Art is the Solution

La Vague Source: Wikimedia Commons French artist Paul Gauguin is best known for his so-called Tahitian paintings, produced during his trips to Martinique, Tahiti, and the Marquesas Islands. However, he also produced many fine works of art while living in France. Gauguin was especially inspired by the region of Brittany, which he believed had a “savage, primitive quality.” La Vague (which translates to The Wave ) was painted during one of his trips to Brittany. According to my research , the painting represents the beginning of a major shift in Gauguin’s work, as he began to pursue a less realistic, more symbolic approach to art. In this piece, Gauguin challenges many elements of conventional Western art. The first unusual element of La Vague is the perspective. The piece is painted from a bird’s eye perspective, giving an unusual sense of proportion and scale (in point of fact, Gauguin actually sketched the scene from a bluff that overlooked the beach). The fact that there is no ...

The Balcony Source: Wikimedia Commons There are few Impressionist painters more famous than Édouard Manet. He produced many masterpieces throughout his career, and his work now hangs in many great museums. One of his most famous paintings is entitled The Balcony . The piece depicts several of Manet’s friends and family members gathered on a green balcony, including his future sister-in-law Berthe Morisot. In the background, a shadowy room is visible, and a young man—perhaps his stepson Léon Leenhoff—stands in the background. The piece is unique because it doesn’t fit into any contemporary genres, with critics of the time noting that the piece seemed strange and directionless. Yet, it is this aspect of the painting that makes it intriguing to art historians. The painting encapsulates a moment in time, a freeze frame of an ordinary day in ordinary lives. It recognizes the visual and symbolic power of these ordinary moments while also forcing the viewer to question their assumptions a...

Midsummer Eve Source: Wikimedia Commons I’ve written many times about my great love of Pre-Raphaelite art. The style emerged in the mid-nineteenth century as a reaction against what the Pre-Raphaelite perceived as a trend toward frivolity in artwork. Instead, Pre-Raphaelite artists believed art should portray “serious” subjects, such as literature, poetry, mythology, and history. In particular, they drew inspiration from medieval art. The work of artist Edward Robert Hughes is a good example of this aspect of Pre-Raphaelite art. Hughes was particularly intrigued by European legend and folklore, an interest that can be seen in his most famous painting: Midsummer Eve . The painting depicts a young woman in a gold dress standing in a dark forest. A circle of fairies stand around her feet waving tiny lights in the air. The piece references the common belief that the barriers between the worlds were thinner at Midsummer, allowing spirits to enter the world. This belief extended to the f...

The Art Nouveau style emerged in the late nineteenth century; it was primarily a decorative art movement, expressed in household items like dishes and lamps as well as in graphic art. Art Nouveau is typically characterized by a sense of movement, rounded, asymmetrical lines, and nature motifs, such as flowers and leaves. Because the Art Nouveau style is typically associated with items as opposed to large, well-known paintings, artists who produced Art Nouveau pieces tend to be overlooked or, in some cases, anonymized. This is because these decorative objects tend not to be valued in the same way that paintings and sculptures are. This disconnect impacts female artists disproportionately, as artists who produce these decorative objects tend to disproportionately be women. So, to celebrate the women who produced Art Nouveau objects, I want to share five female Art Nouveau artists you should know. Julie de Graag Julie de Graag was a Dutch artist who is known today for her woodcuts...

Dos Mujeres Source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston Mexican painter Frida Kahlo is famous for her self-portraits. In fact, her face is familiar to nearly everyone in the Western world; it is featured on posters, t-shirts, and mugs and has been co-opted by fashion designers and even (strangely) used to sell cosmetic products. However, while she produced many self-portraits throughout her career, Kahlo also painted other subjects. In fact, the first painting Kahlo ever sold depicted two women who worked for her family, Salvadora and Herminia. The piece, which is entitled Dos Mujeres ( Two Women ) depicts the women standing side by side, gazing at something out of the painting’s frame. Though Salvadora and Herminia are painted in a fairly realistic style, the background—an ambiguous screen of vegetation—reveals Kahlo’s growing tendency towards fantastical and surreal elements in her work. It is a touching tribute to two women who probably cared for Kahlo’s family for many years and perhap...

