Salvador Dalí, The Anthropomorphic Chest of Drawers, 1936, oil on wooden panel, 25.4 x 43.1 cm., Kunstsammlung Nordheim-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Photo by Jordan5k via Flickr,
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marqués de Dalí de Pubol, better known as Salvador Dalí, was born on May 11, 1904. The Spanish artist worked in variety of media, but is best known for his Surrealist paintings. Because … Continue reading
Andy Warhol, Self-Portrait, oil and silkscreen ink on canvas, 45 in. x 67 1/2 in. , Collection SFMOMA, Photo by Thomas Hawk via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 2.0 License
“An artist is somebody who produces things that people don’t need to have.” Andy Warhol
René Magritte, The Son of Man, 1964, oil on canvas, 45.67” x 35”, Private Collection, Photo by Williamo! via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 2.0 Generic License.
The Son of Man, a painting of a man in an overcoat and a bowler hat whose face is obscured by a floating green apple, actually is a self-portrait by Belgian Surrealist artist René Magritte. You can see part of his … Continue reading
Paul Gauguin, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), 1892, oil on canvas, 40” x 30”, Qatar Museums, Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Last week, artnews reported that Qatar purchased Paul Gauguin’s painting, Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), for a rumored $300 million in a private sale. This is the highest price ever paid for a work of art. Since its … Continue reading
Robert Frank, Rodeo, New York City, 1955, gelatin silver print, 13” x 9 1/16”, Image via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Sometimes an outsider’s perspective is keen. Born and raised in Switzerland, the photographer Robert Frank immigrated to the United States in 1947. Within 10 years, Frank’s initial optimism about the country soured as he roamed throughout the U.S. on a … Continue reading
Ellsworth Kelly, Dark Green Curve I, 1982, oil on canvas, 72 1/2 x 102 1/8 in., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Photo by rbasallote via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
There is no room for interpretation here: you are looking at a large, flat green shape created by Ellsworth Kelly. This work of art that boldly asserts its flatness is typical of Kelly’s Formalist art, which in many ways was … Continue reading
Antoni Gaudí, Detail of the Nativity Façade (east façade), 1894-1930, Church of the Holy Family, Barcelona, photo by Enfo via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Façade A façade is the face of a building. Often an architect embellishes a façade with a special architectural or ornamental treatment. The Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí created perhaps the world’s most elaborate Art Nouveau façade, the Nativity Façade, for … Continue reading
Emil Nolde, Mask Still Life III, 1911, oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 30 1/2 inches, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Kansas City, Photo by Breve Storia del Cinema via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
As an Expressionist artist, Emil Nolde, the German Danish painter and printmaker, attempted to convey subjective and emotional content in his paintings through intense subject matter, thick brushwork, and bold color. Nolde intended for this painting of masks and a shrunken … Continue reading
Fernand Léger, The Village, 1914, oil on canvas, 31 1/2 × 39 1/2 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection, Leonard A. Lauder Gift, 2013, Photo via The Metropolitan Museum of Art
At long last, Leonard A. Lauder’s essential collection of 81 Cubist paintings, collages, drawings, and sculptures is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you are anywhere near New York City between now and February 16th, 2015, you … Continue reading
Paul Strand, The White Fence, Port Kent, 1916, gelatin-silver print, 9 3/4
Paul Strand American Photographer Along with Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) made tremendous strides in establishing photography as a fine art. His modern-style photographs are noted for their sophisticated sense of composition, an absence of … Continue reading
Pablo Picasso, Mother and Child, 1921, oil on canvas, 56 1/4
“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” Pablo Picasso Happy Mother’s Day from The … Continue reading
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Self-portrait as a Soldier, 1915, oil on canvas, 27.25
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner German Expressionist Painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was born on May 6th, 1880 in Aschaffenburg, Germany. In 1905, Kirchner and three fellow architecture students founded the artists group Die Brücke (“The Bridge”) that promoted a modern, expressive style that could be “The … Continue reading