Comparing and Contrasting

Ms Squires has recently given Room 20 a task to compare and contrast 2 well known artists, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Pablo Picasso was famous for the art style ‘impressionistim’’ but moved on and became fond of ‘cubism’ where as Henri Matisse was the pioneer of Fauvism. It was our job to find the differences and compare the similarities.

Born on December 31st 1869, Henri Matisse was well known and famous in France for creating, sketching and painting in the style of ‘Fauvism’. Initially he experimented with the impressionistic style of painting but then moved on Cubism, a style he became most famous for. Pablo and Henri met in Paris (Spain) while Henri was visiting there for his Study Law, he and Pablo then became lifelong friends.

Although Matisse and Picasso share the same subject with these paintings, ‘Woman with a hat’ and ‘Weeping Woman’, they both have a unique way of showing it. The both of them used oil paint but Matisse painted a work of art with mixed emotions while Picasso on the other hand showed an expression of sadness and intense feelings.

The hue and the value of their paintings are similar to each other but they both have their own differences. The most obvious similarities in these paintings are the vibrant but vivid colours they used to express what they were thinking at the time. Pablo had his own way of using colours and there wasn’t much shading, instead he was quite flat. Henri used a multitude of colours and made his artwork and showed the unrealistic colours.

The line and the shape of these paintings show their differences clearly. Henri does have some clear outlines but many lines are blurred. There are smudged shapes, with shapes defined though the use of a variety of colours. Clearly delineated lines is seen most in his artwork, with some dark outlines and jagged lines. I can clearly see that the perspectives in these paintings have their own angles.

There are many differences between ‘Women with a Hat’ and ‘Weeping Women’ but there were some similarities. From the way I see it, it looked like Henri and Pablo were trying to convey a message. But who knows?