Jump to content

Your favourite painting/painter?


led_zep_girl_92

Recommended Posts

Yes I do,

Johannes Vermeer, the 17th Century Dutch painter.

His works are exisite because in his still lifes or his portraiture, he was able to do something that a lot of other artists, including Da Vinci, never did: he was able to give his paintings motion. When you look at his paintings they are like a snapshot of people in action. And whereas in most artists work the subjects always look a little frozen, in Vermeer's paintings, you can almost see the next move his subjects were going to make. You see their reactions to what they are being presented with.

Vermeer's technical style was extraordinary, almost focusing on his paintings like a camera lens would as some parts of the painting are almost photographs, while another part maybe slightly more obscure:

Vermeer_Allegory-of-the-Painting.jpg

In this painting, look at some of the detail...for example the Artist's back, the back of his head, the map on the wall...the detail is stunning, and you could swear you were looking at something completely real, the detail on the oriental curtain, the signs of control on the girl's face holding the pose, like she's desperately trying to push away the awkwardness of having to be in a pose for so long.

DublinVermeer.jpg

And in this painting, although it is not done to the level of clarity that the first one was done, this one being slightly more impressionistic, what we see here in detail is the quality of the light, look at the windows, especially the top one, it's a perfect capture of light. But we also have lots of movement in this one as well, the lady happily absorbed in writing her letter, he expression belies that this is probably some sort of genial social politeness letter. Her maid is waiting, patiently, something out the window has caught her eye, and she is mometarily distracted from her lady, so we see two women in one room but in different worlds for a brief few seconds. But you can almost see from the maid, that she will turn back to her lady, her arms will drop and she'll be back, maybe bored, standing silently waiting for this lady to finish her letter...

And that's why I love Vermeer, instead of providing us with just artistic poses, his paintings give us life, and movement, motion, you can almost see these people moving, you can almost smell and taste what it would've been like to be living in Delft in 1670...

And whereas an artist like Canaletto also gave us exquisite detail and movement, his paintings were focused on Venice, the city, not really on people, like Vermeer was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have so many books on art, including a gift of a Vermeer book.

There's too many to list but some faves are:

Wayne Thiebaud

Edward Hopper

Maurice Prendergast

Georges Seurat

Durer

Winslow Homer

B)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Johannes Vermeer...and I was going to say why when I noticed that Gainsbarre

pretty much stole my thunder already with his post...plus he said it in a manner

more expert and lucid than I ever could attempt.

But yes, I think it was the discipline of his brushstroke that first appealed to

me. Later came my appreciation for the sly emotional content. It is never

made explicit what the subjects are thinking; it is sort of subtly implied that

something(and Vermeer leaves it to the viewer to surmise what that "something"

is) is going on under the surface.

I mean, what is going on in "Girl with a Pearl Earring", eh? Each time I look at

that painting, I read something different in her face.

So yeah, Vermeer comes to mind readily as one of my favourite painters...is he

my favourite favourite? I don't know, as there are so many qualified contenders:

Van Gogh

Cezanne

Picasso...particularly his "Blue" period, the "Weeping Women" and the utter emotional

impact of "Guernica"

Monet

Seurat

Degas

If I were to think of more modern painters, the list would include Magritte,

Hopper, Tamara de Lempicka, Mondrian.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i've been researching and writing a play on michelangelo for over 3 years. here's an example of the reason:

1pieta3.jpg

here is the laocoon, sculptor unknown unburied in rome while michelangelo was painting the sistine:

laocoon.jpg

one of my faves of dali:

DALIlightedgir.jpg

of course chagall:

chagal23.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite is DaVinci because he was the "Renaissance man" - an artist, scientist, engineer, and inventor.

DaVinciMonaLisa.jpgDaVinciVitruvianMan.jpg

Edward Hopper - because his paintings depict the alienation of urban America. Nighthawks:

HopperNighthawks.jpg

The first painting that I fell in love with (and still have a sentimental love for to this day): Waterhouse's Hylas and the Nymphs

WaterhouseHylas.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first painting that I fell in love with (and still have a sentimental love for to this day): Waterhouse's Hylas and the Nymphs

WaterhouseHylas.jpg

i love waterhouse...here's another of his that i love:

waterhouse_i_am_half_sick_of_the_sh.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i love waterhouse...here's another of his that i love:

waterhouse_i_am_half_sick_of_the_sh.jpg

I do too! That is a beautiful painting. Do you remember a Waterhouse painting of a woman with symbols /sigils on her dress? I can't find it now - it's been a long time - but it used to remind me a bit of how Jimmy would have sigils sewn on his clothes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

does that bother you?

That he was gay? Of course not! :lol: you mustn't see a lot of my posts around here... ;)

No it just annoys me when you have these great gay artists and some historians try to gloss over their sexuality because they don't want to admit that their beloved Tchaikovsky or Da Vinci was gay...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That he was gay? Of course not! :lol: you mustn't see a lot of my posts around here... ;)

No it just annoys me when you have these great gay artists and some historians try to gloss over their sexuality because they don't want to admit that their beloved Tchaikovsky or Da Vinci was gay...

no, i haven't seen any of your posts concerning sexuality.

michelangelo was almost certainly gay, although the amount of sex he had was probably next to nothing if anything. however, i believe this artist was touched by grace and responded artistically to his calling-some of the greatest religious art of all-time.

his sexuality isn't a theme or subject of my play, however one only has to look at the body of work to see his fascination. it certainly won't be glossed over opening night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...