The Green Chateau, painted by Howard Hodgkin between 1976 and 1980, is an oil on wood painting that measures 38? x 48? in (98 x 123 cm). This painting was sold at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London in October 2017, indicating its value as a significant piece. Hodgkin’s choice of using a wooden panel support was significant to his technique development; thus, it stands out from other painterly works. A lithograph version of the painting named Green Chateau I was also produced similarly by Hodgkin in 1978. Its provenance with M. Knoedler & Co., New York, and a private collection in Chicago underlines its historical significance.
Hodgkin’s The Green Chateau exemplifies his unique style involving the embrace of emotions rather than representation through realism or symbolism rather than depiction. It has been interpreted as an emotional tangle between hope and sadness through its bold colors with different textures throughout the canvas surface. The intense brushwork along with varied hues suggests the complexity and depth of human feeling that this artwork portrays.
In conclusion, The Green Chateau by Howard Hodgkin is known for its brilliant color scheme and unique use of wooden panel support technique throughout art history. Considered as an epitome of Expressive Abstractionism because of its emotional values over representation and realistic rendering techniques have made it classic among art enthusiasts worldwide who admire the integration between abstract shapes to highlight an intense sentiment portrayed on the canvas surface through strategic brushwork angles having clear texture differences all over them collectively representing complex emotional intricacies existent within us humans’ internal makeup explored poetically on this canvas by Hodgkin himself.
