.
đPaul Gauguin, 'Tahitian Women on the Beach'
đ1891
In 1891, Gauguin went to Tahiti, an island he imagined to be a primitive paradise. The artist wanted "to live there in ecstasy, calm and art". His financial difficulties, his aesthetic concerns and this very Baudelairian "invitation au voyage" drove him to that distant land to escape "the European struggle for money" - to be "free at last". This composition is typical of his paintings during the early part of his first stay in the Pacific, paintings often depicting Tahitian women busy with simple daily tasks. Here, the heavy, hieratic figures have their own space, creating a series of arabesques in a perfectly orchestrated harmony. The faces are rendered as a mask or a profile, rather indeterminate, but full of melancholy. Gauguin's wonderfully confident handling of the line makes it both elegant and decorative. By choosing somewhat rigid poses, he introduces a rhythm into the painting through a mysterious, harmonious geometry, thus producing what looks more like a genre scene than a genuine double portrait. The painting is lightly animated both by the discreet, almost monochrome, still life in the foreground, and by the rollers breaking on the lagoon in the background, suggested by a few white highlights.
The painter regarded this painting as significant enough to produce a variant of it in 1892, Parau Api (Dresden, Staatliche Kunstammlungen), in which the floral sarong replaces the sensible mission clothes of the woman on the right. The synthetic lines and simplified shapes of Manet, whom Gauguin admired greatly, influenced these contrasting outlines of the women. But above all, these characters herald the coloured effects of Matisse with their powerful graphic style and vivid colours. (Text by Musée d'Orsay)
. đElena Gual, 'Magenta' đ2017 Wishing to develop my passion for Art, Elena chose to move to the UK from Spain in order to be able to attend a more creative course at school. In 2016 she graduated from the "Florence Academy of Art"  where she completed a three year degree in academic drawing and painting. Building on the techniques she learned there, she has worked to develop her own style, striving to encompass the basic tenets of academic work and classic painters. She attempts to translate their understanding of anatomy, composition and light using her own approach. As a self-taught photographer, she explores the connection between photography and paintings. she creates paintings from her own photographs, yet there are also instances where she believes that a photograph cannot be improved and should be left as such. (Text from the official website)
. đ@scottwaddellartist Scott was born and raised in Central Florida. He received his BFA from Florida State University, studied at the Florence Academy of Art and the Waterstreet Atelier in NYC. In 2006 Scott moved with his wife to New England where they now reside in Rhode Island with their two kids and pets. Scottâs work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and galleries including: Cavalier Galleries, Meredith Long and Co. and Joshua Liner Gallery. His work has also appeared in several publications including: American Art Collector Magazine, Drawing Magazine and Star Wars Art: Visions.
. đFrida Kahlo, 'Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird' đ1940 Frida Kahloâs most significant self-portrait was Self- Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. According to some art historians, Kahlo wanted to depict that she was resurrected and started to a new life with this painting. As a symbol of this opinion, hummingbird was taking its place in her necklace. Hummingbird symbolizes hope and good luck in Mexican culture. However, audience may notice the black cat- known as bad luck symbol- taking its place behind the right shoulder of Kahlo. Different interpretations offer that hummingbird pendant refers to Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god of war, which hurts Kahlo internally. Other important symbols of the painting were butterflies and thorn necklace. Butterflies symbolize resurrection and it may refer to her rebirth in life after the accident. Furthermore, thorn necklace she wears may be the symbol of Jesusâs crown thorn, which was worn while dragged and crucified. (Text by Daily Art Magazine)
. đ John Everett Millais, 'Ophelia' đ 1851-52 A child prodigy, John Everett Millais was admitted to the Londonâs Royal Academy as their youngest ever student, aged 11. There he befriended William Holman Hunt, with whom, alongside Dante Gabriel Rossetti, he would form the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. The group rejected the idealization of classical art favoured by the art establishment, instead producing work characterized by meticulous observation and a moral tone redolent of medieval art. Initially scandalizing the public, Millaisâs more realist images later garnered him popularity and success. He painted his most famous work, Ophelia (1851-2), over a five-month period on the banks of an English river (as well as with the use of a live model in a bath full of water); the work exemplifies his close attention to naturalistic detail. Millais also made numerous illustrations for publications, including an edition of Lord Tennysonâs poems and several novels by Anthony Trollope, as well as portraits of leading figures in Victorian society. (Text by Artsy)
