Post a picture of your favorite work of art and tell us why it is

I love this picture from Pablo Picasso "Guernica". The history of this picture is it was done sometime during the Spanish Civil war when there was serious fighting around the Basque Village of Guernica. It was Picasso's statement of the horrors of war and if you do some internet searching on "Guernica Hidden Message" you can find out some of the interesting symbolism found in this great work of art.

Trivia: There is a replica of this picture hanging at the UN in NYC. When Powell spoke to the UN about why we should invade Iraq, there was a drape covering this piece of art.

My second picture would be Dali's anti-war statement: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans: Premonition of Civil War
Again this was done during the Spanish Civil war and Dali was symbolizing a country tearing itself apart. BTW, this picture is permamently found at the Philadelphia Museum of Art!!

These two are sister works IMHO.

Mine is this: "Las Meninas" ("The Maids of Honor"), by Diego Velazquez. As you can see, the painting has several visual levels, one of which is unseen(more on that soon), starting with the dog and the jester, back to the little blonde princess and her three maids of honor, to Velazquez's self-portrait while painting, to the priest and nun in the half-shadow, to the back wall and the courtier at the door. When you see this painting live (At the Prado in Madrid; you'll HAVE to go there. This is a serious national treasure and NEVER travels), the unseen level is revealed. Look at the back wall. Do you see what seems like a double portrait hanging on the wall? It's actually a mirror. What you see are the King and Queen of Spain, posing for the painting that Velazquez is painting at that moment and being interrupted by their little girl. When you see the painting, you are standing where they were and Velazquez seems to be looking at you, with the devouring gaze painters have. Mind-blowing. BTW, Velazquez painted for kings and popes, but THIS painting he painted for himself and he kept it in his house until he died. Second, probably "Madame X" by Sargent

He's on exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Major exhibition) and I'm going to see if they're selling framed copies there.

He broke many rules that were the standard for portrait painting of that era. One was putting himself in the painting. Another was the portrayal of a little person (on the right), something which painters never portrayed in those days (remembers, works of art were idealistic). Not to mention that no one in the painting is striking a proper pose. I think it's a great piece for those reasons.

got this from a thumnail . I don't know how it will copy

Great place to visit! A walled city with many winding roads inside. Thanks for posting this.

by Gustave Caillebotte. Not sure why this is my fav......I just like it. It is located at the Art Institute in Chicago. And it's freakin' huge.... :)

<poe>

The Art Institute is simply amazing.

One of the best impressionist collections in the world is at the Art Institute of Chicago, along with much else. I was not an art major, but architecture. However I must have had 15-20 hours in art history. I went to U of I, Chicago and a typical art history assignment would be writing a paper comparing Monet to Manet, while sitting 6 ft. away studying them. I also was lucky enough to spend a year of college in europe and the only two places that impressed me more than the Art Institute were the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam and Vigeland Park in Oslo.

Many were comparable such as the Louvre and the Prado... Actually it's very hard to compare or rank. The Sistine Chapel is so historic and monumental, Florence, Tate, etc, etc...

Fav painting wise is Vincent, not sure which. Prolly one of his self portraits, so much emotion seen in the brushwork when seen in person, some of it protrudes a half inch, I swear. Most stunning was Vigeland Park in Oslo. We rolled in about midnight in June, it was a dim dusk, (never gets all the way night there in June,) it was foggy, we were tired, we parked the car and had no idea where we were and started walking through this park (never had heard of it before) and saw stuff like this:















Absoutely Surreal...

First of all - that is cool as hell having the Art Institute as a backdrop for learning. What a wonderful classroom - art wise and structurally for architecture. I work for an architectural firm and I'm always amazed at the art that goes into really great buildings...

Second - sorry about your Fighting Illini. My ex-boyfriend went to U of I. I'm sure he's devastated right now. :)

I took pictures w/o flash and they turned out great! I loved that museum.

My pictures didn't turn out quite as well.

:)

/because I think it's really cool :shrug:

:D

Amazing symbolism that there are people behind the bullets.

Here's some info on it:

http://www.hrgiger.com/newborn.htm

I just like the (somehow) uniquely American sense of isolation.



And I'll throw this one in for the same reason; isolation (even when with someone).

a coupla months ago. Kids, Grandmas, EVERYBODY was there. No reproduction does it justice...

about 23 - 24 years age. Quite impressive. No picture ever does a painting justice.

All those shadows and empty spaces.

I can look at this true work of art and just gaze, transfixed.

