Springtime and The Storm

I feel like there’s a chance at least one of the four people reading this blog have wondered what the background picture is on my page. It’s a painting by Pierre-Auguste Cot named ‘Summertime’ and it’s contrast ‘The Storm.’ This paintings live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It hangs right next to each other. Springtime specifically is one of my favorite paintings and it has been for a really long time. In this week’s post I want to share with you two things: what I see when I look at this painting and what the agreed upon meaning is for it in the art world.

To start I ask you to look at the painting and form your own opinions before you read any further. I always form my own opinion on artwork before I read anything about it, I like to think the artist created the piece to be enjoyed any way the viewer could find joy in it. I always find that when I look into the meaning of a piece it’s hard to seperate my opinion from what I was told to think about it.

I really hope you did that. Okay, now to what the art world has to say: ‘Springtime’ depicts a young couple relaxed on a swing in what seems to be an enchanted forest. They are clearly in love and seem to be engulfed in each other’s gaze. A lot of the articles I read on these paintings talk heavily about the posture and how relaxed and appease. ‘The Storm,’  however is the contrast of that, like I said earlier. It shows the same couple running in the now grave and much less enchanted forest from a storm. Weather it be a literal storm or metaphorical, they are shielding themselves with the boy’s shirt. These paintings are hung next to each other deliberately because they tell a story, what that story is about is up to you.

I’m going to be talking about the first time I saw ‘Springtime’, since it’s my favorite and I have a stronger opinion on it.

I see elegance and warmth. I see comfort and contentment. The way the movement of the swing is moving the girl’s dress is enchanting, and the elegance of their legs moving the swing, to me, is captivating. You can see the detail in the muscles of the boy’s leg; if you follow his foot up, you see that his big toe is flexed up, which tenses the muscles on his calf, indicating he is using that leg to pump the swing forward, for what could be the hundredth time. I like to sit and look at this painting hanging next to my bed and imagine what the two could be talking about, if they’re hiding from their responsibilities, how long they’ve been there, and so on.

I hope you enjoyed your weekly art lesson from someone who knows almost nothing about art, thank you for reading.