Le Sacrifice d'Iphigénie Source: Christies Yesterday, I discussed Félix Vallotton’s—a Modernist artist—approach to the legend of Perseus and Andromeda. While Vallotton’s version of this subject is well known, he was far from the only Modernist artist to tackle mythological subjects. Belgian Surrealist Paul Delvaux was clearly fascinated by mythological and classical scenes, which figure heavily in his work. Delvaux is well known for his paintings of nude women who wander through bizarre landscapes of classical architecture mixed with elements of twentieth century industrial culture. Delvaux was particularly obsessed with trains, which he regarded as quasi-magical devices and held special symbolic meaning to him. Trains appear in almost all of his paintings, speeding away into the night. Le Sacrifice d'Iphigénie is representative of these themes within his work. The piece references the story of Iphigenia from Greek mythology. According to legend, the Greek army killed on...

Perseus Killing the Dragon Source: Wikimedia Commons A few weeks ago, I wrote about Edward Burne-Jones’ artistic interpretation of the legend of Perseus . Though Burne-Jones’ work is masterful, he was far from the only artist to tackle the subject. The story of Perseus has been a popular subject throughout the history of Western art; however, few artists approached it with as much imagination as the Swiss and French painter Félix Vallotton. Vallotton, who has been called the painter of disquiet, is known for the direct and authentic quality of his work, which gives his paintings an unprecedented degree of psychological depth. His painting Perseus Killing the Dragon is an example of this element of his work. The legend of Perseus comes from Greek mythology. It tells the story of the heroic son of Zeus, Perseus, who embarks on a mission to save and marry the princess Andromeda. Vallotton’s painting depicts a moment from the Perseus legend in which the hero saves Andromeda from a m...

Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash Source: Wikimedia Commons Italian Futurism was an artistic movement that emerged in the early twentieth century among other Modernist art movements. Futurism focused on youth, technology, energy, and the emerging industrial movement; however, one of the most famous paintings of the Futurist movement depicted something that has been common in art for thousands of years: a dog. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash is a fascinating and charming painting. The piece depicts a dachshund being walked on a leash by a woman in a black dress. Here, the artist, Giacomo Balla, explores the motion of the woman and the dog. Like many Futurist artists, Balla was fascinated by motion and the way it appears on canvas, and he experimented frequently with chronophotographic images. The full range of motion of the dog’s legs, the leash, and the woman’s feet is carefully depicted in shadowy, ghost images. The approach to the subject is unique and fascinating. While Dynamism of a...

La Venus Roja Source: Museo de Arte de Bayamón Myrna Báez is one of the seminal artists of Puerto Rico’s modernist movement. Báez, who studied in Spain, produced very distinctive work. She was heavily influenced by impressionism and surrealism; there are even elements of cubism in her style. She experimented with different color schemes and with light and shadow in her paintings. According to the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, “Báez is known for her technical experimentation in painting and…[for] her depiction of ambiguous interior spaces that layer and merge the landscape and the human figure.” Báez’s Spanish education is particularly on display in her masterpiece La Venus Roja (which translates to The Red Venus ). Here, Báez creates a visual criticism of the work of Diego Velázquez, one of the great artists in the history of Spain. The title of the piece references Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus , in which the nude goddess gazes at herself in a mirror held by Cupid. Báez bo...

The Watch Dog Source: Daily Art Magazine When it comes to animals in art, I usually focus on cats in this blog. However, today I’m going to switch gears and discuss the dog, an animal that certainly makes its fair share of appearances in art. American artist George Rodrigue is particularly famous for his paintings of dogs. Rodrigue, who was originally from Louisiana, spent his career trying to preserve the disappearing Cajun culture through art. He was inspired by the loup-garou legend (an element of Cajun culture that is similar to the legend of the werewolf) to create his series of Blue Dog paintings. The paintings, which depict the blue dog in various situations and contexts, are now famous worldwide. The Watch Dog is an excellent example of his Blue Dog series. According to my research, the piece was originally conceived as an illustration for a story about an evil dog guarding a house. The piece depicts the blue dog—originally based on a photo of the artist’s deceased pet Ti...

