Introspection + Contemplation + Ideals

Here is one of my favourite paintings: Le Bal au Moulin de la Galette
A masterpiece of impressionist art by Pierre Auguste Renoir.
I'm no art connoisseur, but I can tell you why I like this artwork.
I like it because... it's just great and I like it! We don't have to be so learnededed to appreciate beauty, do we?

At first glance you see a party going on and the two women in the center of the painting.

Look closer...

There is more going on in this painting then just a ball. If you look to the far right, there is a young man looking at the girl in the dark dress. A story unfolds that I can only image.

The girls have their attention to the guy with his back to us. The younger girl (I'm assuming) is looking off somewhere yet still listening, while the girl in the dark dress is locked in conversation. Then there is the young man with the hat on the far right.

A brief glance perhaps, but immortally frozen in this painting. He is frozen, while the crowd bustles with activity.

This is what this painting does to me. I feel like I'm in the painting and it evokes an emotional response.

I have the utmost respect for artists. Being raised by parents who are painters, I saw first hand how so much goes into art.

It's amazing, how art speaks to you in an emotional language. We are emotional creatures after all and to master, manipulate and create something that the viewer can relate to, something that will move the viewer... amazing.

Here is Sur la Terrasse by Renoir. This is one of my better half's favorite paintings. In her words "...she has such a content look about her. She looks young but that expression gives her maturity. And I love the vivid, striking contrast of her red hat to the rest of the painting".

A few more bits of info:
"To achieve the appearance of spontaneity, impressionist painters used broken brushstrokes of bright, often unmixed colors" - msn encarta
Impressionism is said to have influenced future art "by recreating the sensation in the eye that views the subject, rather than recreating the subject..." - wikipedia

I suppose I'm going on a theme here... French cuffs, French blue shirts, French impressionist art...

French fries anyone?