The Song Of The Lark - Jules Adolph Breton

[@jamiestockham4400]

I love this painting! Around 2004 I spent a summer in Chicago, not in the best head space. I didn't know many people there and would spend most of my days working, running or going into the city for a distraction. I ended up at the Art Institute one day and discovered this painting as I was wandering around. I can't articulate why this painting spoke to me so deeply but it did. I spent maybe a half hour just staring at it that day and visited it almost weekly for the rest of my summer in Chicago. To this day, it is my favorite painting.

[@arthistorystorytime]

@@jamiestockham4400 I love stories like this! Thank you for sharing that!

[@Jay-uv5xg]

your voice is so soothing and your art analysis is always on point!

[@josephrapp]

Your profound understanding of this artist and his work is really wonderful.You know how to bring depth to a painting that can be overlooked. Thank you!

[@dumoulin11]

Thank you for this, I truly appreciate your analysis of this wonderful painting. For me, the contrast between the bright red sun and the fresh green grass behind the girl really stands out. It's as if the artist wanted to uplift the viewer by placing theses elements in the upper half of the picture, with the lower half dominated by the earthier, duller colours. Her naked feet may be in the dirt but her head (and mind) are above it all.

[@ceowulf7328]

Very good analysis!

[@fredkrissman6527]

Beautifully done, both by Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton & our StoryTime host!

[@rcfisher53]

A high brow analysis with an F-bomb to emphasize your point Well done Now I'm really impressed impressed

[@HenrySousa-n2c]

Love your very unusual Artsy channel📽...Your body language & facial expressions are on Q with your very creative & unique style of delivering wonderful stories...Very Articulate...Artist, Old Naples Florida🌴♥🎨

[@lawrencesommers8779]

Back in the mid 1980's, I would visit the Art Institute, in a very ego-flattened state of consciousness. One warm, Spring afternoon, I let myself wander through the galleries, experiencing some of my favorite works, when I was suddenly awestruck. Seeing the look of what, seemed to me, to be the same expression of incredulous, disbelief, on the face of the young woman in this painting. I realized we both were transfixed, by unearthly, natural, beauty,. I gazed for a century, spellbound. In actuality, it was closer to five minutes. I was snatched back to Chicago, by a calm, male voice, of an amused docent, who proceeded to explain the subject, and the artist responsible for this inspiring work , entitled " Song of the lark " . " Yes it is! " , I whole heartedly agreed, as he and I shared the humor of my remark, from two, seperate, and distant, points of view. It's been a special memory, of the powerful impact exceptional artwork conveys, every time. Thank you for this chance to relive, and share this bit of art history, and time travel. 🕉

[@arthistorystorytime]

Thanks for sharing that! 😁

[@TheCousinEddie]

Thank you for creating another wonderful video and sharing it with your audience. My impression of this painting has been that this young girl is just about to start her day working in the fields, just like so many days before this one. She's grabbed her tool and taken up her position and as she's waiting for the others to join her she notices the larks nearby. They playfully sing and flutter about with not a care in the world and for a brief moment she has joined them. Seconds later the spell is broken as a team of horses comes into view, fellow workers fall into place beside her and the day of labor begins.

[@arthistorystorytime]

“She joins them” is such a great way to put it. For a moment, she's as free as them. Thank you once again for your insightful comments.

[@johnupperton3211]

Thanks for the Bill Murray story. I hadn't heard that. The painting reminds me of Millet's "The Angelus", although the colours seem warmer in Breton's work, maybe just due to the dawn setting. Hard to know as I have only seen washed out looking prints of The Angelus.

[@cedarraine7829]

Great presentation ❤

[@jameschristensen1055]

The lark itself does seem to feature in the painting, although its presence is masked somewhat by the addition of other birds at top right. These latter, more distant birds could easily be gulls, but the lone bird at top left is something different; it has the outline of a songbird and it appears to flutter - just as does a Skylark during its characteristic aerial song. The young woman appears to be clutching her sickle rather tightly, and there must be a reason for this premature expenditure of energy; in fact, it suggests that she is somehow energized. Her face bears an expression suggesting astonishment, as though she is undergoing a sort of epiphany (perhaps a bit strangely, it reminds me of Zampanò's expression on first 'noticing' the night sky in the final scene of La Strada). She has heard the song of the lark innumerable times, but, for some reason, on this particular morning it has exerted a sort of revelatory power upon her. We can't know why. There, that's my stab at it. :-D Thank you for this highly engaging video.

[@arthistorystorytime]

Very well said! Thank you

[@TheColorofLight]

Awesome, thank you.

[@sethwade1430]

Excellent video. I'm not an art scholar in the slightest, but what draws me in is wondering if this girl with the serrated grass hook and blank expression is contemplating doing something extreme. It makes sense to me, but if that's even a remotely common interpretation, you'd have likely mentioned it. Good content.

[@EdWilliams-p1d]

Nice to know about the Bill Murray story. Also the sickle holding hand in the painting does indeed give the girl a royal aura.

[@PsychiCorey]

I like ur individual geography🙃

[@Philippe_E]

Early mornings.

[@user-qh4uv5dz7i]

Monet’s Haystacks are missing this Humanity. Otherwise, a similar tone. Suddenly, the girl in the painting matters to me.

[@arthistorystorytime]

maybe Monet’s haystacks hadn’t been so captivated by their environment lol

[@user-qh4uv5dz7i]

So true! Claude probably only painted them when they were sleeping. ha ha.

[@garyrobinson8665]

Beautiful stuff. Have you looked into Danish art from the late 19th century at all? I highly recommend you check out the work of Peder Kroyer, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Carl Holsøe and Peter Ilsted. They are my favourite artists.

[@arthistorystorytime]

Not yet but I like what I see! Thank you for letting me know

[@randstrickfaden4148]

If you’re not an art history teacher in a formal educational institution, you should be! Also, I wonder, do you write poetry? If not, I think you should take a crack at it, cause I sense you have it in you to write superb poems.

[@arthistorystorytime]

@@randstrickfaden4148 I do write some poetry, the only one I’ve ever shared is on my channel called “Portals”. And thank you!