Le Bonheur de Vivre Source: Wikimedia Commons Next to Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse is probably one of the most famous and influential artists of the twentieth century. His work is closely associated with the Fauvist movement and is generally characterized by great energy and rich, intense colors. Le Bonheur de Vivre (which translates to The Joy of Life ) is perhaps the greatest Fauve painting of the age, and today it is considered to be one of the pilars of the burgeoning Modernist movement. The piece depicts an idyllic landscape in shades of yellow, blue, and orange. Nude figures sprawl on a yellow field, shaded by colorful trees. In the background, a group of figures dance in a circle—a nod towards Matisse’s masterpiece The Dance —while other figures play pipes. Thematically, the scene attempts to conjure the prime joys of life, setting the painting in a fanciful, pre-industrial landscape that exists only in the imagination. The painting is multilayered. While it is clearly a ...

La Venadita Source: WikiArt There is perhaps no better known female artist than Frida Kahlo. Her face is familiar to nearly everyone in the Western world; it is featured on posters, t-shirts, and mugs and has been co-opted by fashion designers and even (strangely) used to sell cosmetic products. Part of this obsession with her image is due to the fact that Kahlo herself produced many, many self portraits throughout her career.  For Kahlo, art was often a personal journey. As a young woman, Kahlo was seriously injured in a bus accident. Although she survived, she suffered severe pain and health problems for the rest of her life and was often confined to her bed for long periods of time. As such, her art became very introspective. A great deal of her work deals with her physical and psychological pain and the challenges and disappointments that she faced during her life. Although the outer world was often physically inaccessible to Kahlo, her paintings allowed her to express he...

Kneeling Cow Source: Wiki Art French artist Paul Gauguin is best known for his so-called Tahitian paintings, produced during his trips to Martinique, Tahiti, and the Marquesas Islands. However, he also produced many fine works of art while living in his home country, France. Kneeling Cow was painted during his first return to France after visiting the Caribbean island of Martinique. As the title suggests, the painting depicts a kneeling black and white cow on a background of yellow and green. Gauguin often explored landscapes and nature imagery in his art, using it as a tool to explore other themes and to play with color and composition. Gauguin was particularly interested in portraying the countryside of Brittany, and made many paintings and drawings in the pastoral style. Although Kneeling Cow is by no means one of Gauguin’s major works, it is a snapshot of his artistic style and a fine example of his Breton work. Personally, I also find it to be a rather charming and sweet pai...

Winter, Cat on a Cushion Source: Museum of Modern Art Although French artist Théophile-Alexandre Steinle is best known for his poster illustrations, I prefer to think of him as a great painter of cats (and trust me, that’s a category of artist that the world needs more of). Throughout his career, Steinlen drew and painted hundreds of cats in many different styles and mediums; however, his most famous cat painting is probably Winter, Cat on a Cushion , which depicts a brown and black tabby sprawled across a red cushion.  While the graceful form of the cat is clearly recognizable, the cat itself is heavily heavily stylized, with Steinlen emphasizing the classic angularity of feline features. The cat’s yellow eyes draw the viewer’s gaze with their mesmerizing intensity, while its tufted ears add a charming touch. The warm, rich tones of the painting bring a touch of coziness to an ostensibly cold, winter day. Stylistically, the piece also references Eastern visual conventions, a...

Young Girl Reading Source: National Gallery of Art Jean-Honoré Fragonard is perhaps the most famous painter of the Rococo movement, a highly elaborate and decorative style that is most commonly associated with eighteenth century aristocrats. In fact, it is fair to say that his work is almost synonymous with the artistic movement it represents. I like to think of Rococo as a stereotypical wedding cake: covered in flowers and puffs and frills. The Rococo movement is an outgrowth of the Baroque movement, and it retains the sense of energy and dynamism characteristic of Baroque art. However, where Baroque art tends to be dark, heavy, and dramatic, Rococo art tends to be light and breezy; it’s full of pastel colors and the subject matter tends to revolve around romantic love, youth, and playfulness. Like other painters of this period, Fragonard is well-known for his extremely secular, often erotic paintings that depict the carefree lives of France’s upper classes. However, there is anot...

