RESTING GOLD

The Post Impressionist movement was led by painters such as Cézanne, Van Gogh, Seurat, and Gauguin. While the Post-Impressionists valued pastoral settings like the Impressionists, they focused more on symbolism and the meanings of certain colors or images. Van Gogh often used the complementary tones of blue and yellow to create harmony in his works. Resting Gold explores the uplifting atmosphere that this classic color combination creates.

Creation

This artistic work was created during the harvest season in Hoi An when the rice fields are naturally filled with the beloved golden tones of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. The sense of negative space is also important in the composition. The textural element of the burnished rice stalks holds more weight than the central subject. Balancing wide expanses of colored “emptiness” with a detailed focal point is a compositional technique inspired by Japanese printwork that became a mainstay in the Impressionist movement.

Like a scene from a fairy tale, a farmer clad in sky blue enjoys a rest in a rice field that looks like it’s been spun from pure gold.

Inspiration

Réhahn was inspired by the luminescence and dreamy reflections in the rice paddies near Hoi An. The idea of cropping the shot to capture the reflection and not the actual subjects is a nod to the off-center compositions found in the Japonisme style.

Creation

The soft reflection of the women in the water and the plant life work together to create a painterly texture in the style of Impressionism. The central point of the photograph uses negative space or emptiness to highlight the balance of the two women on either side.