What Art Thou Doing?

9/18/2023

Analyze the artwork above (The Mysterious Bird [1917], Charles Burchfield). What do you notice? How do the foreground and the background of the painting juxtapose (contrast) one another? What kind of mood does each create?

43 Comments

Brianna Anderson

9/18/2023 09:14:02 am

I noticed in this painting that the background in a darker town with much gloom but the foreground has much more color which may suggest the mood gets gloomy as you walk further down the road

Mykala

9/18/2023 09:27:11 am

I disagree that it resembles the mood getting gloomier down the road because the road doesn't get darker further in the perspective. The color in the road stays the same even though it gets smaller. I believe it just resembles the road separated from the background.

Sydnee Cluff

9/18/2023 09:14:19 am

The artwork above gives off a depressing dark vibe. The background gives more of a dark contrast compared to the foreground where, it shows more of a happy winter afternoon. The background give more of a mysterious vibe compared to the foreground where it gives more of a simple winters afternoon.

Brianna Anderson

9/18/2023 09:20:00 am

I agree, the foreground makes the background appear even gloomier.

Autumn

9/18/2023 09:21:10 am

I agree, the foreground looks kinda like a sunny winter day or coming into spring.

Lilly Cerise

9/18/2023 09:27:19 am

Yes I totally agree with you that they contrast against each other.

Julian

9/18/2023 09:14:23 am

The first things your eyes go to in this painting is the colors. The colors are vibrant, almost bouncing off of the painting at your face. Looking more closely though, you can see that the colors dampen and/or fade farther down the path you go. It creates this feeling of later down the path, things might not be as colorful or as bright. You could apply this to life. At first, everything is happy and "sunshine and rainbows". Now later in life, there still will be some colors - some happiness -, but in might not be as frequent, or it may not just be "handed to you" in a sense.

Sydnee Cluff

9/18/2023 09:16:09 am

I agree with you that farther down the path the artworks starts to give off a darker vibe.

Brianna Anderson

9/18/2023 09:23:19 am

I agree, as you go further down the path it gets darker/gloomier.

Hudson Bertram

9/18/2023 09:34:44 am

I agree! It seems like the image gives some sense of impending darkness.

Hudson Bertram

9/18/2023 09:16:46 am

The foreground of the image looks more happy or steady, everything is in place. The background of the image has more of a dark chaotic tone. It kinda gives the vibe of the calm before the storm. The dark bird to me seems like a crow/raven which commonly can be considered as a bad omen. Hence the calm before the storm.

Sydnee Cluff

9/18/2023 09:18:26 am

I agree with you how you talk about how the vibe represents the peacefulness before a storm rolls in.

Lucile

9/18/2023 09:26:00 am

I agree with the concept of "calm before the storm", I didn't think of it that way when I saw it first.

Autumn

9/18/2023 09:20:06 am

I notice that there's two dead trees and a road leading through a neighborhood. There's also a big black bird flying in the sky. The foreground looks more alive than the background. The background is a lot darker and seems gloomy and the forground gives off just coming into spring time when everything starts growing back after the winter.

Lucile

9/18/2023 09:24:35 am

I didn't see it as turning into spring, that's an interesting look. I thought of it as turning into winter.

Alyssa

9/18/2023 09:25:48 am

I agree with you how the foreground is coming into spring.

Abby

9/18/2023 09:30:53 am

I didn't think of where everything is starting to grow back from winter that's a good point.

Lilly Cerise

9/18/2023 09:20:40 am

Something I noticed right away was that the sky was colorless while the road had all different colors, making it contrast really well and making the road stand out. The setting is really bare and looks like a scene from a halloween movie. It creates a very mellow and calm mood.

Sara Chaffin

9/18/2023 09:23:32 am

I like how you compared it to a halloween movie.

Miles

9/18/2023 09:28:39 am

I wouldn't consider that as a very mellow and calm mood. For me it is a little unsettling having the dead trees and just those shades.

Hudson Bertram

9/18/2023 09:38:05 am

Now that I think of it does seem like it could possibly be the remains of the storm.

Mykala

9/18/2023 09:21:30 am

In the artwork the artist left the road or path colorful while they painted the background with shades of black. The black in the background creates a gloomy atmosphere that can represent a famished sad perspective. The road on the other hand has color that creates a sense of life and a barrier between the gloomy background.

