Reflections in Art

Landscapes

Reflections (1983), Bob Ross

I found this great article about Landscape Composition: 16 Reflections. Whether it is Sisley, Turner, or Monet painting the landscape, the result is always more pleasant and serene with the addition of a reflection in water to reveal atmospheric conditions. I particularly enjoyed watching Bob Ross' TV series The Joy of Painting, especially when he'd show us how to paint water and reflections. He pulled down color using a large dry brush, then lightly dragged his brush across to soften the reflections.

Le Loing à Moret (1885), Sisley

Impressionist painter, Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), was born to British parents in France, where he spent most of his life. His landscapes may have been inspired by the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. I much prefer this softer work to some of his other more intricate landscapes.

Boats (1885), Sisley

While this landscape by Sisley may make a wonderful jigsaw puzzle, it makes for a very complex painting. His reflections seem to be concentrated toward the bottom, focusing on the subject boats. The clouds reflect in the water in the middle of the composition. The jetty seems to divide the painting in two.

The Studio Boat (1874), Monet

Some say that Sisley's career was overshadowed by that of Franch Impressionist Claude Monet. Monet's Studio Boat became the subject of four of his paintings. The reflections are well done. Monet has also balanced his composition by offsetting the dark boat hull with the large bank of brown autumn trees and highlighting the studio structure. Many of Monet's other works use dark purple in place of black.

The Grand Canal of Venice (1875), Manet

In Édouard Manet's Blue Venice or The Grand Canal of Venice (1875) the reflections are suggested using impressionistic brushstrokes. Like Monet's work above, Manet has atypically used black for his gondola. Everything else in the painting is bright and textured. 

Le Bateau (1953), Matisse

In 1961, Henri Matisse's Le Bateau ("The Boat") was hung upside-down at New York's Museum of Modern Art for 47 days until a patron pointed it out to a museum guard. In this simple papercut and gouache work, it was apparently difficult to distinguish between the sailboat and its reflection.

Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888), Van Gogh

Before Vincent Van Gogh painted his famous Starry Night with the swirling sky and cypress trees, he captured a moment of calm in Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888). I love the reflected lights of the city. The couple in the foreground seem to be standing in the water due to the repetition of the brushstrokes, colors, and subtle transition from water to shore.

Valley of the Yosemite (1864), Bierstadt

German-born American artist, Albert Bierstadt, painted this landscape of the Yosemite Valley in California along the Merced River in 1864. Everything about this masterpiece is amazing! I love the colors of the sky, the brightness of the sunlight reflecting off the mountains, the sliver of reflected trees in the water, and the silhouettes of the deer grazing in the foreground.

Portraits

Triple Self-Portrait
(1960), Rockwell

Some artists used mirrors in their portraits. One of the most recognizable is Norman Rockwell's self-portrait with him seated in front of a mirror and a large canvas capturing his own image three times. I enjoy seeing what he has pinned to his easel, including his own sketches on one side opposite self-portraits of fellow artists: Durer, Rembrandt, Picasso and Van Gogh. Possibly as a nod to Rembrandt, he has collected a golden helmet as a souvenir of a trip to Paris.

 'Self Portrait', from Behind Gala,
Reflected in Mirror (1972), Dali

In 1972, Salvador Dali painted a double portrait of the artist and his muse (wife Gala). It reminds me of an interior, painted by Johannes Vermeer, with light streaming in from a window. It may also be a nod to Diego Velázquez's 1656 masterpiece of Las Meninas, where the King and Queen were subtly reflected in a mirror.

Here, we get to see both figures from the front reflected in a mirror and from the back seated. If only we could see what's on his easel! Notice how Gala's chair is downplayed in both color and value so as not to compete with the artist's chair and mirror frame.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), Manet

Some say that the man in the upper right of the mirror is Édouard Manet himself in A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882). Artists often hide their self-portraits in their paintings. You don't see the back of the man at the bar because he is perhaps (Manet) the viewer of the bar scene. 

The horizontal blueish band may be the stage. The reflection of the bar itself runs behind the barmaid's hips and may be reflecting the two bottles from the lower left corner.

Girl at Mirror (1954), Norman Rockwell

Finally, here's another painting by Norman Rockwell celebrating the innocence of a young girl checking herself out in an attic mirror while reading a glamour magazine. The girl reminds me of actress Margaret O'Brien who starred opposite Judy Garland in the classic Meet Me in St. Louis ten years earlier.