And...it was the inspiration for one of my very favorite Sondheim musicals. :-)

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/eurptg/28pc_seurat.html

This Magritte is at Houston's Menil--a gem of a small museum with a collection beginning with a bit of bone carved by a Cro-Magnon. The Surrealist collection is especially strong.

www.menil.org

You can't quite make out the brush work here but if you saw a larger reproduction you could. I just love his paintings. I love the loose, easy brush work and I especially love how he captures the expression on this woman's face.

Van Gogh
There is something so deeply disquieting and turbulent about this painting.


Chagall - Birthday
I love how love is represented here. And I'm all about birthdays! :P

I did a research paper on Chagall for my Twentieth Century art class about 10 years ago. He and his wife Bella were so deperately in love and happy. It was so sad when she died. Very sudden sort of bacterial infection once they'd escaped from Europe and settled in the U.S. during the war.

I love the way Chagall's works run the gamut from giddy love and happiness to sad, melancholy works filled with Wandering Jews and old people.

FSC

my mom has several prints of his in the house. So colorful and compelling.

He subsequently shot himself in that wheatfield and died a few days later.

Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas ~ spent many hours here during art study...found it very easy to become absorbed in this very large canvas. I had the chance to see it again last summer and found that it still moves me to tears.

It's a ten-painting cycle based on Homer's Iliad that takes up all of gallery 185 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and I can spend an hour in that room. Actually, every time I visit Philly, I DO spend about an hour in that room.

Here's a pic of a bored security guard in that room:


And here's the whole thing, sort of:
http://www.museumpeace.com/12/1142.htm

It's interesting, not my cup of tea but interesting none-the less.

I usually spend most of my time in front of the Van Gogh Sunflowers



Or I'm in front of the Dali that I mentioned above!

at the Carnegie International recently, a security guard who looked bored but had had a lot of time to analyze the art gave me a wonderful rundown on a roomful of amazing abstracts with very small drawn details. She really had looked at and thought about the paintings and actually her analysis was quite sophisticated. Enough to give those who only had a short time to spend a very good rundown. It was the coolest experience I had that day. Wish I could remember the artist's name.

Those were FUCKING AWESOME! A lot of this year's International was great, but her stuff was a standout.

thanks. That was my favorite from this International. And the details were amazing. So intricate and ethereal, sort of. But the guard gave me a view of them I might have missed otherwise.

the Cuban political posters were also quite good.

I went to the CI with the political cartoonist I use at the paper I work for, and he was just DYING over that roomful of Fernando Bryce flyers. I half expect him to drop the Art Young jag he's been on and start handing in Latin-influenced work any time now.

Love his stuff!

And here's a piece by a contemporary artist who has been compared to Twombly. The artist is Cole Morgan, an American who lives and works in Antwerp:



Side Cuts
Cole Morgan
40" x 40"
Mixed media on canvas

More Cole Morgan:
http://www.gailseverngallery.com/artists_details.cfm?ID...

http://www.kashyahildebrand.org/geneva/morgan/morgan003...

Click here to go back to the main forums.

I love this picture (I saw it in person at a Picasso-Matisse exhibit at Museum of Modern Art in NYC a few years ago) because it reminds me of my little nephew praticing his piano lessons. very simple reason.

but, as a kid, i was fascinated by this:


and this:
http://emp.byui.edu/DavisR/HumPix/Bosch,%20Gardin%20of%20Delights.JPG

I always thought this one was whimsical. I love his stylings

Also, one of my favorite modern artists is Alex Grey:

To me, it's the essence of the mystery of life.

I tried to explain to my little grandson that I didn't know the answers, even though I am an old lady!






Another detail at:
http://www.vincent.nl/?/gallery/paintings/0400/a489.htm

I spent hours looking at the orginal at the MFA in Boston when I was a student at Mass College of Art...

For no reason, here's another Gaugin entitled "Nevermore"

but it's easier to see with the one below your sig.

I have many favorites, but this one made me spontaneously, cathartically, viscerally and completely unexpectedly burst into tears the first time I stood in front of it (it doesn't have the same effect reprinted on page or screen). No other painting has ever had that effect on me; it's the most overwhelmingly sad and despairing thing I've ever looked upon.

Van Gogh's Wheatfield With Crows:



Here's a nice bit of info on the painting:

Probable Vincent's last painting before he took his own life, indeed the painting is symbolic of death. You can see the blood red path coming to an end, it was in a wheat field the Vincent shot himself, he takes 2 days to die. Vincent's brother Theo, died six month later, they are buried side by side.

on a sunny day like today

I love late-period Mondrians. They are constructed with such precision and care. I can spend half an hour looking at one, trying to figure out the visual rhythm and the pattern. I find them very, very soothing. In person, they're really much more interesting than on a print; they are so obviously constructed artifacts, and you're completely face-to-face with the essence of the thing. There's nothing else there but that, you know?

in wool cloth. It has off-white and vibrant colored patches with black stripes and patches, etc. and I picked it up at Value Village (thrift store) for $10.00.

