Art is the Solution

Blind Girl Source: Wikimedia Commons When English painter John Everett Millais moved to Scotland in 1855, he began a new chapter of his artistic career. Although Millais is best known as a member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, he experimented with many different artistic styles and techniques during his long career. Blind Girl was painted during this transitional period in Millais’ artistic life. The piece depicts two young beggar girls on the road outside of the town of Winchelsea. The older girl is blind; a sign that says “Pity the Blind” hangs around her neck, marking her condition. She holds an accordion on her lap, suggesting that she plays music to earn a few coins. Although she is blind, the girl is clearly enjoying the day. She rubs a piece of grass between her fingers, and her blissful expression shows that she’s enjoying the warm sun on her face. In contrast, the younger girl—who is presumably the blind girl’s sister—gazes out at the vibrant, green landscape. This landsc...

A Souvenir of Velazquez Source: The Royal Academy John Everett Millais is known primarily as a Pre-Raphaelite artist. Indeed, it was his association with the fascinating and sometimes controversial Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood that initially brought Millais fame. However, by the end of his career, Millais had transcended the Pre-Raphaelite label. Throughout his long and storied career, Millais explored and experimented with different approaches and types of painting. A Souvenir of Velazquez is one example of this artistic flexibility. As the title suggests, the painting was inspired by the work of Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, one of the most important painters of the seventeenth centuries. Although Velázquez painted nearly two hundred years before Millais, he clearly found fresh inspiration in Velázquez’s work. A Souvenir of Velazquez makes use of the Spanish painter’s loose, brushy style. This approach to painting is very different from Millais’ Pre-Raphaelite work, which was const...

Christ in the House of His Parents Source: Wikimedia Commons These days, artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement have almost obtained the status of the “Old Masters.” The work of artists such as William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti is respected, studied, and carefully catalogued in the hallowed halls of museums around the world. So, it’s difficult to imagine how controversial Pre-Raphaelite art was when it was first created. Christ in the House of His Parents is perhaps the most controversial piece of art in the Pre-Raphaelite oeuvre. Millais created this masterpiece early in his career, when the Pre-Raphaelite movement was still new and not always appreciated in the art world. As the title suggests, the piece depicts Christ as a child in the house of his parents. Here, we see the Holy Family assembled in Joseph’s workshop, where Joseph is building a door on the workshop table. In the foreground, the Christ Child has injured his hand on a nail. The Virgi...

Peace Concluded Source: Wikimedia Commons Today, I’m continuing to explore the work of John Everett Millais, one of the most famous and prolific artists of the nineteenth century. When considering Millais’ vast oeuvre, it would be difficult to find a painting more beautiful or more serene than Peace Concluded . The painting depicts a wounded British army officer, who is surrounded by his family as he reads about the end of the Crimean War in the newspaper. His wife rests on the sofa with him, presumably sharing in the good news of peace. Two children play with animal figurines in front of their parents. One little girl holds a toy dove—a symbol of peace—while the other child seems to be playing with a rooster, a lion, a bear, and a turkey on her mother’s lap. Each one of these animals symbolize a different participant in the conflict. Originally, Millais intended the painting to be satirical, a criticism of officers who returned home to relax while common soldiers continued to fight. H...

The Order of Release Source: Wikimedia Commons I’ve decided that this is going to be the unofficial week of John Everett Millais on this blog. As a painter and as a person, I find Millais to be particularly interesting. Throughout his long and storied career, Millais explored and experimented with different approaches and types of painting. However, he is probably most famous as a Pre-Raphaelite artist. Later in his career, other artists and art critics would say that he abandoned his Pre-Raphaelite convictions for financial success as a more commercial painter. In my opinion, however, this change in his style was occasioned by growing maturity and a desire to expand his artistic horizons. The Order of Release  was one of Millais’ early masterpieces, painted during his early career when he was still closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The Pre-Raphaelites espoused realism and tended to gravitate towards serious subjects, which were often imbued with rich symbolism. ...

Cats occupy a very unique place in the story of art. For some reason or another, felines have been a source of inspiration for artists from all ages of history and from all corners of the world. However, not all pieces of cat art are created equal. Simply put, some pieces of art capture the spirit of the cat better than others.  Below, I’ve listed some of my favorite paintings of cats: pieces of art that—in my opinion— capture the various attitudes and personalities of the elegant and mysterious cat.  Cat, 1976 by Andy Warhol - Andy Warhol was a cat person. This is a fact that endears him to me tremendously. Throughout his career, he painted, drew, and photographed many cats. However, I think this particular piece is the perfect image of a modern cat. Here, we see a sleek Siamese cat with an angular face gazing off into the distance. Perhaps he is looking forward to the technological and scientific advances of the twentieth century, but it’s more likely that he’s watching a sp...