Sunset Painting
The famous sunset painting by Caspar David Friedrich is called Autumn Leaves. This oil on canvas art is one of the most beautiful paintings from the artist’s career. It shows a glorious scene of early Fall in Germany. In fact, this particular painting predates Friederich von Siegel’s The Night Cafe (1927) by several years.
Caspar David Friedrich used a technique called the sultry method which involved using very little colour in his paintings. He often used pure black on the background to contrast with the rich tones of colours that were used on the subject of the painting. The painting starts with a light sky behind a series of bright red sunflowers. A deep reddish brown shade makes the sun seems to be setting on a golden beach. The colours used for this painting had their roots in traditional German colours but because of their richness, they look especially vibrant when they are mixed with pale blues and whites.
A striking feature of autumn paintings is the way in which the sunsets in great swathes of cloud. Cloud shapes become larger as it gets further away from the viewer. A closer look at the actual sunset painting reveals that the clouds in this work of art actually formed a shape of a sunset on the canvas. Behind the sun, the sky is filled with what appears to be foggy white clouds. As the sunlight touches the clouds, they sparkle and appear to have a texture as though they are water.
How to Improve Your Sunset Painting
These unique sunsets are highlighted in paintings like Masters of Florence by Hieronymus Bosch. In this particular example of fine art, we can see that the blending of colours used to bring out the essence of these sunsets was done using warm, medium warm shades of blue. Pastels and cool tones blend together in the background to create an effect of deep sea and sky. It is these deep sea and sky elements that give the impression that the painting is taking place over a sea of sand. These paintings also show a close association between warm, vibrant colours and the hot air balloon. The bright blue colours of the sky and the warm yellow of the sun create a stunning impression.
The style of this particular sunset painting belongs to the category known as Pre-Raphaelite paintings. One aspect of this style is a strong sense of the artist’s personality, creating a wonderful sense of calmness and serenity. The colors he uses are mainly monochromatic but when the painting is done in more of a realistic style, complimentary colors are often used. For instance, the sky is painted in mostly dark shades of blue and sometimes a violet color is also used. The sun makes a blue effect and the different shades of blue that form a wisp of cloud are done using very small and precise strokes of the flat brush. As always, the placement of these strokes on the canvas was done in such a way that the depth and distance of the actual painting was kept to the minimum.
The sky and water seem to be floating above the earth as they slowly sink in the flat brush strokes. In this particular painting, we can see an element of mysticism as the clouds represent the God’s wisdom and the sun God’s power. This painting belongs to the genre known as Romanticism. Other paintings in this genre usually deal with intense colours like reds and yellows which are used to evoke passion and emotion. When this painting is done in oils, a very shallow layer of paint is required, which further enhances the depth of the painting and creates the illusion that it is being done on the canvass for a long time.