When I get compliments on it, I always ask, "What does this remind you of?"

If the person answers, "Piet Mondrian" or even "Broadway Boogie Woogie" -- I know that I'm dealing with someone fairly well versed in Modern Art!

"Liver Is the Cock's Comb."



I love the absolutely dynamic use of color and movement in this. The first time I ever saw it, in a dark room, on a slide projector, I was plastered against the seat, saying, "Wooooooah!"

FSC

"Pastoral Symphony" or "The Allegory of Sound" by Titian/Giorgioni

This is today's favorite because Kansas voted to amend their constitution not to allow gay marriage (but that's a different thread). Anyway, I've decided that this 497 year old gaze between 2 men deserved mention on DU today. I'm posting it for purely selfish reasons.

(Millet's "The Gleaners" is running a close second - today.) :hi:

-- the things they DON'T teach you in ART HISTORY class!

Peace, 94114 S.F. --

:thumbsup:

Good choice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Because I am, first and foremost (believe it or not), a very warm, nurturing mommy-person who loves not only my munchkins, but all munchkins. I tend to like impressionist stuff too and Cassatt, was a woman (an American woman no less), in a male-dominated genre who very much made her mark. :thumbsup:

(which is always an amazing experience)

If you haven't seen any of these paintings in person...get thee to an art museum...

I'm using them on my desktop for spring. Thanks, DU people.

It quickly became my focal point, and I love it to this day. :hi:

:hi:

I was accidentally kicked off the board about two hours ago, but have been looking around and got your message.

Sometimes the "interlacing" of messages gets pretty confusing.

Thanks again....

What a neat memory. :)

There is so much to love about it...



The many uses of symbolism (candle, fruits,St. Margaret)

The use of the mirror in the background to reflect the image. And the fact that it is a legal record of the marriage. I just love it.

I love the first for its bright, brilliant realism and faithfulness of color. I'm also a sucker for seaside and seascapes. I found Pujol's work at a gallery in Alexandria, VA several years ago and just fell in love with his work.

The second I keep finding new things in at each viewing, but I first encountered it as a child -- it was a jigsaw puzzle. :) I can't say I'm a fan of everything Dali, but quite a few of his works are faves; this one has preeminence.


Ramon Pujol's Cadaques on the Boardwalk


Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory

I've never seen anything by Ramon Pujol -- fantastic! Thanks mucho!

:)

There is a big Dali retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Highly recommended if you can get tickets) but oddly enough that picture was not part of it.

But then again it's in NYC and I've seen it there

It just sucks you into it. Saw it at the MoMA some years ago and was mesmerized.

There is something about Leger. I love many of the Impressionists ( oops I guess he's technically a Cubist), but there is a quality he has that I really like and can't explain.

Nudes On A Red Background.

I'm a Californian and I like red shirts...what can I say?
Oh, here's another red shirt painting, Miners in the Sierra, by Nahl, that I like even better but he shares credit for the work with August Wenderoth.

There are too many great works to call any a favorite, but this work by Diego Rivera has haunted me for years. Perhaps it's the irony, perhaps it's my portrait. Wonderful thread.

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"The Flower Carrier", San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

We had it on our wall in the first home I remember around age 7 - 14. I don't know what happened to that picture, now that I think of it. My father also copied some Van Gogh paintings that I do have.

I posted below before I saw your's. But I love that painting too.

I first saw it at the Guggenheim in Spain, and then again at the Guggenheim exhibit in Las Vegas---an unexpected bit of luck on a trip that was otherwise unlucky!

I love it because it's happy, lively, colorful, and just makes me smile. The original is HUGE, and this doesn't do it justice. It probably seems like a silly picture to some, but maybe that's part of its appeal. :)

Here's a link: (Hope this works --)

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10021063/L_Oiseau_au_Plumage_Deploye.htm?sOrig=CRT&sOrigId=131&ui=DF0F5A2AC5894388AE0C7E7137939A8E#

http://www.sgnhs.org/Augustus%20SGaudens%20CD-HTML/Monuments/Funerary/AdamsMemorial.htm

In Rock Creek cemetery in D.C. If you have ever been there, the sculpture is truly haunting. It has different moods depending on time of day, sunlight, and season. The Adams Memorial was created in memory of Henry Adam's wife who committed suicide.

