Art Analysis

The Swing

A closer look at the painting.

Background/ Information

This piece of art is an oil painting on a canvas that is named “The Swing” or “The Happy Accidents of the Swing”. The painting was done in the 18th century, 1767 to be exact, in London, United Kingdom by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This artist was a French painter and printmaker, who was one of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime. Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings, but only five are dated.

The Swing was painted in the Rococo period of art, which originated in early 18th century Paris. It is characterized by soft colors and curvy lines, and depicts scenes of love, nature, amorous encounters, light-hearted entertainment, and youth. The word “rococo” comes from rocaille, which is French for rubble or rock. Rocaille refers to the shell-work in garden grottoes and is used as a descriptive word for the serpentine patterns seen in the Decorative Arts of the Rococo period.

The painting was requested by the French libertine Baron de St. Julien as a portrait of his mistress, “The Swing” was to be painted to the following specificity: “I should like you to paint Madame seated on a swing being pushed by a Bishop. “ This request was turned down by many painters, until Fragonard took matters into his own hands and accepted. In the background, Baron himself is found, reclining in the lush shrubbery, one arm outstretched towards the women’s skirts, his other arm holding his balance. He gave very specific instructions to Fragonard, stating “Place me in a position where I can observe the legs of that charming girl. “ The mistress flies through the air on a sylvan swing, giving herself away to frivolous abandon, her shoe flying off in the heat of the moment. In the background one can see what was originally going to be the Bishop requested by the Baron, but which was changed to the mistress’s husband by Fragonard. The husband plays a lesser role, being sucked in shadow while the Baron is under the maiden’s dress. Two cherubs (a winged angelic who attended to God) below the swing appear concerned by the dirty actions of the humans above them, one looking up at the women in fear and the other looking away from the action with a scowl. On the left side of the image is a stone statue of Cupid who raises a finger to his lips to point out the secretive nature of the impending affair.

Line

This painting demonstrates the use of lines to draw the focus of the viewer. It is used in the ropes of the swing that are leading from the branches in the upper right hand corner. It’s also shown by the husband pulling the ropes attached to the back of the swing along the back of the woman’s dress. The curviness of the lines lead the eye around the composition and communicates information to the viewer.

Shape

The painting is mainly consisting of natural shapes, as we can see demonstrated by the tree and it’s branches. The mini flowers and leaves across the ground depict a sense of life as a theme to the picture.

The Swing is shown as a three-dimensional object which shows a representational style. However the background seems to look more realistic than the people themselves. The greenery and the trees show more detail and have shadows that gives that three-dimensional look to it. The detail also seems to be less focused on the men than the woman.

The way the tree has a slight curve towards the woman and the ropes are pointing directly down towards her shows that the attention and main focus of the painting is on her. I feel that the cherubs give the painting a symbolic meaning, because they have the traditional background of attending to God, so it may have a Christian-based moral portrayal.

Color

There is a deep contrast between the light and dark sections of the painting, which draws the eye towards the most prominent objects. For example, the edges of the painting where the tree’s branches are most thickly packed together, are very dark while the center of the painting has more sunlight lingering through the trees, making it very light. This makes the center of the picture “pop” and, once again, draws attention to the girl on the swing.

Texture

Unfortunately, I can’t see the painting in person, so I am not 100 percent sure on what the exact texture of the piece looks like.

However, you can see that the woman’s dress is very ruffled and looks like it is flowing in the air as she swings back and forth, which could give the viewer an idea on how the material feels. Also, the tree in the lower right hand corner shows a great amount of detail of the roots, which gives the viewer a sense of toughness and coarseness included in the texture.

My View

When I was searching for different pieces of art, I saw many paintings that I enjoyed but this one really stood out to me. I could tell by just looking at it that there was an interesting contextual back story to the art. It definitely caught my eye at first glance, so that is also why I chose to observe this one. I would love to own a copy of this painting, although, it may not match my other decor that I have in my home.

I have stated in my first blog that I have not really been big into art, so I actually don’t own many pieces. Looking at the paintings I came across, I would like to get more involved at looking at different art creations (not just paintings), because it brings me much enjoyment by having different elements that can be observed in many ways.

Citations:

“Jean-Honore Fragonard.” Artble, 19 July 2017, http://www.artble.com/artists/jean-honore_fragonard.

N/A. “The Swing (Painting).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swing_(painting).

Trapasso, Erica. “A Brief History of Rococo Art.” Artnet News, Artnet News, 10 Mar. 2015, news.artnet.com/market/a-brief-history-of-rococo-art-32790.

“The Visual Elements.” Cubism – the First Abstract Style of Modern Art, 4 Feb. 2019, http://www.artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/visual-elements/visual-elements.html.