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about an art form that is often overlooked: album covers. While not usually considered fine art, the best album covers require as much creativity and ingenuity to produce as any Old Master painting. Representing music in visual form is certainly an artistic challenge and, at that, one that has produced fascinating results. With this in mind, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite album covers (favorites from an artistic perspective, I should add). So, in no particular order, let me dive into my favorite album artwork. Californication by Red Hot Chili Peppers - When it comes to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, it’s basically a rule that their albums have interesting cover art. I don’t think it’s all good from an artistic perspective, but Californication is definitely some sort of alternative rock Mona Lisa , both artistically and musically. The cover art of this album is just so wonderfully weird and creative. It depicts what seems to be a swimming po...

Master Bedroom Source: Amazon Andrew Wyeth is one of the most famous painters in the history of American art. Wyeth hails from the great Wyeth family of artists, which includes his father, the illustrator N.C. Wyeth and his son Jamie Wyeth. His work is now recognized as among the most iconic images of American life and culture. Master Bedroom is one of his most famous and recognizable paintings. It portrays Wyeth’s dog Rattler asleep on a white bed. The room is unremarkable, adorned only with white walls and a single window. The simplicity of the bedroom conveys a calm sense of serenity, imbued with quiet dignity. According to my research , the painting recounts an evening when Wyeth, coming home after a long day, found the dog already asleep in his bed. Wyeth's granddaughter, Victoria, quoted Wyeth in an interview, "You know, dogs are the damnedest thing. They just take over the house." While the painting was originally intended as something lighthearted, it has b...

Interior with Woman in Red Seen from Behind Source: MET Museum In a recent exhibition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art named French artist Felix Vallotton the painter of disquiet. I think this is a very accurate way to describe Vallotton’s work. There is a quality of directness and authenticity in his work that gives his paintings the ring of psychological truth. While Vallotton’s paintings usually depict everyday scenes of Parisian life, his approach to art adds complexity and challenge to what would otherwise be rather conventional images. Interior with Woman in Red Seen from Behind is an excellent example of this aspect of his work. It is an unusual and highly original painting. Here, we can see a series of four rooms with the doors open between each room. A woman stands in the second room, facing away from the viewer. It is a strange painting, offering an odd view of an interior space. The viewer can see a glimpse of each room, but the painting only hints at what’s happening in...

The Beguiling of Merlin Source: Wikimedia Commons In my opinion, the art of the pre-Raphaelite movement is among the most objectively beautiful to ever be produced. The pre-Raphaelite movement was inspired by a desire to create serious and realistic art that was also pleasing to the eye. Pre-Raphaelite painters were not interested in “trivial” scenes of everyday life. Instead, they believed art should portray “serious” subjects, such as literature, poetry, mythology, and history. In particular, they drew inspiration from medieval art and topics, as can be seen in The Beguiling of Merlin , one of Edward Burne-Jones’ great masterpieces. According to my research, the piece depicts a scene from the Arthurian legend in which Merlin has been seduced by the famed Lady of the Lake, Nimue. According to the stories, Nimue withheld her love from Merlin until he taught her the secrets of his magic. Once she had learned all she could, she trapped him in the trunk of a hawthorn tree. Burne-Jones...

Christ at the Sea of Galilee Source: Wikimedia Commons I’ve written many times about my love of Mannerist painting. It’s a particularly weird, yet dramatic genre of painting, both qualities that endear it to me and make it continually interesting to modern viewers. The Venetian artist Tintoretto was one of the most famous Mannerist artists of his time, and Christ at the Sea of Galilee is one of his most astounding paintings. The painting depicts a biblical scene in which Christ appears to the apostles while they are fishing in the Sea of Galilee. The piece is an outstanding example of Tintoretto’s mannerist style. He was famous for his so-called furious brushstrokes, which give his work a bold and brash aspect. His loose brushstrokes can be seen in the lapping waves of the Sea of Galilee and the billowing clouds. Christ stands on the shore, facing away from the viewer (an unusual visual choice). He towers above the boat below, unnaturally tall. In fact, all sense of proportio...

