thINK Assignment

 Danyelle Brown

Title: When Art Danced With Music

Constantly music is being revolutionized, and to see it conjoined with another form of art amazes me because I feel that each and every form of art is important to every culture. The image that I found at http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/exhibitions/2013/diaghilev.html depicts what seems to be a person dancing along to music. We should all look at the relation it has with the modern world. Although the image was created in the early 1900's; it is very important because art in general, but music specifically plays a large role in today's society as a way for an individual to express his or herself. The image is shown in what seems to be original, but there may have been little manipulation.

The artist, Leon Bakst, was apart of Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He focused on designing exotic sets that were richly colored. The image was also commissioned by Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. As accordingly, Leon Bakst purpose of the image was apart of a set design. In my opinion, the main idea was combining Bakst's interest in music with his interest for painting.

I thought the image was amazing because I have always enjoyed seeing paintings that sent a message, and also because music is apart of my everyday life. I describe the artist technique as being a form of his signature because in several of his painting he has curved thick line in the background. As in this image, the line is painted blue and green. It is presented as an interpretation of music being combined with art. My attention is immediately caught by my fascination with all of the contrasting colors. The smallest detail that says the most is the title, because it explained the main idea of the painting before I seen the image. Adjectives that I can use to precisely describe the painting could be the use of warm colors all throughout the painting.

I truly wish I could have met the artist, Leon Bakst, to study his unique way of creating his paintings. It would have been a great opportunity to see how he got his inspirations. The image opened many different discussion that could be held on this one image.