This one is called "Saint Martin of Tours and the Beggar" and is by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. The knight, St. Martin, was supposed to be a sort of embodiment of charity, and here he's cutting his cloak in half to clothe a beggar, who turned out to be Jesus. (A very liberal painting, I think!)

This is my other favorite:


Edward Hopper's "Rooms by the Sea." I like the way he uses light and the isolation of the room and its spatial divisions.

I am lucky enough to go to a school with a first-rate art collection, so I've seen these and many others in person. It's really extraordinary.

Great thread!

Beautiful coloring

:kick:

My favorite artist is my son. This was a drawing he did for a Christmas present for his wife..

Times Square BEFORE the TKTS space was erected. Maybe the 1930's or 1940's. Did he do this from his own research, an old photograph, what???

I LOVE THIS DRAWING! You and your son should be proud.

leaving it right here for now:

This little pic does not do it justice. If you ever get to the Art Institute in Chicago, make sure to stop by and see this painting. I love the color. And the activity. This painting tells a story.

Nothing impressive, just one of my favorites.

http://www.imageshack.us>

I'm new here, opinionated, honest, kinda weird and trying to fit in.
please be kind.

posted this in the wrong discussion, scuse me

I must be making a great impression around here.

I find it to be a very serene scene. This print doesn't do it justice. You need to see the painting.

Excursion into Philosophy, 1959




New York Movie, 1939



Hopper is far and away my favorite painter; the best of his haunting, melancholy, existential paintings are beautiful to look and always tells a story open to a few different interpretations.

It has a lot of things I like, I mean there's dogs, poker, beer, comaraderie, what more could you ask for? :)

his Sistine Chapel is just great. Just read a book about that.

And I love his David.



Can't really put my finger on why, I just think it is amazing what he could do with a block of marmor. You can see all those muscles and emotions on the face. And David has a cute butt :)

It depends on what mood I'm already in, but right now it makes me sad. But sometimes I see hectic in it, and sometimes it's just there.

I love Pollock.

and this one

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/surrealism_desire_unbound/5.r.htm

The Rape, 1934
René Magritte (Belgian, 1898–1967)
Oil on canvas; 28 7/8 x 21 1/2 in. (73.3 x 54.6 cm)

I remember the first time I saw it, and I just stood there thinking about it forever.

His genius of light, shadow and color

His mastery of human anatomy

The beautiful balance of flourishes and realities

And I have this one in my bedroom. I found a reproduction of it in a beatup frame at a local antique store



I feel like she's always looking ahead to the future in hopes of what she could have. Sometimes I pine away too much for the future, maybe I need to work harder today!

:applause: Great minds and taste...:applause:

You should definately get tickets. The show has been selling out big time and I'm not sure if there are many tickets left!

:pals: :yourock: :popcorn:

he covers so much turf... realist, impressionist, surrealist, social commentary, color, humor, astonishing! Thanks.

I hope he contiues to get more of his due.

I saw a collection of his works at MOMA San Francisco, and I fell in love with his work. I bought a very large poster of The Flower Carrier as I left the museum, and spent quite a few bucks having it nicely framed.

Why do I like the painting? I'm not really sure. I like the way he paints - simplistic, smooth - He seems to be fascinated with floral themes - I like the Latin look of the woman and man in the painting - how the artist captured the effort of the work. It just really touched me, and became my favorite.

http://www.artsmia.org/collection/search/art.cfm?id=1270#


this is a triptych by max beckmann, on display at the minneapolis institute of arts.

toneys sister elizabeth abeyta does some wonderful claywork!

(I'm going to have to think a while for mine):

It's called "La Belle Romaine" and it's by Modigliani. It's framed on the wall behind our bed. He fell in love with it when we saw a Modigliani exhibit at the Kimball, said she reminds him of me (Hey! She has huge thighs!!)

Anyway, she is beautiful.

It's a Hibel. My husband bought this print and had it framed for my first Mother's Day. Our daughter used to have red hair when she was very young and I have dark hair.

this goes back probably 20 years,

I was visiting New York, went to MOMA on a weekday, back when "Guernica" was still there, and stood in front of it for quite awhile, in admiration. Just me and the museum guard watching me.

Then, this woman strolls in, and says with the loudest, thickest New York accent possible:

"They cawl this AHHHTT???? They cawl this AHHHTTT???? My two-yeah old nephew could do bettah than this!!!"

The guard and I broke up laughing, and she stormed out.