A Year In Provence

    I have a confession to make.  I love art!  I took an art history class my senior year of high school mostly because the boy/girl ratio was about 1/5 and everybody I know who has taken it has loved it.  I was expecting a fairly easy class to maybe get some AP credit for it.  What I got was the hardest pre-BYU class I have ever had, but it was still my favorite class ever.  I actually enjoyed doing the assignments.  

    I wanted to talk about these two paintings.  They're both by Renoir; he is my absolute favorite artist.  They are so French!  These were painted during the industrial revolution, when the common worker could afford to go out to eat when they had a day off.  The French people live to leisure, the only reason they stop playing and go to work is to earn enough money to go and play some more.  These paintings capture that lifestyle perfectly.

    Let's start with the first one.  You can see by their fairly simple clothing that this is not the French Bourgeoisie or Aristocracy, they are the working class after work or on a weekend enjoying themselves at a cafe.  Following the eye lines shows an amusing story (to me anyway).  Look at the man in the tank top on the left.  He seems to be checking out that girl taking a drink from her glass.  That girl herself is staring at the man in the bowler hat.  It looks like the man in the bowler is flirting with the woman leaning on the railing.  The woman on the railing is zoning out watching the waiter in the white sweater.  The waiter seems to be treating the lady in the blue dress and white cap very well, but that lady doesn't even notice because she is fixated on the closest man to us on the right.  That man is gazing at the closest lady to us on the left, and she only has eyes for her Yorkshire Terrier.  This is my favorite painting because of all the connections or lack there of between all the subjects.  Also I used to own a Yorkie.  Just wook at hime, isent he sho cute?

    This next one is another personal favorite of mine.  Again the people are common folk, but they are dressed nicer then the painting above, so maybe this is actually a weekend they had off instead of them just getting off work.  I like this painting because to me it personifies TGIF so well.  This painting reminds me of the 6th grade end-of-the-year trip to Lagoon, I remember towards the end of the day the light drizzled through the leaves making the ground and the people look splotchy.  It doesn't look bad though, it makes the painting feel warm and summery.  I like the relationships in this one too.  In the foreground, the two sitting at the table look like they are trying to pick up the pair of twins on the bench.  The man with his back turned against us looks like he is doing well with the woman in the black dress, but the other girl in the blue and white striped blouse is gazing further into the cafe where we can't see.  The one thing that confuses me in this painting are the two chandeliers...they are outside...what are they hanging off of?