Soap Bubbles by Jean Baptiste Chardin
ABOUT THIS COLLECTION
The soap bubble has always been associated with the fragility and transience of life—a paper-thin, iridescent sphere that lasts ever so briefly before bursting. That’s one of the themes in this collection. When the soap bubble became popular in art, most prominently in 17th-century Dutch paintings and prints, it was primarily to convey this “all is vanity” idea. But no amount of bleak symbolism can keep a soap bubble from lifting our spirits. It has always brought delight to children and to the inner child in all of us, a side that is also found in these examples.
COLLECTION DETAILS
- Series title: Visualizing Bubbles
- Series size: 07 artworks
- Edition: Limited edition of 1000
- Proof of Ownership: Certification on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC1155 protocol. Each artwork is delivered privately and directly to collectors as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that guarrante proof of ownership.
- Format: Pieces consist of PNG files sized 2160x3840 pixels - 150 dpi.
- Medium: Oil on canvas, painting, chromolithography,
- Artwork materials: Canvas
- Contract Address: 0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e
- ID: 2749212597480566...
ABOUT THE ARTIST
The artists selected here often put blowing soap bubbles in the hands of children, not only as a childish play but as a metaphorical expression of the passing innocence of childhood. That’s the melancholy feeling in Thomas Couture’s “Soap Bubbles,” (ca. 1859), as a boy sitting alone in his room dreamily watches a bubble floating away. In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton described the surfaces of bubbles in great detail. As seen here in “Newton's Discovery of the Refraction of Light,” (1827) by Pelagio Palagi, Newton is depicted at the moment he discovers the phenomenon of light refraction as he observes a child blowing bubbles. The sense of play and wonder of the soap bubble is seen in Jean-Siméon Chardin’s “Soap Bubbles” (ca. 1734), which captures at a window as he blows a soap bubble with his friend watching raptly. And Édouard Manet’s 1867 painting of the same title also depicts the soap bubble as a pastime in his portrait of a white-jacketed boy blowing bubbles by himself.
COLLECTION CREDITS
- Historical curatorship: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
- Artwork: Karel Dujardin, Charles Amédée Philippe Van Loo, J.E. Millais, Thomas Couture, Edouard Manet, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, David Baily
- Year of original publication: 1651 - 1886
- Post-production: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
- Digital art supervisor: Marie-Lou Desmeules
- Editorial: Braden Phillips
- Historical research: Evangelos Rosios, Braden Phillips
- Executive production: Victor Zabrockis
RIGHTS OVERVIEW
- Source of artwork: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Commons Wikimedia
- Underlying work rights: PD Worldwide
- Digital copyrights: No Additional Rights