Brain leakings..

Diego Velazquez, The Forge of Vulcan 1630

Velazquez was influenced by naturalist style painters like Caravaggio, and the deep shadows in his paintings come from Caravaggio's chiaroscuro lighting. He mostly painted in genre subject matter with intense realism, as the Baroque period started to arise. 

Chardin, The Silver Tureen, 1728

A French painter during the Rococo period, Chardin had little in common with his contemporaries, he utilizes the same Chiaroscuro lighting with dramatic shadows, employs careful detail of mundane, often grotesque still life images. He played close attention to texture and realism. 

  

Chardin

Chardin also painted genre paintings of domestic interiors, each usually had an underlying tone of discipline for children, and followed mores of the period for obedience. His work is noted for an absorptive relationship of subject to viewer. The subject is often "absorbed" in their own world, and does not show concern or awareness of the viewer. This is seen in work by Jeff Wall as well.

Edouard Manet, Le dejeuner sur l'herbe, 1863

His use of black paint to outline subjects, and the flatness in paintings like Olympia emphasize the material of the medium, this is a characteristic of his work that describes it as early modern. His genre scenes reference Velazquez, and have often been compared to Jeff Wall's work, seemingly posed actors, interacting with the viewer.

Edward Hopper, 1909, Summer Interior

Hopper was an American Realist, and was greatly influenced by Manet. He was interested in subjects and their relationship with their environment. He painted scenes of urban life using either impressionist light pastel palette and later, a much darker and drab color, similar to film noir, emphasizing line, shadow, and themes of isolation and loneliness. 

Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper, A Woman in the Sun

His use of lighting is often compared to that of Gregory Crewdson, as is the moment of tension felt when  looking at his paintings.

Edward Hopper, Hotel Room, 1931

Again, Hopper's subjects are unconcerned with the viewer, they are involved only in their worlds.

 Edward Hopper, Gas, 1940

His landscape image glow with light from buildings and seep with desolation, and a sense of sadness.

Jeff Wall, Insomnia, 1994

Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer who utilizes carefully constructed sets and color choices to illustrate mood and narrative. His work is cinematic, and strange, he has had influence on Gregory Crewdson. He blends together elements of documentary style photography and the constructed reality of fantasy. He is influenced by Manet, Caravaggio, and Hopper. 

 

Jeff Wall, After Invisible Man, 1999-2000

Jeff Wall, Pictures for Women, 1979

This photograph is directly related to Edouard Manet's the Bar Maid, references the photograph itself by including the camera directly in the center, and plays with the element of viewing and seeing by incorporating the mirrors. The seams down the image are transparencies connecting, but help emphasize the artifice of the photograph. 

Now read my post on Crewdson again. 

(This is just a connection of influences, and a streamline of consciousness... and a reflection on my interest in the absorptive subject.)