Topic > Visit a Museum Reflection: The Honolulu Museum of Art

On a visit to the Honolulu Museum of Art, among the more than 50,000 pieces on display, a most interesting work of art was a painting called Kaaterskill Fall in the Catskill Mountains, taken from beneath the cave, oil on canvas, ca. 1950. 1827. The artist who painted the piece was an Irish-born American painter named William Guy Wall. When Wall painted this artwork, he was already a well-trained artist and would soon become famous for his delicate watercolors of the Hudson River valleys. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In this painting the artist indicates what life was like near Kaaterskill Falls from an outside perspective. The way Wall got the viewer to focus on the scene was by demonstrating more advanced and bright colors towards the focal point of the painting. It seems that there are some inhabitants along the bank of the stream, who perhaps fish to survive. The villagers have no definition to express people's emotions. Wall probably painted them small to emphasize the true size and vastness of the cave and valley in which this scene took place. Looking at the artwork, the paint appeared almost glossy, making each warm color pop even more. There are sharp edges in this painting, as the stream flowing towards the villagers, forms lines to make the viewer look towards the focal point of the scene. On the left side of the painting you will notice that the tree line is also a line but more distorted in an attempt to get the viewer to look. On the right side of the painting the tree line is less defined, almost distorted. The waterfall is included in the title, but from my point of view it is not what the artist really focused on because the waterfall is less defined than the actual stream flowing from the waterfall towards the villagers. The artist used almost three-dimensional overlapping space to represent the depth of this valley with an infinite number of mountains slowly fading towards the center of the painting, to demonstrate the vastness of the valley. One thing to mention is the only villager alone who enters the cave, almost as if they are using the cave as shelter. A blue-clad villager who is taller than the others appears to shout at the one who enters the cave. The artist included old branches stuck in the stream, indicating that perhaps a harsh winter has just passed and the villagers are trying to recover. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay William Guy Wall has numerous paintings of different scenarios similar to this painting. The artist has mastered the ability to emphasize the true dimensions of a scene such as mountains and streams like this with the correct proportions from the villagers to the mountains.