You’ve seen photos of them, you’ve seen them spoofed on the Web. Maybe you’ve even seen them in real life. But what do you know about them, really? What makes these five, some of the most important paintings of all time? A sketchy introduction.
Take notes Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa is a diva. Every year, nearly six million people drop in to visit the 15th century beauty, painted on a plain poplar panel. The Mona Lisa has been a faithful roomie to Napoleon, survived incorrect restoration procedures and over-cleaning (which is probably what left her without eyebrows) and was stolen in 1911 by an employee of the Louvre, Paris (he walked out with the painting tucked under his coat). Picasso was questioned in the proceedings. The painting was returned after almost two years. More recently a visitor threw a cup at the priceless painting. Is it because she’s not very pretty but we love her anyway? Is she really a man? Suit your fancy. It’s the Mona Lisa.
Les Nymphéas or Water Lilies series – Claude Monet
Monet is the rightful king of Impressionism. His 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise led to the rise of the Impressionist art movement, then a derogatory term, a rebellion taking shape. His Water Lilies, a series of nearly 250 paintings made over the last 30 years of his life, were executed at his home in Giverny, France. He worked in a controlled landscape – his own garden with a pond, water lilies and a bridge – for a near-perfect view but lost that very control on the canvas. Of all the Nymphéas, the crowning works are displayed at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. They are housed in oval rooms and are done on concave canvas panels, 6.5 feet in height and vary from 19.5 to 55 feet in length.
Les Nymphéas or Water Lilies series – Claude Monet
Monet is the rightful king of Impressionism. His 1872 painting Impression, Sunrise led to the rise of the Impressionist art movement, then a derogatory term, a rebellion taking shape. His Water Lilies, a series of nearly 250 paintings made over the last 30 years of his life, were executed at his home in Giverny, France. He worked in a controlled landscape – his own garden with a pond, water lilies and a bridge – for a near-perfect view but lost that very control on the canvas. Of all the Nymphéas, the crowning works are displayed at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. They are housed in oval rooms and are done on concave canvas panels, 6.5 feet in height and vary from 19.5 to 55 feet in length.
The Starry Night – Vincent van Gogh
Absinthe, the green fairy, was a friend of van Gogh, steering him through exaggerated visions. The bi-polar artist was nicknamed fou roux or mad redhead; in a bout of frenzy, he cut his ear and presented it to a girl named Rachel at a brothel. A few months later (a year before his death), in 1889, he painted The Starry Night while at an asylum in Saint-Remy, France. In the foreground, a cemetery and cypress trees symbolise his obsession with death. Fervent strokes represent the movement of wind and light. He sold but one painting in his lifetime. Today, they sell for obscene amounts. This one is on display at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon – Pablo Picasso
Picasso was 26 when he shocked his peers with private viewings of Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907. It portrays five nude female figures from a brothel in Barcelona. The faces are contorted and bold with primitive elements of African and Iberian masks, their bodies made of crass lines and squares. The almost life-size figures confront the viewer, shocking them and then making them a part of the painting. This was one of the first steps towards Cubism. It has been a fixture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, since 1939. The painting claimed its worth by driving Picasso’s friend and rival Henri Matisse barking mad, dethroning him as the obvious next big shot in shocking Modern Art.
No.5, 1948 – Jackson Pollock
The other famous No. 5, it sold for a whopping $140 million at a private auction in 2006 to a billionaire art collector willing to pay anything for it, making it one of the most expensive paintings ever sold. Pollock was going about his day, smoking a cigarette and painting some figures, when he accidentally spilled some paint on the canvas. The abstract expressionist upgraded to Batman status inventing the drip technique. Time magazine, in 1956, called him Jack the Dripper. Laying the canvas on the ground, moving on all four side and splashing paint on the canvas, he monitored his actions with precision, creating figures out of dripping of paint, layer after layer. Spike the passion and rebellious need to create, a little bit of alcoholism with a sensational personal life. This is the stuff that art is made of!
From HT Brunch, May 12
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