Flower Beds in the Dresden Garden

This was by far my favorite painting I saw all day. It is oil on canvas piece was created by German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner c. 1910. What initially drew me to this piece was the vibrant colors and simple lines, it really seemed to pop off the wall and out of the frame. Kirchner's choice to use such vibrant colors for a landscape, as opposed to Earth tones, to me gives this piece an almost mystical feeling, as you don't typically see such vibrant colors in an average landscape.

Large Cliff with Fish

This oil on canvas piece was made by Henri Matisse in 1920. What I enjoyed most about this piece is the simplicity of lines and colors. Personally, I  felt the simplicity was fitting, as I get the same feeling when viewing a landscape of an ocean or another body of water in real life. 

View of St. Lazare Railway Station, Paris

This oil on canvas piece was created by French artist, Norbert Goeneutte in 1887. I enjoyed this piece because it kind of reminded me of a photograph; as it really seems to capture real, everyday life. 

Italo Calvino - "Visibility"

After reading Italo Calvino’s “Visibility,” I have gained new insight to imagination and its importance. One point that particularly stands out to me is “We may distinguish between two types of imaginative process: the one that starts with the words and arrives at the visual image, and the one that starts with the visual image and arrives at its verbal expression” (83). To me, this reminded me of reading a book before it is adapted into a movie, or vice versa. Personally, I feel that the first imaginative process, starting with the word, is so much more powerful. There have been several times I have read and been in awe of a book, but find myself extremely disappointed and almost angry when I watch the movie-version because the visual representation before me just isn’t what I imagined it to be; as it is the visual representation of someone else’s imagination. This article reminded me of Saltz's point of art being an escape from reality. To me, imagination can have the same effect; getting "lost" in a book being a perfect example of this notion. in addition, I feel that art and imagination are, in many ways, one in the same and that one can't really exist without the other.