Paintings by Holly Van Hart

This painting was juried into the 2008 University Art Open competition. Juror George Rivera.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of watercolor paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

"Two Left Hands":
This painting is of two hands of the "Three Shades" sculpture. I aimed to show the strength of the hands and arms, and used red to show life.

Purchase:
This is an original watercolor painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. The painting comes with a museum quality white mat, archival backing board, and (optional) frame. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Description of "Jacques de Wissant" excerpted from my blog (hollyvanhart.blogspot.com):

This is "Jacques de Wissant", next in my series of oil paintings inspired by the sculptures of Auguste Rodin; Jacques one of the six Burghers of Calais.

What captivates me about Rodin's sculptures and what I love to express in this series of paintings is the contrast between human strength and weakness. In this case, the Burghers of Calais were in a very weak position (living in a city under siege by the English, and in which many people are starving), yet they had the emotional strength to surrender to the enemy king in order to spare their fellow Calaisians. By surrendering, the Burghers thought they would be executed. In the end, luckily, they were fed and clothed and their lives were spared.

I revisited Rodin's Burghers of Calais at Stanford a few weeks ago, and spent lots of time studying the six of them from many angles. I had already painted Andrieu d'Andres and this time I was inspired by Jacques. I like this viewpoint of Jacques because it shows the strength of his hand and arm, and because of the dramatic foreshortening (see how large his left hand looks compared to his head?), the interesting shapes in his head and right hand, the exciting diagonals of his robe, the sky reflections on his body and robe, and the mystery as to what he his holding in his left hand (it's a key to the city of Calais).

Purchase:
This is an original oil painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. This painting is on 100% cotton gallery-wrap canvas. The edges of the canvas are painted a dark color that complements the painting, and it is ready to hang on the wall unframed. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Description of "The Kiss" excerpted from my blog (hollyvanhart.blogspot.com):

Last year I painted a series in watercolor inspired by Auguste Rodin's sculptures, which was (creatively) called my Rodin series. A painting in this series, "Andrieu", even won a prize at the 2007 Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual show. I feel such a deep connection with Rodin's sculptures, and always knew I would continue with this series. And now I am back at it, with great enthusiasm, and this time in oil.

Above is my new painting "The Kiss", inspired by the sculpture of the same name in the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. Rodin's sculpture was created in 1880, during the time he had an affair with Camille Claudel and created numerous sculptures of passionate couples. "The Kiss" was Rodin's most censored work - in England in 1913 it had to be draped with a sheet, and in Japan in 1924, bamboo screens were placed around it. Aren't you glad those days are gone! (In much of the world, at least.)

Purchase:
This is an original oil painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. This painting is on 100% cotton gallery-wrap canvas. The edges of the canvas are painted a dark color that complements the painting, and it is ready to hang on the wall unframed. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Description of "Ladyscape" excerpted from my blog (hollyvanhart.blogspot.com):

This is "Ladyscape", the latest in my Rodin series of oil paintings. I created her in my studio over the last few weeks, after having taken many photos and done some pencil sketches at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. From this angle, the curves of her body reminded me of the rolling hills nearby (which I love). And I was irresistibly drawn to the way the light fell on her in the late afternoon and made all those gorgeous reflections and shadows.

I also like the mystery created by this unusual angle . . . who is this lady? what is she doing? what is her mood? The fun part is that you, the viewer, can interpret this painting whichever way you wish.

Purchase:
This is an original oil painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. This painting is on 100% cotton gallery-wrap canvas. The edges of the canvas are painted a dark color that complements the painting, and it is ready to hang on the wall unframed. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Description of "Hand/Hip" excerpted from my blog (hollyvanhart.blogspot.com):

Here is my latest painting, "Hand/Hip". Like my painting "The Kiss" (below), it is also inspired by Auguste Rodin's sculpture called "The Kiss". In the sculpture, I like the way his hand is just about to touch her hip. I also like the rhythm of reflections on their bodies and especially on her back. I aimed to capture (or even dial up) these elements in this painting.

In paintings of people, our eyes are typically drawn straight to the people's faces. The design of this painting is unusual (with the faces so close to the edge, and out of focus) because I wanted a clear focus on his hand and her hip.

Like many of the paintings in my Rodin series, the dominant color of this painting is red, the color of life. When the paint is squeezed fresh from the paint tube, it is bright red. To create the deep red you see in this painting, the bright red paint is mixed with bright green paint. For an artist, mixing paints is loads of fun. When I first studied color mixing, the idea of mixing red with green (to create a darker red) seemed very bizarre. For the moment, it's my favorite color combination.

Purchase:
This is an original oil painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. This painting is on 100% cotton gallery-wrap canvas. The edges of the canvas are painted a dark color that complements the painting, and it is ready to hang on the wall unframed. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Description of "The Thinker" excerpted from my blog (hollyvanhart.blogspot.com):

Here's the next painting in my Rodin series, "The Thinker". Rodin once commented that The Thinker was not only a thinker and dreamer but also a creator, which is (I believe) how Rodin viewed himself. Rodin actually had himself buried under a cast of The Thinker, which tells us how strongly he connected with this sculpture.

What I like about the angle of this image is how it emphasizes the man's hand. In order to create things, you not only have to think, you also have to take action (symbolized by the large hand). I also like how this angle shows off the rotunda of the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, where a large casting of The Thinker is installed.

The sculpture of The Thinker is made of bronze. In my Rodin series paintings, I like to use variations of the color red, which is the color of life.

As an aside, medical experts think the model for the Thinker was between 40 and 45 years old. This was also Rodin's age at the time his sculpted this work, and my age at the time I painted it.

Purchase:
This is an original oil painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. This painting is on 100% cotton gallery-wrap canvas. The edges of the canvas are painted a dark color that complements the painting, and it is ready to hang on the wall unframed. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of watercolor paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

"The Awakening":
This painting is of "The Awakening", a sculpture in which Rodin used his personally developed modeling method to create a life-size figure of his Belgian soldier model. The sculpture was so realistic that Rodin was accused of casting it from life (which was untrue). In my painting, I used a combination of red and green to create the bronze coloring of the sculpture, and an upward angle to best show off his torso.

Purchase:
This is an original watercolor painting (not a reproduction or copy), and it was created with great care using the highest quality archival materials. The painting comes with a museum quality white mat, archival backing board, and (optional) frame. Please check out the "Purchase Inquiries" tab on this website for details on price and shipping, and feel free to email me with any questions.

This painting won an award at the 2007 Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual exhibit.

Rodin Series:
I live near Stanford University, which has one of the world's largest collection of sculptures by Auguste Rodin. I've been fascinated by them for years, and recently created a series of watercolor paintings based on them. I aimed to show the emotions of the sculptures using vivid colors and unusual angles.

Andrieu:
This painting captures Andrieu d'Andres, one of the six burgers of Calais, in a moment when he thought he would die at the hands of King Edward of England.

This painting won an award at the 2007 Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society annual exhibit, and was sold at the exhibit.