Even with the advent of the modern era and the advent of photography, film and digital technology, painting remains a popular way of expressing one’s feelings. And it leaves open the question of what combination of talent, genius and circumstances leads to the creation of a masterpiece capable of claiming the title of an eternal classic.
We will not be able to answer this question, but we can name you the most famous paintings in the world, which were created by famous artists, and are objects of world cultural heritage.
10. We didn’t go there, Lev Soloviev
“Yes, this is Repin’s picture‘ They sailed ’!”, The reader may be indignant. Moreover, this is not just the name of a masterpiece and its author (in fact, no), but an established expression denoting an unpleasant, stalemate situation.
And if the artist Lev Grigorievich Soloviev knew about him, he would probably be funny and offended. It is ridiculous that this expression could be applied to him and his creation. But it's a shame - 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 paintings of Ilya Repin. Therefore, visitors decided that it also belongs to the brush of the great master. And they assigned the canvas a short and capacious national name - “sailed”.
9. Avignon girls, Pablo Picasso
This painting opened the modern era of Cubism, decisively breaking with the representative tradition of Western painting and including allusions to African masks, which Picasso saw in the Ethnographic Museum of Paris.
The women in the picture are actually prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona. Hence the original name of the picture - “Philosophical brothel”.
8. Scream, Edward Munch
One of the first representatives of expressionism used only oil and pastel to draw his most famous figure. The artist wanted to show a "cry of nature", which causes the agony of a person primitized to such an extent that it resembles a sperm or embryo more than a representative of homo sapiens.
One of the most famous paintings of our time is the result of anxiety and fear that Edward Munch once experienced during the day when he was walking with two friends. Then the blazing clouds reminded him of blood and "tongues of flame over a bluish-black fjord and city."
Since the end of the 20th century, “Scream” has been widely imitated and parodied in culture. This picture appeared in advertisements, films, Internet memes, etc. Some art historians consider it to be an "icon of modern art" and "Mona Lisa of our time."
7. Night Watch, Rembrandt
This famous painting was written by Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn and is now considered the pinnacle of the Dutch Golden Age.
Oil painting on canvas depicts shooters from the company of Captain Frans Bunning Coc. The image is famous for its amazing play of light and shadow and the movement with which the traditionally static military portrait is full.
Initially, “Night Watch” had a much longer name - “The performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Bunning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Reutenburg.” And the name that is known now appeared only in the 18th century.
6. The Garden of Earthly Delights, Jerome Bosch
The most famous paintings of the world mainly depict one or two people. But this canvas-triptych is really crowded. It was created by an artist of the late Middle Ages who believed that God and the Devil, Paradise and Hell are real.
There are three scenes in the picture:
- on the left wing depicts Christ representing Eve Adam,
- on the right is the outline of hell;
- it is not clear whether the central panel depicts Heaven. On the one hand, this is an idyll: people indulge in love joys, carelessly splash in the water, and several figures soar in the skies. On the other hand, in the days when Bosch lived, copulation was either an inevitable evil or a terrible sin, demonstrating the base nature of man.
By the way, the name "Garden of Earthly Delights" was not given to Bosch by its creation, but by researchers. And so far they have not agreed on what the author of this masterpiece wanted to show people.
5. Portrait of the couple Arnolfini, Jan van Eyck
This 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 reputedly portrayed by Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and a woman who might be his bride or wife.
In 1934, the famous art historian and theorist Erwin Panofsky suggested that the painting actually depicts the ceremony of marriage. This is indicated by the connection of the hands of the characters in the picture, as well as the pose of the man, characteristic of pronouncing the oath.
What can be reliably said is that “Portrait of the Arnolfini couple” is one of the first images of the interior with an orthogonal perspective. This is done to create a sense of space that seems adjacent to the viewer's own space. It seems that you can get up and get into the picture.
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 so or not.
4. The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
Here is the first full-length picture with a naked non-biblical character from antiquity. It was created for Lorenzo Medici.
The figure of the Goddess of Love was probably modeled after Simonetta Vespucci - the first beauty of the Florentine Renaissance.
Such a frivolous image provoked the fury of Girolamo Savonarola, the Dominican monk who led fundamentalist actions against the secular tastes of the Florentines. His campaign included the infamous “Bonfire of Vanity” of 1497, in which “secular” objects - cosmetics, works of art, books - were burned at the stake.
The “Birth of Venus” was also to be burned, but by some miracle the picture escaped destruction. Botticelli was so excited about this incident that for some time he gave up painting.
3. Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh
The most popular painting by Van Gogh was created in a shelter for the mentally ill in Saint-Remy-de-Provence. Starry Night seems to reflect his turbulent state of mind at the time. It is believed that due to the power of imagination (as well as under the influence of mental disorder), he saw the starry sky in a way that no one saw him.
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 amazingly real and modern, almost as if it were a photograph.
This gave rise to the theory that Vermeer used a pre-photographic device called a pinhole camera to create his picture. If we leave this assumption aside, one more question remains with regard to the image. Who posed for the artist? Many art historians believe that this girl could be a servant of Vermeer.
From a technical point of view, “Girl” is not a portrait, but an example of the Dutch genre called “Troni”. Artists who worked in this genre did not draw the whole man, but only his head.
1. Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
One of the most famous paintings by da Vinci has long excites the minds of art critics and lovers of the mysteries of painting. Who is depicted on the canvas, and why is this woman smiling?
In recent years, several theories have been put forward on the first issue. The most famous of them:
- This is the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo (the alternative name of the work is Gioconda).
- This is the mother of Leonardo, Katerina.
- And finally, this is a self-portrait in a female form.
As for this famous smile, its mystery over the centuries drove people crazy.
Also pay attention to the supernaturally calm look of Mona Lisa, which blends perfectly with the landscape behind her. It seems to dissolve away through the use of atmospheric perspectives.
