Describe

Claude Monet captures the quintessence of peace in this painting of a woman and her son taking a stroll through a field of tulips. His use of pastel colors and fuzzy abstract and edge lines creates a sense of tranquility and beauty. Throughout the piece he uses organic (the nature), compound (the people), and invented shapes (the clouds). All of the painting seems to blend together, nothing is sharp, and texture is evident throughout the entire work.

Analyze

As you look at this artwork you eye is first drawn to the bright pink and red patches of flowers that dominate the left side of the painting, you follow them down (they slope to the right) to the women and her child walking through the fields, and them your eye starts to wander to the sky line and the trees that line it. This is because if the bright splashes of color that he places on the focal points of the image: the pink of the flowers, the women dressed in a vibrant blue. The work is balanced out by the coloring of the tulips on the left and the varying color of the grass on the right, although the left side does seem to dominate the piece slightly. Still on the topic of the tulips, they repeat throughout the painting and, along with the strokes in the grass, provide repetition. These two things are also what makes the image dynamic, the abstract lines in the grass especially.

Interpret

I believe this painting was meant to convey ideas of peace and simplicity. All the aspects of the piece meld together, pastel colors make up all of it, and there is little action going on, it is simply depicting a women and her child admiring natures beauty on a stroll; it's simple and calm. So, I believe it to express peace and tranquility perfectly.

Peace, Tranquility

Poppies in a Field
by Claude Monet