Even with the advent of the modern era and the advent of photography, film and digital technology, painting remains a popular way to express one's feelings. And it leaves open the question of what combination of talent, genius and circumstance leads to the creation of a masterpiece that can claim the title of an eternal classic.
We cannot answer this question, but we can tell you the most famous paintings in the world, which were created by famous artists and are objects of world cultural heritage.
10. Monks. Wrong Way to Go, Lev Solovyov
"But this is Repin's painting 'They've Arrived'!" the reader might be indignant. And this is no longer just the name of a masterpiece and its author (not really), but an established expression denoting an unpleasant, stalemate situation.
And if the artist Lev Grigorievich Solovyov had known about it, he would probably have found it funny and offensive. It would have been funny that this expression could have been applied to him and his creation. And it would have been offensive because he actually painted the picture.
The "birth" of the canvas took place in the 1870s, and in the 1930s the painting appeared at a museum exhibition and hung next to the canvases of Ilya Repin. Therefore, visitors decided that it also belonged to the brush of the great master. And they gave the canvas a short and capacious popular name - "They have arrived".
9. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Pablo Picasso
This painting opened the modern era of Cubism, breaking decisively with the representational tradition of Western painting and incorporating allusions to African masks that Picasso had seen in the Ethnographic Museum of Paris.
The women depicted in the painting are actually prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona. Hence the original title of the painting, "The Philosophical Brothel."
8. The Scream, Edvard Munch
One of the first representatives of expressionism used only oil and pastel to paint his most famous figure. The artist wanted to show the "cry of nature" that evokes the agony of man, primitive to such an extent that he resembles a sperm or an embryo more than a representative of homo sapiens.
One of the most famous paintings of modern times is the result of the anxiety and fear that Edvard Munch experienced one afternoon while walking with two friends. The flaming clouds reminded him of blood and "tongues of flame over the bluish-black fjord and the city."
Since the late 20th century, The Scream has been widely imitated and parodied in culture. The painting has appeared in advertisements, films, internet memes, and more. Some art historians consider it an “icon of modern art” and “the Mona Lisa of our time.”
7. The Night Watch, Rembrandt
This famous painting was painted by the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn and is now considered the pinnacle of the Dutch Golden Age.
The oil on canvas painting depicts riflemen from Captain Frans Banning Cocq's company. The image is renowned for its amazing play of light and shadow and the movement that permeates the traditionally static military portrait.
Initially, "The Night Watch" had a much longer title - "The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburgh." The name that is known today appeared only in the 18th century.
6. The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch
The world's most famous paintings usually feature one or two people. But this triptych is truly crowded. It was created by a late medieval artist who believed that God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell, were real.
There are three scenes in the painting:
- on the left panel is depicted Christ introducing Eve to Adam,
- on the right - the outlines of hell;
- It is not entirely clear whether the central panel depicts Heaven. On the one hand, it is an idyll: people indulge in lovemaking, carefreely splashing in the water, and several figures hovering in the sky. On the other hand, in Bosch's time, copulation was either an inevitable evil or a terrible sin demonstrating the base nature of man.
By the way, it was not Bosch who gave the name "The Garden of Earthly Delights" to his creation, but researchers. And to this day they have not agreed on what the author of this masterpiece wanted to show people.
5. Portrait of the Arnolfini couple, Jan van Eyck
The composition is considered one of the most important works made during the Northern Renaissance, and is one of the first oil paintings. The full-length double portrait is generally believed to depict the Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and a woman who may be his fiancée or wife.
In 1934, the famous art historian and theorist Erwin Panofsky suggested that the painting actually depicts a marriage ceremony. This is indicated by the joining of the hands of the characters in the painting, as well as the pose of the man, typical for taking an oath.
What can be said for sure is that the Arnolfini Portrait is one of the first interior paintings with orthographic perspective. This is done to create a sense of space that seems adjacent to the viewer's own space. It seems as if one could stand up and walk into the painting.
Someone joked that the face of the merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini is very similar to the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin. You, dear readers, decide for yourself whether this is true or not.
4. The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
This is the first full-length painting of a nude non-biblical figure since antiquity. It was created for Lorenzo de' Medici.
The figure of the Goddess of Love was probably modeled on Simonetta Vespucci, the first beauty of the Florentine Renaissance.
Such a frivolous image infuriated Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican monk who led a fundamentalist campaign against Florentine secular tastes. His campaign included the infamous Bonfire of the Vanities of 1497, in which “secular” items—cosmetics, art, books—were burned at the stake.
The Birth of Venus was also supposed to be burned, but somehow the painting escaped destruction. Botticelli was so upset by the incident that he stopped painting for a while.
3. Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh
Van Gogh's most popular painting was created in the asylum of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. The Starry Night seems to reflect his turbulent state of mind at the time. It is believed that through the power of his imagination (and also under the influence of his mental illness), he saw the starry sky as no one else had ever seen it.
2. Girl with a Pearl Earring, Jan Vermeer
One of the most popular paintings is called the Northern or Dutch Mona Lisa. The image looks strikingly real and modern, almost as if it were a photograph.
This has led to the theory that Vermeer used a pre-photographic device called a camera obscura to create his painting. Leaving that aside, there is one more question about the image. Who posed for the artist? Many art historians believe that the girl may have been Vermeer's maid.
Technically, "Girl" is not a portrait, but an example of a Dutch genre called "tronies." Artists who worked in this genre did not paint the entire person, but only their head.
1. Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
One of da Vinci's most famous paintings has long been stirring the minds of art historians and lovers of painting mysteries. Who is depicted on the canvas, and why is this woman smiling?
Several theories have been put forward on the first question in recent years. The most famous of these are:
- This is the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo (an alternative title for the work is Gioconda).
- This is Leonardo's mother, Caterina.
- And finally, this is a self-portrait in female guise.
As for this famous smile, its mystery has driven people crazy for centuries.
Also, notice the eerily calm gaze of the Mona Lisa, which fits perfectly with the landscape behind her, seemingly disappearing into the distance through the use of atmospheric perspectives.
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