. đ Serge Marshennikov, 'Dream' đ 2012 Marshennikovâs hyperrealist paintings of women in interior spaces are heavily influenced by the mid-twentieth century American artist Andrew Wyeth. Wyeth painted the rural farming communities of his hometowns in America with sensitivity and affection, becoming arguably the most popular artist of his time. Later he painted a series of paintings of his fatherâs nurse and caretaker, Helga, so realistic that the figures almost seems present. It is in this way that Marshennikov portrays his sisters, depicting their skin and hair with the loving affection in which Wyeth portrayed Helga. More recently, Marshennikovâs paintings have been auctioned through Christie's and Bonham's and are part of the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in El Paso, and in The Grace Museum at Abilene. Marshennikovâs work is included in a number of important private collections in Russia, England, Denmark, France and Japan. (Text by @theunitlondon)
. đPaul Gauguin, 'Tahitian Women on the Beach' đ1891 In 1891, Gauguin went to Tahiti, an island he imagined to be a primitive paradise. The artist wanted "to live there in ecstasy, calm and art". His financial difficulties, his aesthetic concerns and this very Baudelairian "invitation au voyage" drove him to that distant land to escape "the European struggle for money" - to be "free at last". This composition is typical of his paintings during the early part of his first stay in the Pacific, paintings often depicting Tahitian women busy with simple daily tasks. Here, the heavy, hieratic figures have their own space, creating a series of arabesques in a perfectly orchestrated harmony. The faces are rendered as a mask or a profile, rather indeterminate, but full of melancholy. Gauguin's wonderfully confident handling of the line makes it both elegant and decorative. By choosing somewhat rigid poses, he introduces a rhythm into the painting through a mysterious, harmonious geometry, thus producing what looks more like a genre scene than a genuine double portrait. The painting is lightly animated both by the discreet, almost monochrome, still life in the foreground, and by the rollers breaking on the lagoon in the background, suggested by a few white highlights. The painter regarded this painting as significant enough to produce a variant of it in 1892, Parau Api (Dresden, Staatliche Kunstammlungen), in which the floral sarong replaces the sensible mission clothes of the woman on the right. The synthetic lines and simplified shapes of Manet, whom Gauguin admired greatly, influenced these contrasting outlines of the women. But above all, these characters herald the coloured effects of Matisse with their powerful graphic style and vivid colours. (Text by MusĂ©e d'Orsay)
. đ Caravaggio, 'Judith Beheading Holofernes' đ 1599 ca. Three figures with a red drape in the background: just a few elements, yet capable of orchestrating an utterly realistic theater of contrasts: darkness and light, age and youth, life and death, strength and frailty. Judith is one of the heroines of the Old Testament, a young Jewish widow who saved her people from the besieging Assyrian army. She pretended to ally herself with the enemy and slew their general Holofernes with her own hands, after being welcomed to his camp with a festive banquet. The iconography had been common since the 1400s, yet it had never been depicted with such harsh and spectacular realism. Here we see scimitar plunged deep into Holofernesâ throat. Life is still coursing through Holofernesâ contracted hands and limbs, though not for much longer. The generalâs mouth gapes in a strangled cry, and we see the spurting blood, as if Caravaggio wished to freeze the flashing instants of an act that cannot be halted with the gaze. The light falls from the top left, striking Judithâs slender figure in full: her forehead is furrowed, as if seeking to summon all her strength, both physical and spiritual, to overcome her revulsion at the act she feels compelled to perform. Her maidservant Abra, a young woman in the original story, is here a wrinkled old woman with hallucinated eyes, bearing witness to the horror that the viewer feels before such violence. The painting, dated to around 1599, is important stylistically and thematically: it is Caravaggioâs first historical work, and marks the beginning of the phase of strongly contrasting light and darkness. (Text by Palazzo Barberini)
