Friday, March 26, 2010

Post 7

Diego Rivera
The Flower Seller
This painting shows a female figure holding a basket of flowers on her back. At first glance one would think that the feet shown in the image are the woman's own, but looking carefully one can see that there is a second pair of hands holding the basket the woman has on her back. This gives the illusion that that basket is either being placed upon, or removed from the woman's back. The overall emotion of the painting seems to be of a tired, sad, female figure. She is hunched over and has flowers that appear to be half her size by the dozen in her basket. The background coloring also gives a sense of anguish to the painting, like through the struggle that can be seen in the woman's posture.
This painting makes me curious as to what the face of the female would look like if she was looking at the viewer. If her facial expressions would match the overall vibe of the painting, or if she would look happier in comparison to the dark background.

1 comment:

  1. Date of painting? Period? Your comments would be more insightful if you took into account the issues (Mexican modernism, depiction of indigenous culture, classicism) that Rivera is concerned with.

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