Paintings by Real Artists Shown in the Blue Period

 

Blue Period, a seinen manga written by Tsubasa Yamaguchi tells about Yatora Yaguchi’s coming of age story, which delves into his sudden passion for art.

 

The manga explores complex topics such as creative struggles and constant pressure from life after high school. In the manga, Yatora goes through struggles that we also go through – including burnout and existential crisis where sometimes expressing his emotions through art proves to be difficult at times, even when you love it.

 

Not only that, the manga demonstrates several art techniques from oil painting to charcoal drawings that the characters are doing for their university project or themselves.

 

Being a series based and inspired by art, Blue Period features several real pieces from known artists throughout history. Here are some art pieces are shown in Blue Period!

 

1. Le Désespéré (Desperation or The Desperate Man) by Gustave Courbet

I’m deeply in love with Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi rn. And I was not expecting to be completely blindsided in the middle of volume 2 by a lesson on composition that opened my third eye, but also introduced me to my new favorite painting (Gustave Courbet’s desperate man) pic.twitter.com/7EEon7xKwp

— Kat is ready to hibernate now (@runbyhugging) May 30, 2021

 

In volume 2 of Blue Period, The Desperate Man by Gustave Courbet was used as one example of teaching about composition. The painting itself leaves a very strong impression on viewers, with Gustave Courbet’s fierce expression.

 

2. Field of Poppies, 1907 by Gustav Klimt

Yatora was instructed to make a replica from this piece, where the poppy-filled landscape that’s tightly packed gave a powerful effect to Yatora, with the polarizing effect of the contrasting colors of red and green making your eyes gravitate towards the piece unconsciously.

 

3. The Dance Class by Edgar Degas

The Dance Class is one of the art pieces that grabbed Yatora’s attention during his museum trip with Yotasuke and Hashida. The naturalness of the scene is what makes the painting so eye-catching, with the candidness and how unaware the subjects are. With neutral tones and soft colors, the composition leaves a great and easy impression on us.