Blue Horses Source: Wikimedia Commons Among the art produced in the early twentieth century, Franz Marc’s work was among the most distinctive in both style and subject matter in Western Europe. Marc was one of the leaders of the Expressionist movement, which has its roots in the Romantic and Symbolist styles. Like Romanticism, Expressionism seeks to depict a psychological landscape; it aims to portray the emotional reality of either the subject or the artist. The most important aspect of Expressionism is the emotion the paintings represent and evoke; it is through these emotions that the artists work to convey a sense of authenticity. Franz Marc achieved this through brightly colored painting animals, his preferred subjects. Although Marc created hundreds of paintings of animals throughout his career, horses were one of his favorite subjects. Marc believed that horses were more human-like than other animals, and, consequently, he approached his horse paintings with great nuance a...

Vieques Amado Source: Pinterest The twentieth century was a good time for Puerto Rican art, producing many of the island’s artistic luminaries. However, few twentieth century Puerto Rican artists are as well-known as Augusto Marin. Marin’s style evolved constantly throughout his career; his work was always on the edge of experimentation, combining Modernist styles with Caribbean themes and colors. Puerto Rican history and politics were major subjects in his art, and the painting I’m discussing today— Vieques Amado —is an excellent example of this aspect of his work. The title of the piece (which translates to Beloved Vieques ) references the island of Vieques, a small island off the coast of Puerto Rico that is considered to be part of the Puerto Rican territory. For many years, the United States Navy used the island as a bombing range, a source of great anger and sadness for many Puerto Ricans. When Marin created Vieques Amado in the year 2000, the island was the source of prot...

Olga Source: El Museo del Barrio Among Puerto Rican portrait artists, few are better known than Francisco Rodón. Rodón was a major portraitist during the twentieth century. While many contemporary artists chose to focus on more rural, countryside scenes, Rodón’s art often portrayed members of high society, capturing the likenesses of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso and Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, and Puerto Rico’s first democratically elected governor Luis Muñoz Marín. The painting I selected today— Olga —is a great example of his skill as a portraitist. The piece depicts Puerto Rican artist Olga Albizu, who was famed for her pioneering abstract paintings. (I should clarify that I think the painting depicts Albizu. I attempted to research who the painting portrays, and I couldn’t find any details. However, I think it’s Albizu because it looks like her, and the two artists were contemporaries. In any case, if it doesn’t portray Albizu, that ...

Simpatía (La Rabia del Gato) Source: Christie’s Art including cats is my favorite kind of art, so today I want to show you an extraordinary painting entitled Simpatía ( La Rabia del Gato ), which translates to The Madness of the Cat . The painting is one of the great masterpieces of Remedios Varo, a Spanish-Mexican artist who was one of the leaders of the Mexican Surrealist movement. Varo is well-known for her strange, otherworldly paintings, populated by a world of mysterious figures engaged in bizarre, ritualistic acts. La Rabia del Gato is a fine example of her style. The piece depicts an orange figure with flamelike hair in a grey robe; the figure caresses an orange cat, who seems to levitate above the table. The cat has seemingly knocked over a glass of water, which has turned into a tiny ocean on the floor. A network of sparkling, golden dots glimmers above them, connected by shining filaments. This constellation-like design represents the loving energy that passes betwe...

And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur! Source: New York Times Although many art historians will tell you that the Surrealist movement began in Europe, it was truly nurtured in the central Americas. As World War II loomed over Europe, many Surrealist painters fled to Mexico, where great painters like Frida Kahlo were already exploring Surrealist themes and ideas. These artists formed a vibrant community and thrived on Mexico’s dynamic art scene. The rich history of central American visual arts made Mexico an even more appealing home for European expat painters. Surrealist painter Andre Breton described the appeal of Mexico to Surrealist artists in the following words : “Mexico, half-awake of its mythological past keeps evolving under the protection of Xochipilli, God of the flowers and lyric poetry, and Coatlicue, Goddess of the Earth and of the violent death (…) This power of conciliation of life and death is without a doubt the principal attractive that Mexico offers. ...