William-Adolphe Bouguereau - Selected paintings

Okay - so hands up here - I know this man's paintings are a bit naff and loads of them are stupidly romantic and fluffy and glossy and so on, but some of William Adolphe Bouguereau's paintings are just wonderful. So, having established i have a soft spot for them when they're probably not particularly high on "high-art" merit, let me talk you through some lovely ones. He lived approximately (and by approximately i mean without consulting wikipedia) from 1830- 1910 or something like that, and he was a huge perfectionist, specialising in painting people's faces, hands, and flesh in a hyper realistic way. And while he was often criticised for pretty much exclusively painting rustic country folk/ imagined greek nymphs, he was probably the closest that painting ever got to realistic humanity in expressions, and in physical attributes. Degas hated him, Matisse studied under him (and then later hated him) and he changed the rules of the academie francaise so his wife could get in. So all in all, a serious man...



The fifth circle of Hell ; Dante's Inferno

And I, my gaze transfixed, could see
people with angry faces in that bog,
naked, their bodies smeared with mud.

They struck each other with their hands,
their heads, their chests and feet,
and tore each other with their teeth.

Check out how resolute Virgil appears (identified by the laurel wreath), with Dante looking positively sick next to him. The flesh under the left wrestling man's fingertips is gruesomely realistic as well. If you look closely, there's also a woman accosting a man in the background. OOHH also check out the agony on the man's face on the right hand side. ( I may enjoy this painting too much)




I cant get over how realistic these two kids are. Amusingly however, this painting is called the Nut Gatherers, and unless i'm insane, aren't they holding grapes?




So this is probably what gets Bouguereau a bad press - classically influenced eroticism like this. But... well i love it. Look at the expression of the girl whose face is in focus, and the indentations on the arm of the satyr as the girl in the foreground tugs at him. And that cheeky one at the back calling over her friends to join in the fun. One could well ask what fun. tugging at a mutant? Is that fun?



She's looking after sheep; but it clearly can't be very strenous, because she looks super relaxed. Maybe I should look after sheep. Her face has got so many emotions in, but they're all vaguely calming and lovely.




This one here is Bouguereau going a bit mad. She's flying! She's wrapped in some sort of mist! It's called "Evening mood"! I haven't got a clue what its about.




In my estimation, the best has been saved til last. Adam and Eve mourn the death of their son, Abel. I have always loved the story of Cain and Abel, its really affecting, interesting and has lots of non Christian parallels. But this portrayal of the first exemplar of human grief, and the piteous way in which the bodies of the living hang in the same way as the bodies of the dead, is really wonderful.
The colours are fantastic as well - oh and look at Abel's hands. If this man was still alive, i'd try and get him to teach me to do hands.