Sara Chaffin

9/18/2023 09:24:51 am

I like how you connected it to a famished perspective. That adds a different look to the art.

Lisa Mualem

9/18/2023 09:31:23 am

I agree with the fact that the town seems gloomy.

Sara Chaffin

9/18/2023 09:22:31 am

(The Mysterious Bird [1917], Charles Burchfield) is a peice of work that could be analzed in many ways. This artwork goes from some of color to differnt shades of grey. This could mean life always lead to death. Just like color fades into darkness. The bird shows the journey of flying to death or darkness. You could go in a different direction, the bird could be flying to the color to escape the darkness. This can represent changes for the better. Leaving the negative to the positive. This is what I think it represents. Life to death or change.

miles

9/18/2023 09:26:33 am

I was looking at the picture and noticed some bright colors around the road which lead me to a different conclusion

Lucile

9/18/2023 09:22:43 am

The clouds have an opening in them which I believe symbols hope. That in the darkest moments there is always some light to be seen. The dirt road has been used a lot showing how time causes erosion. A crow is a symbol of bad luck. In this painting it could represent the bad that is about to happen to the houses in the background. With the background, you can also see two houses that are identical in color. This shows how we as humans have become uncreative and colorless. Society has become a place where you need to fit in instead of express yourself because of this, the world has been losing it's color.

Autumn

9/18/2023 09:27:28 am

I love how you can see how the clouds symbolize something by their formation, I didn't see that!

Lisa Mualem

9/18/2023 09:29:08 am

Wow! You have a lot of different points I didn't notice. I wouldn't have thought of hope.

Sydnee Cluff

9/18/2023 09:29:49 am

I like how you took the artwork and explained how it represents how our society has changed drastically.

Mykala

9/18/2023 09:32:01 am

The road in the picture has color. Do you believe that it also correlates with the colorless society or that it might contrast with it?

Lucile

9/18/2023 09:35:03 am

It could show what society has left behind, the colors we shut out.

Alyssa

9/18/2023 09:22:49 am

I notice that there is a town in the back, and something on the road, and that it is in the colder months like winter. It makes it look like you are walking down the path to the town. The foreground and the background contrast by colors, the foreground is lighter than the background. The foreground seems like it spring, with the little to no snow on the ground, and the background seems like a winter day in December. The mood seems calm, it looks like there is no wind and a bird flying through the sky and in the night time.

Abby

9/18/2023 09:33:39 am

I didn't realize there most likely is no wind and is pretty calm throughout the painting.

Miles

9/18/2023 09:22:54 am

It seems to me that the picture is like in bad times, there will always be a light, or a road to light you way hence the road still uses light colors even in the background. The problem with that is there might not be help to find your way; you must light it yourself.

Lilly Cerise

9/18/2023 09:29:43 am

This is a really good way to think about the painting!

Julian

9/18/2023 09:34:11 am

I agree with what you said about not always having help to "find the light".

Abby

9/18/2023 09:25:11 am

The painting is colorful on the ground but gets darker farther on, mainly in the sky. Only the road has color. The foreground is bright and colorful showing the colors of the road and ground around with light brown, light blue, green and other colors, but the background is dark and dead with only black, white, and grey. The foreground is showing life in things until it gets to the background where it is gloomy with the bird flying above, there is no life in the background.

Alyssa

9/18/2023 09:27:54 am

I agree with you saying the road has color while the rest is dark.

Lisa Mualem

9/18/2023 09:27:19 am

I noticed that there is a lonely bird headed towards what looks like a town. I also noticed that it is around winter time and that there appears to be a storm. The front of the painting is more of a fall almost winter type of background and the back of the painting is more winter with the snow and dead trees. The two dead trees signify where the seasons separate. The front of the painting is giving off "bleh" vibes due to the fact that we are transitioning into winter. The back of the painting is giving off more happy cozy winter vibes.

Lucile

9/18/2023 09:29:55 am

The bird's a crow. I think it symbol's sorrow.

Julian

9/18/2023 09:33:15 am

I like how you mentioned the dead trees represent seasons changing.

Sienna Crispin

9/18/2023 09:27:36 am

The painting shows a walking path leading off into the distance. The start of the path is vibrant and colorful but as it fades into the distance it gets dark and gloomy. The mood is very vibrant and almost fun at the start but as you continue down the path it gets darker as life gets harder.

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