The first painting I looked at was Juan Gris’ Jar, Bottle and Glass, completed in 1911. I first viewed it without reading the title, and I saw many parallel lines, contrast in color and a limited color palette. The color used in this painting is limited to grays, browns, blacks and whites. The brown in the bottom right and the yellow/brown in the top left even stand out a bit because the rest is in greyscale (with some yellow and purple very lightly used in shading). Each of the colors is used in a gradient in different sections of this painting. The gradient indicates a source of light coming from the top left corner because the presence of shadows are prevalent. This painting is abstract, with lot of hard lines and angles as well as curves in some places. The most prominent shape, though, seems to be triangles, created by the gradient shadows. If we tie in the title of this painting (Jar, Bottle and Glass) the viewer would expect to see a still-life painting. Having already seen the image, I searched for these items in the painting. What I found were the lines representing the objects. All three contain straight lines and circles in their cylindrical shapes.

The second painting I viewed was Henri Matisse’s Woman on a High Stool completed in 1914. The central image is exactly what the title of the painting indicates. A woman in a black, blue and green dress sits with her back straight on a wooden stool (though the seat of the stool is not visible). In the background is a thin table and a simple piece of art featuring a bird hanging on the wall above it. The room’s walls are gray with a darker bottom right corner but no shading to indicate corners of walls or borders between wall and floor. It is possible that there is a slight light source coming from the bottom right corner and there is a slight halo around the woman sitting.

The clear difference between these two paintings is their style. One is abstract and one is an obvious image. While both may be “of something,” the styles appeal to different viewers (and artists). The titles of both paintings suggest that there is one or more explicit objects or situations represented in the painting. Surprisingly, Gris’ painting seems to have more prominent shading. Matisse’s is more two-dimensional and shallow, even though Gris’ consists of many two-dimensional shapes like triangles and squares. Gris uses much more light, which is evident because of contrast. Matisse uses dull colors, and the only thing contrasted with the rest of the painting is the image of the bird on the wall. The dull colors give it a sad or even depressed mood, whereas Gris’ painting evokes some confusion, preciseness and presence. Concerning form, Matisse’s work shows a subject with a simple title but can be read into to tell a story. The viewer can come up with background information or deduce a theme or message from looking at this painting. However, Gris’ painting is more pleasing to look at and evokes more self-reflection and thought as opposed to drawing a conclusion or taking away a message. Though these paintings were both done within several years of each other, the artists come from different parts of the world. Gris is Spanish and Matisse is French, so the cultural influence of these countries could have played a role in the effects used in each respective painting.