first truly chilly day of the year

In modern art history we studied the fauves and matisse:

Henri Matisse, "Nude man, le Serf", Oil on Canvas, 1900 (cell phone photo)

We did not discuss this painting but I saw it last January at moma in New York. It was one of my favorite paintings that I had the opportunity to see ( my visit was really rushed so I may have overlooked something ). The construction of form with color in this painting is brilliant. The anatomy is exaggerated but somehow believable because of the intuitive feeling of the colors applied with perfect descriptive brush strokes. Even though this painting has the aura of importance equal to a preliminary sketch it struck me as beautiful in its simplicity and feelings of stability. The color gives the figure a strong sense of existence asserting its weight in the illusion.

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Maurice de Vlaminick, "Restaurant de la Machine at Bougival" 1905, Oil on Canvas

Today we did view this painting which I had never seen but instantly liked the pink and orange of the buildings and the road. It changes from yellow to a tint of blue green as it recedes in space into the buildings. The blue and orange contrast in the foreground is really striking as well. Vlaminick was very influenced by Van Gogh's colors but was following the handling of the Impressionists.

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Okay, Now here are my inspirational photographs. All were taken in the past year with a cell phone camera that recently broke.