Simranjit Kaur

Art 100
Mondays at 5:30pm
Museum attended on: November 23rd
The Getty Center
The Getty Center Experience
This week I was honored to have experienced the beautiful distraction that is The Getty
Center. This was my first time visiting the museum and I was hesitant and wary about what to
expect. I presumed the museum would host very edgy and strange pieces that west coasters like
to ponder and stare at but that I refuse to accept as art. However, that was all washed away the
instant I stepped into the tram and was whisked up the mountain to survey the vast city below.
The center itself is split out among multiple buildings, and across multiple genres the art on
display was a guaranteed conversation piece. Even if all the art on the walls were stripped away,
the Getty would still be worth the trip - the views of the city were breathtaking and the scenery
within the Getty alike were stunning. There really was not one thing I found at fault with the
Museum though I did not actually see everything it held to show. I especially enjoyed seeing
paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Manet, Goya, Cezanne and Monet. There were many
outdoor balcony areas to enjoy the expansive view as well as a pleasant garden labyrinth on the
lower grounds. We decided to have our lunch picnic in the central garden, with a cool breeze
adjoined with warm sunlight, the day was a hit. I was smart enough to have visited the museum
on a weekday, hence I was blessed to have withstood tour groups and stampede tourists. In
essence, the center really took me from my everyday world, worries, traffic, smogjust about
everything. The beauty and serenity that surrounds the museum really elevates and inspires its
visitors, and it truly was a very meaningful and spiritually uplifting visit to the grounds for
myself personally.
The exhibits displayed paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, decorative arts, and
photography from around the world. From the breathtaking Van Gogh Irises to Greek statues to
sculptures and ancient arts to manuscripts to modern art by Richard Leeroy and of course Marino
Marinis Angel of the Citadel; the walls and grounds were covered with yesterday and today's
art. The emotional connection I feel that tugs me deeper into an artwork, is wanting to know
more about its creation and its creator. I'd never heard of Caspar David Friedrich before I visited
the Getty and saw his piece, A Walk at Dusk, but the haunting and somber chill of the painting
captivated me. It was not even a large piece; it didnt demand my attention like much of the other
decadent art pieces in the museum. However, as my friends took one look at it and said, creepy
and walked away, I stared at it. The piece did not scream for attention, it did not tug at my sight
from afar, my eyes didnt even land on it as I entered the room. No, the enthralling bit was that
once I did set my eyes on it, they were fixed. I could not will them to move away from the man
in the painting.
What is life and what is death? What is this man doing taking a walk in the middle of a
frigid winter evening? Why is he standing before these rocks, what do they mean? Maybe theyre
like tomb of some sort. Where my friends say a spooky display of brushstrokes I saw in place a
very serene and intense emotional quietude amongst the skeletal trees, indigo sky, pale
moonlight and of course the solitary man lost in thought. The painting is so detailed I could just
hear the howling of the wind rustling what little leaves remained on those winter trees. I could
see the figure almost shiver with the jolt of a chilling breeze run through him, an intense

connection with his haunting nature. At the moment I saw this picture I knew nothing about the
painter, his art style, the symbols in the painting. I just could feel the and sense the ideals of
nature, gloom, serenity, acceptance, and life and death with the colors, lighting, organic shapes,
light, shade and more.
A Walk at Dusk by Caspar David Friedrich was a pieces created in the medium of Oil
paint created around 1830-1835. The painting itself was rather small; The Getty Center website
states its dimensions as 33.3 43.7 cm (13 1/8 17 3/16 in.). Upon further research I found
that Friedrich used art for a very religious and Christian art based motive with the symbolism of
nature. I found he was very much interested in the notion of life and death and was astonished I
was dead on with my first reaction to the painting. Looking back at the painting, the emblems of
death are strikingly more obvious than those of life. The rock formation I presumed to look like a
tomb or a trigger of a previous memory is said to actually to be an ancient tomb. Its winter, so
everything in nature is dying, from the grass to the leaves even animals who succumb to the
scarcity of resources. The moon, in the phase of its cycle is also dying. Even the name of the
painting suggests death, with the man walking during dusk, symbolizing the death of that day.
The only light that is brought to this somber scene is that of the slight silver of light given
off from the dying moon. However, in terms of Christian symbolism, the waning and waxing
moon represents and portrays an image of Christ himself. Amongst the death glazed walk the
man is taking here, the moon can also be seen to represent as a symbol of life and rebirth. For
Friedrich, it may as well have been a portrayal of Christs promise of resurrection and hope. This
idea allowed me to realize the whole piece can be seen through this light. The very symbolism of
nature and seasons is rebirth and a cyclic transformation from life and death. This time, instead
of just seeing dying skeletal trees, I could see the heavy oak-like trees in the background,
promising spring life. I especially enjoyed the projection of Jupiter next to the moon. It expanded
a very personal very solitude moment and connected it to the universe. This man seems very
small, very alone, basking in his thoughts but in reality he is part of a much grander much more
cosmic art piece that is the universe.
When I was at the museum, staring at the painting for about 30 minutes, trying to bask in
every detail, another museum goer stopped and stared at this photo. He and I stared and sighed
together for a couple of minutes. I said, I just love the detail on this piece. It is all so very clear
but so unclear in meaninghow did he get the moon to be so perfectly circular?. It was obvious
Friedrich did not just freestyle it and try and make it circular, it was forged out of something, like
a stencil. The man said to me, Well, I read somewhere he used a compass to make that moon
see hereyou can see the indentations. Well, I could see that it was a circular object that was
used to make the moon, I could not really see what made it compass indentations. However, it
was nice that the piece made me spark a conversation with a stranger, which I hardly do.
Furthermore, the formal elements of lines, color, light, shade, and shape all help to depict
the mood and symbolism explained above. The lines in this painting, though not strikingly
obvious, can see seen in the irregularly shaped and curved nature of the dying trees in the
foreground. To present the nature of winter trees and intertwining branches naked of any leaves,
he used very organic and sharp raw movements to depict death by winter season. Another place
lines can be seen is the horizontal depiction of the ground, with its bumps and hills. Because of
his devotion to naturalistic romantic art, Friedrich used only organic and natural lines in this art
piece. Again, the mood and feeling represented by the use of his lines is to present the reality of
the scene. The detail on the branches and the weeds in the ground really scream a walk at dusk