. đ Alfred Stevens, 'Mary-Magdalene' đ 1887 Alfred Stevens, painter of fashionable Paris, met the actress Sarah Bernhardt in about 1887, and did several portraits of her. In a number of these she posed as a character from history or from literature. Here we see her as Mary-Magdalene, the sinner  who later converted and took up the life of a hermit. The long hair, the skull  one of the main symbols in vanitas paintings  and the desolate landscape in the background link up with an iconographic tradition that goes back to medieval times. Typical for the 19th century, however, are the explicit sensuality and the melancholy, almost hallucinatory stare with which Mary-Magdalene looks at the viewer, thereby blurring the characters religious context. This painting was commissioned by the Parisian dealer Georges Petit. Its provocativeness, even though it corresponds entirely to what Mary Magdalene represented, shocked the general public because they preferred to see her portrayed as a remorseful penitent. (Text by MSK Gent)
. đ Frank Cadogan, 'Vanity' đ 1907 The title of the painting references a genre of painting known as vanitas, which was popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. Usually still-lives, vanitaspaintings aimed to remind viewers of their mortality and the fleeting nature of earthly possessions, taking their name from the biblical insistence that âall is vanityâ. In Cowperâs 1907 portrait, the title reminds us that neither the beautiful woman in her luxurious clothes or the ripe grapes in the background can flourish forever â in time, both will fade and die. Sadly, we donât know who the woman in the painting is. With her long, red hair, she bears a strong physical resemblance to the models favoured by Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artists Dante Gabriel Rosetti and John Everett Millais in the previous century. In the 1990s, poet Frances Sackett wrote a poem from the perspective of the unknown model, imagining her as perplexed by her role in the creation of the painting: âAnd so he calls me âVanityâ / And makes me feel the guilt of all / His observationâ. What is she wearing? The clothes in the painting show a mixture of historic and contemporary influences. The silver hand-mirror and string of pearls reflect the fashion of the early 20th century, but the predominant influence is Renaissance Italy. The woman wears a ferroniĂšre (jewelled headband) in a style that dates back to the 15th century, while the the elaborate dress with its serpentine pattern is similar to one depicted in the Italian Renaissance artist Giulio Romanoâs Portrait of Margherita Paleologo in the Royal Collection, which Cowper may have studied. The same dress pattern was also used by PRB follower Edward Burne-Jones in his watercolour Sidonia von Bork, now in the Tateâs Collection. Cowperâs desire to emulate Renaissance art extended to a large, ornate picture frame, which he selected himself. (Text by The Royal Academy)
. đGustav Klimt, 'The Virgin' đ1913. . . "I've already thought of everything possible, I've lived hundreds of lives with my thoughts." Perhaps the central sleeping figure is fantasizing possibilities for her self in the six women surrounding her. This is one possible way to account for the cloud-like oval shaped constellation of women with organic patterned scarves and gowns that is the subject of this painting. It may be a complete world in female form and organic pattern. The virgin's gown configured with many spirals metaphorically indicates fertility, continual change and the evolution of the universe. Both during his lifetime and later, there have always been examples of an eroticizing aim to recreate his art or even go beyond it. Other authors have pointed out that the erotic could be regarded as a socio-political and culturally progressive force. Thus, Klimt is seen as an artist who contributed considerably to the emancipation of women and the rediscovery of the lost power of the erotic element, an artist who was critical of his time and its outmoded cultural morality. "Klimt's permanent achievement," wrote Han Bisanz in 1984, "is that he liberated the artistic depiction of human beings from the fetters of morality and opportunism and that he made visible by means of his style, the basic mental images of man's inner life, images that point to a timeless element in the course of a person's individual destiny. And finally, as the quoted passage seems to indicate, Klimt can be seen as a psychologist, as someone who analyzed psychological phenomena and who pursued similar aims to those of his great contemporary, Sigmund Freud. (Text by gustav-klimt.com) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback
. đ Yue Gang Weng, âReceiving the Blizzardâ . đStyle: New Creation in Chinese Painting (founded by the painter) . đ1990 . Yue Gang Weng, Professional painter. He studied and graduated with Fine Arts degrees specialized in oil painting in Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and The Shanghai Institute of Education from 1976 to 1979. Weng founded a new painting style named âNew Creation in Chinese Paintingâ, after moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1985. In his unique painting style, he fuses Western painting techniques with Chinese materials and medium, breaking the tendency of traditional paintings of both cultures. His painting style consists of using the techniques of oil painting â usually associated with European art at the time - but instead of painting with oil colours on canvas, he paints with watercolours and Chinese ink on rice paper, which are materials used in traditional Chinese paintings. His âNew Creation in Chinese paintingâ artworks explore contemporary topics that do not appear in traditional Chinese paintings, such as figurative and abstract nude figures painted by observing professional live models as well as abstract paintings depicting his feelings and thoughts at different moments of his life. Weng was born in 1958 in Shanghai, China, and currently lives in Buenos Aires city, Argentina. He has showcased his âNew Creation in Chinese paintingâ artworks in several of Buenos Aires well known galleries and museums, as a solo exhibitor. . