Many works of Mahmoud Javadipour, including the present work, can be examined in the light of Classicism and early Modernism. Using a simple structure and warm colors, Javadipour is re-creating a seascape and the sunset in this work. Seascapes have always been a subject of attention for romantic artists throughout history. Some Iranian masters of classic art, especially Armenian painters, have time and again experimented with Romanticism. Inspired by European artists as well as the great Russian painter, Ivan Aivazovsky, Iranian painters have experimented with seascapes and coastal scenes. While being among early Iranian modernists, Mahmoud Javadipour is also adhering to the achievements of classic painting.
His choice of color as well as distribution of close hues is rendering his work a profound and occasionally mysterious tranquility. Besides, the peaceful sea, the setting sun, and reflection of the pale yellow color enhance the tranquility of the scene. This serenity is perhaps connected to the artist’s perspective of the social conditions of the country at the time (1979) he created the work. Hence, various metaphoric interpretations can be made of the work. At a time when Iran was going through fundamental political and social upheavals, Persian art and literature gradually started to accommodate new doctrines, sometimes even representing certain ideologies. Yet far from any political orientation and ideological leaning, Mahmoud Javadipour is inviting his audience to quietly contemplate in nature, the sea, and the sunset in this work; a quiet period that was followed by a storm, a storm that only one year after the creation of the work, exerted a huge impact on Iran for eight years.
