December 30, 2015

Happy New Year! with Indian Gardens of Delight




This year, for my New Year's greetings to my blog friends, I thought of the beauty and delight in the details of nature in Indian miniature painting. Last year I shared sweets, the year before the quilts of Gee's Bend.




It's such a pleasure to sink into these worlds of sensitively stylized flora and fauna. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's online collection and selected details from its holdings of Indian paintings (you can browse over 500 of them here) . There are trees that look close to naturalistic, and animals that are fanciful creations.
(To see the details clearly, click to enlarge the images.)




A courtyard garden blooms....




....and flowers burst from trees.




Fanciful carts are entwined with flowers.




The sun rises on peace....




....and animals live gently in the landscape.




Even the architecture is full of life and charming detail, whether flowers are bursting in the night sky, like fireworks....




....or a layered tree embraces a pink wall. The Indian painters were masters of color, and the relationships of pinks to yellows to blues to greens are delicious.




May you have a year full of beauty, and may all dangers and difficulties be overcome with grace.

6 comments:

  1. Yes, it is that time of year, despite the warm weather, that we delight in all this color and begin to look forward to the spring time. Happy New Year.

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    Replies
    1. May you have a year full of beauty, and may all dangers and difficulties be overcome with grace.

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  2. Exquisite work!
    Happy new year!

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  3. Have a Marvelous new Year Altoon.

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  4. May your New Year be as lush and fanciful as these images (but with better roles for women)!

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