Daydream Stage: An Analysis Of Balthus's Saint Andre Street

Balthus was considered as "the greatest artist in the 20 th century".His painting style is implicit and restrain,of which the form is simple and concise and the meaning is mysterious and obscure.The frame of his paintings is full of elegancy and peace,embodying the characteristics of the oriental painting style.He brought ordinary scene into his complicated and mysterious frame which endows paintings with a touch of drama,an unsearchable puzzle,and poetic aftertaste.Influenced by the orient,he maximised the advantages of "peace" and "simpleness".Despite of his high reputation in the world,he lived in solitude pondering alone.He was against the contemporary art and tendency keeping himself isolated with the world.He had been seeking in his whole life the essence of the art with intolerance."The Passage Of Commerce Saint-Andre" is one of the few paintings that Balthus had combine the characters and scenes into a complex.It was finished between 1952~1954 and is one of his magnum opus.Compared to his other paintings,this one contains more figures and more complicated narrative,which has obvious inclination towards Classicism.The atmosphere is gloomy and mysterious.Beside,the style is hazy and thick with mottled and reserved texture.The form is simple while contains the charm of the decorations.Moreover,the distribution among figures is delicated filled with the tension of dramas that the meaning of this painting is deep but obscure containing lots of uncertainties.Hence,this essay in the perspective described above,analyses thoroughly this work as an example,in terms of its compositions,forms,colors,textures,metaphors and so on in order to represent the main characteristics of Balthus's style.