Nude Descending a Staircase versus Mystery and Melancholy of the Assignment

Nude Descending a Staircase versus Mystery and Melancholy of the Street - Assignment Example The paper "Nude Descending a Staircase versus Mystery and Melancholy of the Street" focuses on the contrast of two paintings by Marcel Duchamp and Giorgio De Chirico. The painting has dark outlines, which serve as motion lines and provide limitations of the body contours. The motion lines in the painting are significant because they provide emphasis on the moving figure. The painting also has dotted lines of accented arcs. The lines are effective in showing motion because of the ease to detect from the painting that the movement rotated in an anticlockwise direction, which is from the upper left to the lower right corner. Similarly, Melancholy and Mystery of a Street painting focus on contours because of the great color use. The artist did the work with great preciseness to set a seemingly void atmosphere. The painting shows, at the bottom corner, a peaceful girl in the play mood with her bicycle rim and a stick, which balances her perfectly with the entire painting. In the painting, De Chirico uses lines and contours to portray elongated shadows, empty arcades, mannequins, and towers. He excels in his arrangements to create the images of emptiness, as well as forlornness. Consequently, the painting succeeds in conveying the mood and feeling of freedom and power in a paradoxical manner. The contours color and lines help to explain shows a distinction between shadows and the clear sunshine that suggests a clear sky. Consequently, the shadows and sunlight create an apparent mental illusion.