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Bohemian 1890
William Adolphe Bouguereau
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Review:
When I began to paint, I naturally came to have an interest in admiring many artworks of artists around the globe. One of them that I was drawn into admiring was the Bohemian of William Adolphe Bouguereau(1825~1905, France).
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| William Adolphe Bouguereau |
It was known that he was a very loyal, diligent, and enthusiastic painter who had chased a stubborn perfectionism, and thereby he tenaciously delved into how to paint more perfectly. As a result, all of his artworks look supreme, so no one will be able to find faults in them as the following:
As I see it, his paintings are utterly beautiful, sophisticated, showy, vivid, and rich..., that in itself is brilliant! Plus it was known that he disliked the genre of impressionism which is shown like unfinished, ad-lib, and immediate forms. Because such impressionism is not apt for a stereotyped academism has to abide by the strict rule of painting, so while those who followed the genre of academism had to paint accurately and formalistically like William Adolphe Bouguereau paintings. However, William Adolphe Bouguereau seems more outstanding than anyone else in those days that is why he was even sponsored by the French royal court.
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| L'Amour au papillon
1888
Oil on canvas
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As I see it, his paintings are utterly beautiful, sophisticated, showy, vivid, and rich..., that in itself is brilliant! Plus it was known that he disliked the genre of impressionism which is shown like unfinished, ad-lib, and immediate forms. Because such impressionism is not apt for a stereotyped academism has to abide by the strict rule of painting, so while those who followed the genre of academism had to paint accurately and formalistically like William Adolphe Bouguereau paintings. However, William Adolphe Bouguereau seems more outstanding than anyone else in those days that is why he was even sponsored by the French royal court.
By the way, most likely people might dislike such formalistic paintings, for therein lies a restriction. Rather most people will welcome freedom or deformation on the canvases than that restriction. But William Adolphe Bouguereau was not. He thoroughly followed the strict rule of painting.
Anyhow, his paintings look bright, tender, lovely, mystic, and sensual whereby he enjoyed great popularity. He must have made a favorable impression on the audiences, accordingly, he became a celebrity, winning numerous awards in France. Plus lots of rich collectors in the US purchased his paintings.
While in my eyes his paintings seem deficient to express the very trace of life, which says that he left out the woe of life, unlike other artists such as Edvard Munch(1863~1994, Norway), apart from this paintingă…ˇThe Bohemian. The painting of the Bohemian draws me into thinking over repeatedly.
Because this painting 'The Bohemian' is not a bright tone nor is a light tone, or better yet, it looks weighty, moody, and dark, unlike his other paintings. Therefore I have wondered why it looks like this... Anyway, this painting arouses me to ponder over what she was thinking in the painting, only holding the violin on her legs...
William Adolphe Bouguereau would not have painted the figure of the bohemian girl only by imagining, there must have been a real model. In other words, this bohemian girl would have been a real figure for this painting. She seems to muse something deeply with her barefoot... What would it be? Why would she have done so?...
What is more, she seems gloomy, thus I assume that she would already have realized the realities of life since she was none other than a gypsy(bohemian) who lived an inexorable life in those days. Who says that a gypsy's life is freewheeling? Not really. They were hungry, most likely they might have wanted to wash first and then sleep on the fluffy, comfortable, and clean bed. As such, the ideal is fairly different from the realities of life as always. Because the ideal is one thing, and the reality is another... At that time, such bohemians were eager to be freed from the venal clergy who had oppressed them in the 19 century. That bohemians largely lived in Bohemia, Czech.
Quite the contrary, nowadays, most believers(churchgoers) have served their visible pastors as God for their salvation, giving a huge amount of money(offering) to pastors and their places of business called the church. That churchgoers' faith looks pretty reckless and fatuous!
Such churchgoers unconditionally chime in the refrain to their pastor sermons: " Amen, Amen, Amen!" Even they look like a yesman who has no his own brain to think what is right or wrong since they were already indoctrinated by Christianity and its Bible and its pastors due to the incorrigible avarice for salvation after dying...
Anyhow, no one knows where this bumbling bohemian girl in the painting will have to go, even though she became a freewheeling bohemian out of the oppression the clergy, powermonger, exercised. Sadly, true freedom is nowhere to be seen in this world. Nowhere... Becoming a freewheeling bohemian is useless too...
Nevertheless, these days, tons of people have emigrated or have immigrated to other countries, from place to place as if this bohemian girl, in order to live a better life than now, however, I think that everywhere is like a hell in this world...
This bohemian girl in the painting seems to ask me over and over again what true freedom is under the realities of life in this cruel world,
as The Bohemian...
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| Petites Maraudeuses
1872
Oil on canvas |
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