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đAloyzas Smilingis-Elis, 'Nude in Red' đ1965 This mysterious and unique artwork is an early work by Lithuanian painter and sculptor Aloyzas Smilingis-Elis. Elis met Willem de Kooning in the 80s and the artist proved to be a great source of inspiration to him; in fact, after long hours of talking and sharing ideas over glasses of wine, Elis came back from his trip to the USA with a change attitude towards his art, focusing solely on abstraction. The artwork pre-dates this fateful meeting. Standing out on a backdrop of luxurious red, a woman offers her naked body to the gaze of the viewer, her sensual pose contrasting with her soft and modest attitude: she casts her eyes downards, as if aware of a spectator. There is an aura of mystery surrounding this piece, as the artist never revealed who the subject was. If you would like to own a limited edition of this piece or simply want more info, please contact @art.goda, she is truly lovely and will be glad to help you. . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #artcollector #artforsale #tbt
. đGustav Klimt, 'The Kiss' đ1907-1908 The Kiss (Lovers) by Gustav Klimt is the most famous Austrian painting and the highlight of the permanent collection at the Upper Belvedere. It shows a couple swathed in richly embellished robes embracing in a meadow of flowers on the brink of a precipice. The painting dates from 1907/08 at the height of Klimtâs âGolden Periodâ when the artist developed a new technique of combining gold leaf with oils and bronze paint. In this early-twentieth-work Klimt was making a general allegorical statement about love being at the heart of human existence. The fact that the painting still retains its immediacy and emotional impact is a testimony to the artistâs extraordinary achievement. The loversâ garments are adorned with gold leaf and the background, too, is suffused with delicate gold, silver, and even platinum flakes. The Austrian state purchased the Kiss for the recently founded Moderne Galerie, which was housed at the Lower Belvedere, from its first exhibition in 1908. The painting has been in the Belvedereâs collections ever since. (Text by The Belvedere Museum) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đZhao Kailin, 'The Dream Back to Tang Dynasty' đ2010 A master of the contemporary realist oil painting movement, Zhao Kailin studied the form at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1991. Drawing from the Western tradition of portraiture and composition as well as Chinese culture, he narrates the direct gaze of his seated subjects, usually female, with a quiet aesthetic that speaks of inner beauty. Zhao has shown works in solo exhibitions including âZhao Kailinâs Realism Oil Paintings, Contemporary Chinese Fine Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA (2006); and âZhao Kailinâs Realism Oil Painting Across Northern Europe Region,â Kurt Svenssons Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden (1994). His international group shows include âEli Klein Fine Art Winter Exhibition,â Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, NY (2010); 5th China Realism,â National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2007); âKail Studio Artist Exhibition,â Gallery 27, London, England (2004); âExhibition for Kail Studio,â Powell Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2000); and âNew Journey Beyond the Silk Road: Kail Studio Artists,â Utopia Gallery, North Queensland, Cairns, Australia (2000). Zhao was born in 1961 in Anhui, China. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. (Text by Klein Sun Gallery) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đAndrey Remnev, 'High Water' đ2016 . . 