Japanese And Ukiyo-E

Japanese designs and ukiyo-e prints from the 18th and 19th centuries influenced many of the western artists in both America and Europe. According to the “Gateways To Art” textbook, Ukiyo is a Japanese word that means “floating world” and Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world”. Both of these were woodblock prints and they showed scenes and characters from the districts of modern day Tokyo. Vincent Van Gogh was one of the great artists inspired by Japan. According to Japan Talk, Van Gogh incorporated many elements of ukiyo-e into his style and also copied ukiyo-e sometimes. One famous artwork that I will be observing would be “Japonaiserie: Flowering Plum Tree”. This famous Oil on Canvas was painted in 1887 in Paris and is now located in Vincent Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It’s dimensions are 21 ½ x 18 inches and it was actually copied from Hiroshige.
They had bold designs and intense color, according to the Van Gogh Gallery. It was simply elegant and the pure colors added a lot of definition. This work was created because Vincent Van Gogh actually loved the Japonisme artwork and was inspired by a few of them. He decided to copy it in order to use the contrasting colors and follow the theme of Japanese paintings such as the branches and the blossom trees. In my opinion, I think this painting is absolutely beautiful. The overall theme of it with the blossom trees adds a look Japan and the contrasting colors make it eye catching and beautiful. It was basically created because Van Gogh was really impressed with ukiyo-e and copied it in order to make it his own. He was so influenced by it that he actually became a collector of