Took this some time ago at the Tate.
A deep painting — it feels dramatic and emphatic ... even to us today.
But, I do get some unpleasant feeling of exclusion. Perhaps anomie? Ostracism or prohibition?
It is leavened by the warmth of the sand and the cute summer straw-hats, and a general feeling that this is a family by the beach with their mother.
Things of note:
- I didn’t recognise - until a bit later - that the 2 figures at the fore were topless/naked.
- Everyone has their backs to the viewer. Which feels v. uncomfortable.
- I came to notice the visual & emotional impact of deliberate space across a canvas through Degas’s paintings. The canvas is practically devoid of life. No characters seem to touch or interact with one another.
- Is that the sea or sky?
- I think this is a painting about mothers and daughters?
- The white tent (?) feels disjointed because of the departure from orderly recession and a sense of perspective.
The empty space reminds me of Paul Gauguin’s “Vision of the Sermon” (which I have written about).
It looks simplistic.
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