'My birth place is Yakhroma town, in the vicinity of Moscow. It is situated on high hills, from where broad Bruegelian vistas are open. The uneven terrain with significant differences of high and low; a canal between the Moskva river and the Volga; small rivers, woods and villages; a nearby ancient town of Dmitrov, which is equal to Moscow in age; ships cruising the canal and trains outdistancing them â all this I saw from my window since my early years. It was a view that embraced all the diversity of the world. This is why I can say that the impressions of my childhood and youth â beautiful nature and remarkable people â are the most important ones. In the museum of Moscow's St. Andronic Monastery I copied the best examples of the old Russian painting of the 15th-17th centuries. My own style evolved from the ancient icon painting, Russian art of the 18th century, the compositional innovations of the World of Art group and Russian Constructivism. As painters of the past, I use natural pigments bound with egg yolk.' (Text from the official website) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đFrançois Boucher, 'Odalisque' đ1745 While itâs not entirely clear if L'Odalisque Brune is actually Françoisâ wife, it seems very likely. For one, François Boucher regularly incorporated his wife and children as models when painting (safe for work) scenes of family. Secondly, Boucher worked smarter instead of harder by replicating this particular portrait but with different heads and faces to satisfy different clients resulting in several distinct copies of this particular scene. This painting, then, is thought to be both his outline for future commissions of this nature and a salacious gift to Madame Boucher. Though the term Odalisque originally refers to a female slave or concubine, it is used here as a term describing the sexual and erotic fascination common among Rococo portraiture during the reign of King Louis XV of France. Unfortunately, not all of France was convinced by the lighthearted eroticism displayed by Rococo artists including Boucher. His harshest critic, philosopher Denis Diderot, accused Boucher of essentially prostituting his wife though he himself would later admit Boucherâs art was, âsuch an agreeable vice.â While historians can only speculate on such matters, thereâs probably a good chance Madame Boucher knew exactly what she was doing. Fast forward nearly three centuries and this portrait has been brought back at the center of a scandal involving the firing of an elementary school teacher in Utah. After letting his sixth grade class sift through one-hundred different classical paintings, students expressed discomfort upon viewing Madame Boucherâs huge hiney. This resulted in the unfortunate termination of the teacher and, evidently, a class full of the most sheltered sixth-graders in history learning what a 270-year-old French womanâs ass looks like. (Text by Austin Turman for Sartle) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đ Lucian Freud, 'Girl with a Kitten' đ 1947 Girl with a Kitten is one of eight portraits that Lucian Freud made of his first wife, Kathleen Garman (1926â2011), between 1947 and 1951. In this closely cropped composition, in which she is pictured against a beige wall, Garman holds a kitten by its neck in a tense grip, her knuckles especially prominent, seeming to half-strangle the animal without concern. Given that Garman was generally known as Kitty (a short form of Kathleen as well as a familiar term for a kitten), her treatment of the cat raises â and consciously leaves entirely unresolved â questions about her self-image. Garman stares into the middle distance with a pensive expression, while the kitten looks directly at the viewer. Every element in the painting is depicted with equal scrutiny, from the reflections in Garmanâs pupils to the static energy of her wavy hair â a precision achieved through the use of fine sable brushes on finely woven canvas. A silvery light suffuses the image, granting the shadows in Garmanâs pearl-like skin and the soft blue garment she wears a chill uniformity. (Text by Tate) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt
. đGustav Klimt, 'Portrait of a Lady' đ1916-17 Portrait of a Lady is a 1916-17 oil on canvas painting by Gustav Klimt. The painting measures 60 by 55 centimetres (24 in Ă 22 in). It depicts a portrait of a female figure, composed in an unusually lively expressionistic style. It was acquired by the Galleria Ricci-Oddi in Piacenza in 1925. In 1996, X-ray analysis revealed that the portrait was an overpainted version of Klimt's lost work Portrait of a Young Lady (in hat and with scarf), which disappeared in 1917.The original portrait showed a woman with whom Klimt is believed to have had a love affair, but after she died suddenly, he painted over the work. The painting was believed stolen on February 22, 1997, shortly before a special exhibition was planned at the gallery, during the renovation of the building. Later the Italian police authorities discovered a high-quality forgery at Ventimiglia, on the Italian border with France, in April 1997, in a package addressed to the former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi who was hiding from the law in Hammamet, Tunisia. The "theft" in February may have been staged shortly before the exhibition, to cover up the swap of the original painting with the forgery some months before. Case was reopened in 2014 according to the new facts. Various copies of painting are known to the Italian police. (Text by Wikipedia) . . . #art #arthistory #museum #onlinemuseum #gallery #onlinegallery #inspiration #artoftheday #paintingoftheday #history #painting #paint #artist #artwork #illustrator #drawing #draw #artoftheday #artsy #amazingart #dailyart #creative #onlineartgallery #finearts #arte #followback #follow4follow #like4like #instagood #tbt