Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930, oil on beaver board, 30.7" x 25.7", The Art Institute of Chicago, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Everyone knows this painting. Grant Wood, one of the leading painters from the Regionalist movement that presented the American way of life in their art, created this somewhat cynical portrait using a realistic style of painting. The image represents a … Continue reading
Paul Gauguin, The Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manao Tupapau), 1892, oil on canvas, 28½” x 36½”, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Paul Gauguin’s brightly colored paintings of the tropics represent a paradise that dis not necessarily exist. A leader of the Synthetist movement in painting in which artists used colors freely to express their personal feelings about a subject, Gauguin represented … Continue reading
Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak, 1863, oil on canvas, 73.5" x 120.7", The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Albert Bierstadt, perhaps the most successful of the Hudson River School artists, painted very large canvases with majestic scenes of the American West that were hugely popular in New York and London. James McHenry, an American railway entrepreneur living in … Continue reading
Mark Rothko, No. 46 (Black, Ochre, Red Over Red), 1957, oil on canvas, 8’ 3¼” x 6’ 9¾”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Photo by rocor Flickr.
Very few works of art grab viewers on a gut level the way Mark Rothko’s paintings do. There isn’t anything quite like the experience of standing in front of a Rothko painting and feeling just what the artist intended you … Continue reading
Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, c. 1485, tempera on panel, 5'9
Believe it or not, there are different kinds of Venuses. Figures from ancient mythology often have different aspects or characteristics that artists emphasize in art. The Roman goddess Venus, who is also known as Aphrodite in Greek Mythology, represents different … Continue reading
Kehinde Wiley, Le Roi a la chasse, 2006, oil on canvas, 8’ x 6’, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Photo by زرشک, Creative Commons Attribution License via Wikimedia Commons.
During the Baroque era, artists painted religious and political heroes in a style that was intended to impress upon the viewer the supremacy of the subjects and the divine blessings bestowed upon them. This Old Master style is perfectly suited … Continue reading
Qi Baishi, Cicada, c. 1950
The Chinese artist, Qi Baishi (1864-1957), created the most expensive painting sold in the world last year. His Eagle Standing on a Pine Tree with Four-character Couplet in Seal Script, which he painted in 1946, sold for $65 million. The … Continue reading
Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist painting (with black trapezium and red square), 1915, oil on canvas, 40” x 24½”, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Ironically, the paintings that Kazimir Malevich intended to be easily understood are perplexing to many people. He painted crisp, geometric shapes on white fields in his fully developed suprematist paintings. Malevich’s paintings are intended simply to convey the dynamic relationship … Continue reading
Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Creation of Adam, 1508-1512, detail of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, The Vatican, Rome, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
This is on the short list of the most famous images in the world. It is a fresco painting, which means that it actually is part of the ceiling itself in the Sistine Chapel. These are only two of more … Continue reading
Jan van Eyck, Arnolfini Double Portrait, 1434, oil on panel, 32.4” x 23.6”, National Gallery, London, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
This is one of those works of art that represents an era, yet it is totally unique. Double portraits were quite rare in the fifteenth century, and so art historians have had a difficult time interpreting this one by Jan … Continue reading
Vincent van Gogh, The Night Café, September 1888, oil on canvas, 28½” x 36⅓”, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
You are privy to the point of view of a very sick man. The Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh suffered terribly from many diseases including syphilis, epilepsy, and alcoholism. He also was tremendously anxious and depressed, which is why he … Continue reading
© 2011 Sally Whitman Coleman, PhD. All rights reserved.
Primitivism (noun) The use of non-western art styles, such as African Art, in an effort to be progressive and new. Western artists believed that non-western art conveyed fundamental truths. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, a German Expressionist, was drawn to primitivism for … Continue reading