Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring One of His Children, 1819 and 1823, plaster mounted on canvas, 57.5” x 32.7”, Prado Museum, Madrid, Francisco Goya [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
In one of the most terrifying images from the history of art, Spanish artist Francisco Goya rendered the titan Saturn devouring yet another one of his sons for fear the child will usurp him, as it was prophesized. (Saturn’s wife … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
What’s going on in this painting? The artist didn’t want it to be easy to figure out. An Italian Renaissance painter would have made the subject clear and provided easily identifiable figures in a clearly defined space. Jacopo Pontormo, a … Continue reading
Guo Xi , Early Spring, 1072, ink on silk, 62.3” × 42.6”, National Palace Museum, Taipei City, Taiwan, Photo in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Floating Perspective (noun) Floating Perspective is the name for the type of perspective sometimes used in Chinese art where there is not a single view of a subject but rather several shown at the same time, shifting from near to … Continue reading
Edward Hopper, Gas, 1940, oil on canvas, 26 1/4 x 40 1/4", Museum of Modern Art, New York, Photo by David Churbuck via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License.
“If you could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, At the Moulin Rouge, 1892/95, oil on canvas, 48 7/16” x 55 ½”, Art institute of Chicago, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, also known as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, was an aristocrat living the life of a bohemian artist in the lively Montmartre section of Paris in the late 19th century. When the Moulin Rouge, a cabaret, opened … Continue reading
Gerhard Richter, Christa and Wolfi, 1964, oil on canvas, 59 x 51 1/4 in., Art Institute of Chicago, Photo by Kent Baldner via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
“When I paint from a photograph, conscious thinking is eliminated. I don’t know what I am doing. My work is far closer to the Informel than to any kind of ‘realism’. The photograph has an abstraction of its own, which … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
The French artist Robert Delaunay celebrated modern life in this bright and colorful aerial view of the Eiffel Tower, an icon of the industrial world that was constructed in 1889 of wrought iron for the Paris International Exposition. The aerial … Continue reading
René Magritte, The Treachery of Images (This is Not a Pipe), 1929, Oil on canvas, 23 3/4 x 31 15/16 in., LACMA, California, Photo by profzucker via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.
Belgian artist René Magritte created this Surrealist masterpiece that presents a realistic image of a pipe and written in French below, the words, “This is not a pipe.” With this humorous inscription, Magritte stated something that is true but nevertheless … Continue reading
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Did you ever wonder what the story is behind this seemingly ubiquitous image of the Virgin Mary? We’re so used to seeing this popular image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on all kinds of paraphernalia from Votive candles to purses … Continue reading
Edgar Degas, Concert Singer with Glove, c. 1878, pastel on canvas, 34 3/16 x 29 7/16 x 3 3/4 in., Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, Photo in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Edgar Degas French Impressionist Born July 19, 1834 in Paris, France to Célestine Musson De Gas, a Creole from New Orleans, and Augustin De Gas, a banker.
© 2013 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
“I think we were all more interested in being honest than in being modern.” Gabriele Münter, about the members of The Blue Rider
Grant Wood, Daughters of Revolution, 1932, oil on Masonite, 20” x 39.9”, Cincinati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Photo by Wmpearl, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Grant Wood clearly did not like the ladies he painted in his Daughters of Revolution, a satirical portrait of representatives of the Daughters the American Revolution (DAR) service organization for women who are descended from someone associated with the American … Continue reading