Art Appreciation

Art Appreciation

An American painter Benjamin West's painting Mrs. Benjamin West and Her Son Raphael presents - the love of a mother to her child which is so pure that her own identity has become her child. The child is open to all the challenges as well as the great moments; life has to offer with the support from Mrs. Benjamin. This representational Art form depicts a strong relationship between a mother and a child (American Assembly 2005).

This painting grabbed my attention right from the very start when I looked into it. I saw an innocent child looking at me and a mother - very calm, satisfied and respectful to grab her child. I see the beauty in this painting as a human form of a child who is yet to discover life and a mother who surrender her life to her child. The color is used very diligently to give the effects of emotion - love, temperature, religion etc. The detailed display of human form is at its best by the use of color that gives the sense of depth and organic shape. As a primary means of visual communication, line is used to depict the shape of nose, lips, cheek bones, ears, eyebrows, eyes, hair, hands, fingers, tongue, designs on the scarf, robe, swaddling cloth of the baby etc which helps to give the adorable characteristics of the painting.

Overall, Mrs. West seems to be at the front in respect to her son Raphael. The overlapping of her hands and half of her body with respect to her son gives us the complex overlapping of her son being in the middle of her overall body because we can see parts of her leg on the left side of the painting. This gives us the feeling of closeness and love between them with the feeling of space in two dimensional planes. When I closely observed the circular form of the overall panting, it made me perceive the human life in a cycle - a new born, maturity and death. I can feel the excitement towards life of Raphael with the implied motion - wide spreading his arms and communicating with me by looking straight to my eyes - giving myself a feeling that he wants me to hold him for a while (Feldstein & National Bureau of Economic Research 2008).

Key principles of design are used boldly and intelligently in this painting. ...