In the painting, the woman looks rather expressionless as she holds a puppy, though she seems to take that it exists for granted. She looks to be in very great deep thought. The paint looks rather strange, and one falls in love with it due to the level of creativity that has been applied and the message that the painting portrays. The painting has extraordinary qualities as it seems intimate and close up, though there is a sense of psychological distance and established from the image of the woman and the child depicted in the painting. The painting creates a sense of psychological distance that the mysterious and, at the same time, puzzling. The art is pivotal in Manet’s history and Paris’s history as it demonstrates the end of something and the beginning of another. The moment depicted in art is the traditional moment that seems very vital when one focuses on the painting. The painting is pivotal as France and manet had just come through the Franco-Prussian war and the Commune. Meant had served in the military and had survived while one of his friends was not lucky as they lost their lives during their time in the military. Manet came back to Paris and moved to a new studio on the Rue de Saint-Petersburg, and this was the first painting he made when he got to the studio.

Manet had made several paintings use the same female models, but the art is iconic as it is the last that he made in the specific studio and the last one that he made using the same female model as one of the characters. The painting model is that of Victorine, who had been Manet’s favorite model for many years. The model had posed in several icon pieces of art and thus was not a stranger in the field of art. Despite the title of the painting, the focus does not seem to be the railway is that it is just located in the background, and every minute details about the railway are available. Victorine has gone to the US during the Franco-Prussian War, but she returned to pose for the artist’s last portrait. She is considered she is one the governess o the older sisters or the mother, depending on how a person may decide to interpret it as depicted in the iconic piece of art.

The painting has a very extensive history, but the most important moment for the painting was in 1998 when exhibited in the National Gallery as part of an exhibit dubbed “Manet, Monet, and the Gare Saint Lazare.” The significance of the exhibition was because Manet was living next to the Gare Saint Lazare. Manet made the painting in the land and made a painting of the place where he was located. Manet has moved into the new studio in 1872 that was behind the railway track, and the painting was made with Victorine standing in one of the bridge’s rails. As an observed look beyond the painting and into the background, one can spot a building. Incidentally, the building is the location of Manet’s studio. The building located in the left-hand corners showing the door, and the window is Manet’s studio’s location, which brings much significance to the painting as a work of art.

The painting was done between 1872-1873, but he dated it in 1873. The iconic nature of the images is depicted by the fact that it was accepted by Salon judges, though it attracted much ridicule.  The painting was a subject of criticism and derision as people could not understand why the young girl was looking away from the audience, and the expressionless look of Victorine as she focused on the audience, why she was reading a book while sitting at the edge of the railway, with a puppy on her laps that she seems not to notice its existence. Some grapes are located on the ledge.

The piece of art is very iconic as it was the first painting in his new studio. The painting has the studio’s painting depicting the kind of connection that manet had with his new studio. The painting depicts the young girl’s hand raised, touching Victorine’s hand, and the hat extends to the Manet’s studio. The painting connects the newness of the new studio to the youthfulness of the girl.  The painting depicts the theme of change. Manet had changed from his old art studio to the new art studio from where he had done the painting. The connection established in the painting is very clear as Victorine represents the old and the past, which is known, while the young girl represents the new and the unknown future. Thus, the girl is looking away to illustrate the lives that we live in today, where the future is generally unknown or has not yet been revealed to us. The painting is iconic from that perspective as humans live from the known past to the unknown future. The title of the painting, “The Railway,” that is not even well depicted in the painting, is symbolic of how we use to get into the future. The picture depicts the uncertainty of the future.

The National Gallery of Arts is a very great location as one gets time to focus and reflect on the different art pieces and make a mental connection of their relevance during their time and now. The gallery exhibits art pieces that transcend generations with a varied display of the styles, culture, and different times. The building itself is a work of art that gives a sense of what one expects once they are inside. The pieces displayed within the gallery reflect the growing appreciation for the diversity in our cultures as they reflect a rapidly changing society, with the level of creativity and innovation increasing with time. The virtual experience does not compare with the physical tour that I have taken countless times in the gallery. A physical tour gives one a closer sense of connection with the pieces of art being an exhibit. However, the virtual tour gives one more time to focus on the details of the art pieces and thus get to understand them better.

The Railway: 1873

Artist: Edouard Manet

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