Paintings by Holly Van Hart

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.