during winter time. The turn of the trees in the sway of the wind really projects a chilling
moment in time. The element of lines corresponds with that of the shapes used as well. With the
exception of the moon, all other shapes presented are organic. The use of a compass to create the
perfect circle is the only geometric shape I could sense in this painting. From the lopsidedness of
the tomb rocks, to the bustling trees in the background and the large fur coat worn by the solitary
figure, all are organic shapes. I wonder, with his devotion to almost replicating the beauty he saw
in nature with organic shapes, why the artist used a compass to create a geometric and inorganic
moon? If I had to guess, itd have to do with the pedestal he placed Christ on. If the moon is to
be reflecting Christ and the faith he restores for Friedreich, this Christ is a perfect godly figure.
Hence, the moon would have to be the one thing that is perfect and inorganic to nature in this
scene. Furthermore, as stated above, the only real source of light in this painting is the faint
nature light shone off by the moon. But then again, it is dusk not night time, so detail is seen also
be the scarce light of the drying sun which is not visible but known by the time of day. The mood
given off by the indigo sky is very spooky but almost sleepy. It wants you to crawl into a warm
bed, next to a warm cracking fire. Maybe even read a book of assorted poetry by Edgar Allan
Poe or Hemingway, your choice. In terms of value contrast, it is very low. The entirety of the
painting is under a very somber sleepy spell, and the contrast between light and dark values is on
the very low end of the spectrum. Friedrich uses allot of grays, blacks, deep browns, blues and
black shades to create this painting and its accompanying pensive mood. In this case, the colors
seem to be very analogous on the color wheel, choosing to use the dullest and lowest hues of
each color. The man is wearing a dark burgundy fur coat which highlights the reddish tones in
the setting sky and the brown hues of a winter ground. The colors are very much subdued and
blend so as to not strike attention to any one detail alone. This creates a very projected mood
evenly throughout the painting. The stoic figure does grab the eye first, but because of the sepia
overtones of the entire painting, he is not a jarring presence.
Moreover, when it comes to the overall texture of the piece, I dont remember it having
any real texture such as impasto. The oil was cracking across the painting though Im sure that
was not a part of the piece. In terms of the actual painting, any texture detail presented is only
suggested with detail of lines and color. Because the painting is a very smooth blend of cool
colors, the objects such as the rocks are smoothed out so as to create a distorted picture of the
light source. The painting does not really have a sharpness in any detail but rather implied texture
with values of light. For instance, the coffin-shaped rock forming the tomb is shown to be bumpy
and odd shaped with the edges outlined brighter than the darker shades. This creates a three
dimensional shape of a sharp edgy rock formation. Further, the mans coat is implied to be very
smooth and velvety with his use of light shining off from the edge of the coat but blending in like
the furs/velvet does with the sway of wind. He sues dark hues and shadows to create the
movement and dimples and curves in the coat to bring reality across in his art as well. Finally,
the overall perception of space surrounding the area of the scene is very much a realistic gothic
romantic depiction. The focus on three dimension is created with very detailed object in the
foreground, with the weeds in the ground, grass, bushes, wrangling dying trees, the man and his
clothing. The background is emphasized with very lazy, less detailed, smaller trees, and faded
subdued color hues. I dont see much of a depiction of linear perspective to give the three
dimension in this piece but rather the simple use of detail and color to bring reality to
brushstrokes.
Ergo, this 16-inch of a painting displaying a small figure of a man, standing nearby,
looking at a tomb, obviously contemplating mortality and the meaning of life and whether there

was life after death. Friedrich has this figure, all by his lonesome, contemplating, perhaps, his
own death, perhaps it is Friedrich himself. Then this sense of renewal is displayed with the cycle
truth of seasons and nature and life itself mixed with the cosmic glory of the planets, stars, moon
and the symbolism of Christ. The use of symbolism, colors, shapes, hues and detail really spoke
to me on a very personal level. To me, Friedrich really indulged in this somber, quiet,
contemplative state. This seems to be a very modern religious painting asking the viewer to
donate a moment or two to pondering on the meaning of life. I felt as though were supposed to
identify with the lone figureI certainty step right into this scene. I like to think that show
Friedrich intended his art to be viewed. To have his painting, along with others, to be approached
quietly and even more so individually. I was smart to have been listening to soft classical music
on my phone, but I know that the room setting was not exactly for the pensive mood needed to
approach this master piece, with the bustling noise of people and their tendency to announce
their presence. This composition is very much a symbolism of decadence because we have the
small man placed in a diminished scale in nature, especially against the mass of the coffin-tomb
rock formation, the shooting trees, the moon and planets high in the sky. I think that in a moment
in history, when Friedrich really brought on a Romantic mood when artists were looking for new
ways of representing the spiritual, he succeeded well beyond the expectations; expressing
something of profound raw emotion and defining humanity with his brushstrokes.