Artist Critique

This piece of artwork was done by Kehinde Wiley in 2014.  It is titled "The Sisters Zenaide and Charlotte Bonaparte". For this painting he used oil on linen and it is 83 1/2 inches high, and 63 inches wide. This paintings main focus are the two sisters in the foreground. His style is to put people of color as his main focus of his paintings and then make beautifully intricate backgrounds.

Kehinde started with a simple peach background and painted beautiful flowers on top. The way he brings some of the flowers to the forefront of the painting is very visually pleasing. The flowers he used, I cannot identify, but they are more than likely native to Haiti, the place he went to do this painting . The design of the flowers as well as the little flecks of dust (perhaps pollen) around the painting makes one want to keep looking at it.. The bright background brings out the flowers and the two ladies nicely, their blue dress contrasts with the background in a great way . Overall this painting is very appealing because of the colors, repition, and style.

Through this piece the artist is trying to spread a sense of change. The original painting has the same title and is a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte's two nieces. Kehinde regularly places people of color in his paintings, in the place of whoever was there before. He traveled to Haiti and induulged in their culture in the making of this painting. He plucked these two ladies from a beauty pageant, and didn't pick them of whether they won or not but he picked them because he saw a beauty in them.

Kehinde  Wiley's  "The Sisters Zenaide Charlotte Bonaparte" piece is my favorite piece by him. I don't usually look at paintings but this piece is really inspiring to me. I like that he includes people of color in his art and showcases it to the world, he's trying to change the narrative of what is considered beautiful in art. I also love the fact that he visits different countries and immerses himself in the people in culture before picking his subjects to draw.  It shows that he cares about the societies that he visits.Overall, I'd say this piece has inspired me to look more at his art and his message.