Today’s quote: “Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?” – M. C. Escher

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Here’s one of my favorite paintings:

Le petit bras de la seine à Argenteuil

The balance and framing of the river makes me tilt my head one way and then the other. My eyes roam from the bottom right up along the river and into the sky. The swirling clouds bring my gaze up and to the right corner of the canvas, then to the top of the tree line on the right, which encourages my eyes to journey down the river again. From there, I see the little tree or the bush on the left shore, not quite the main focus of the painting. In the distance on the left, I can’t help but notice the tall, skinny trees. Three of them. Or maybe they’re plumes of smoke? No, they’re trees. But how peculiar do they look. I see the little field in the left distance and let gravity take me down the slope to the foreground once more. I realize then how much space the grass and weeds occupy in the bottom left corner and along the bottom edge.

The artist is Gustave Caillebotte. He leaned more realistic than most other impressionist artists. I saw this painting hung in the stairwell in the Phillip’s Collection in D.C. It caught my attention and held it.

You may recognize several Caillebotte’s paintings of canoers paddling.

Today’s quote was by M. C. Escher. He was an early inspiration for me in some of my high school art endeavors. You may remember from the post on tessellations that Escher was fascinated by three-dimensional forms, optical illusions, and impossible structures. 

His impossible constructions are my favorites. Here are two examples.

So, there was some art from two of my favorite artists.

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Brain teaser:

Which name from Group B best fits with those in Group A?

Group A

1. Timothy Isaac Mathers
2. Jennifer Elizabeth Napier
3. Richard Ivan Christopher King
4. Susan Ursula Zoe Young

Group B

1. Fredrick Adam Thompson
2. Elizabeth Lorraine French
3. Jacob Alan Keegan Edwards
4. Zachary Oscar Otto Miller
5. Debra Alicia Tracy Elms
6. Zelda Irene Potter