|
''Coucher de soleil no. 1'' (also called ''Landscape'', ''Paysage'', ''Landschap'', or ''Sunset No. 1'') is an oil painting created circa 1906 by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger (1883–1956). ''Coucher de soleil no. 1'' is a work executed in a mosaic-like Divisionist style with a Fauve palette. The reverberating image of the sun in Metzinger's painting is an homage to the decomposition of spectral light at the core of Neo-Impressionist color theory. ''Coucher de soleil'' was exhibited in Paris during the spring of 1907 at the Salon des Indépendants (n. 3457), along with ''Bacchante'' and four other works by Metzinger.〔(Jean Metzinger, ''Coucher de soleil'', Société des artistes indépendants: catalogue de la 23ème exposition, 1907, no. 3457, p. 225 )〕 The painting had been in the collection of Helene Kröller-Müller since 1921 (or prior),〔(Catalogus van de schilderijen verzameling van Mevrouw H. Kröller-Müller, Samensteller H.P. Bremmer, Published 1921(?) in 'S-Gravenhage, no. 843 (in Dutch) )〕 and is currently at the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands.〔(Jean Metzinger, ''Coucher de soleil no. 1'', Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, Netherlands )〕 ==Description== ''Coucher de soleil no. 1'' is an oil painting on canvas in a horizontal format with dimensions 72.5 x 100 cm (28.5 by 39.25 in), signed ''J.Metzinger'' (lower right), and titled on the verso "Coucher de soleil no. 1". Also on the verso is another painting by Metzinger representing a river scene with ships. The work represents two nude women relaxing in a lush Mediterranean landscape with semi-tropical vegetation, hills, trees, a body of water and a radiating setting sun beyond.〔Robert Herbert, ''Neo-Impressionism'', The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1968, Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 68-16803〕 The plants to the lower left resemble the Agave, a species found in the south of France, Spain and Greece. "Agave" is also the name of three characters in Greek mythology: *''Agave'': one of the Nereids.〔''Bibliotheca'' (1.2.7 )〕〔Homer. ''Iliad'', (18.35 )〕〔Hesiod. ''Theogony'', (240 )〕〔Hyginus. ''Fabulae'', (Preface ).〕 *''Agave'': one of the Danaids, daughter of Danaus and Europa. She married Lycus, son of Aegyptus and Argyphia.〔Apollodorus. ''Library'', (2.1.5 ).〕 *''Agave'': an Amazon.〔Hyginus. ''Fabulae'', (163 ).〕 The two nudes appear to play a secondary role in the overall composition due to their small size. But their prominent location in the foreground and the provocative nature of public nudity propels them to a position that cannot be ignored.〔 In this luscious setting—as in ''Luxe, Calme et Volupté'' by Henri Matisse—Metzinger makes use all the colors in the spectrum of visible light. Unlike Matisse's work, Metzinger's brushstrokes are large, forming a mosaic-like lattice of squares or cubes of similar size and shape throughout, juxtaposed in a wide variety of angles relative to one another, creating an overall rhythm that would otherwise not be present.〔 Evidence suggests that this work was completed prior to Metzinger's paintings entitled La danse (Bacchante) or Two Nudes in an Exotic Landscape: (1) there exists an oil on canvas study of the latter dated circa 1905-1906, located at the University of Iowa with the title ''Two Nudes in a garden'', 91.4 x 63.8 cm with a similar radiating sun above the bathers. (2) The brushstrokes are smaller in size consistent with Metzinger's style of late 1905. (3) In 1906 and 1907 Metzinger's brushstrokes became larger and more organized, structured within a highly geometrized framework already proto-Cubist in appearance. (4) As its name implies, ''Coucher de soleil no. 1'' might have been the first in a series of sunsets. Though no other works by Metzinger are known by the titles ''Coucher de soleil no. 2'' or ''No. 3'', the artist did produce other works with sunsets during the same period: ''Landscape with Fountain'', for example, an oil on canvas measuring 53.3 x 73.6 cm; ''Paysage pointilliste'', 1906-1907, an oil on canvas measuring 54.5 x 73 cm; ''Matin au Parc Montsouris'', ca. 1906, oil on canvas, 49.9 x 67.7 cm; or even ''La tour de Batz au coucher de soleil'', 54 x 73 cm, an oil on canvas ca. 1905.〔 Indeed, these clues would seem to suggest ''Coucher de soleil no. 1'' was painted during the later months of 1905, or early 1906, just before Metzinger and Robert Delaunay began painting portraits of one another,〔Joann Moser, ''Jean Metzinger in Retrospect, Pre-Cubist works, 1904–1909'', The University of Iowa Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Trust, University of Washington Press, 1985, pp. 34-42〕 rather than circa 1908 as indicated by the Kröller-Müller Museum.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Coucher de soleil no. 1」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|