Art is the Solution

Spring of Apple Blossoms Source: Wikimedia Commons Today is the first day of spring! To celebrate the changing of the seasons, I wanted to share a painting that represents the season of spring.  Spring or Apple Blossoms was created by British artist John Everett Millais at a time of transition in his own life.  Millais is an extraordinary figure in the story of British art. Throughout his long career, he enjoyed a level of fame, public recognition, and commercial success that was almost unprecedented among professional artists. Millais was one of the leading painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, a group of  painters who rejected “trivial” scenes of everyday life, preferring to focus on subjects that were rich in symbolism, including religious, mythological, literary, and historical scenes.  However, when Millais painted Spring, he was starting to move away from his Pre-Raphaelite roots. In 1855, Millais married Effie Gray* (the well-known ex-wife of art critic J...

Sacred Love and Profane Love Source: Wikimedia Commons Today is Valentine’s day, the day most often associated with love in the Western world. Although Valentine’s day usually focuses on the idea of Romantic love, today I want to share a painting that explores a different sort of love. Sacred Love and Profane Love is the masterpiece of Italian artist Giovanni Baglione (who is best known in modern times as the artist who took Caravaggio to court for libel). In this piece, Baglione explores two different types of love: the sacred and the profane. By the seventeenth century, sacred love had long been a topic of philosophical and theological discussion. The ideas of the Greek philosophers were rediscovered in Europe in the fifteenth century, leading Christian scholars and theologians to examine the idea of Platonic love and agape , a concept usually used to describe the love between human beings and God. Sacred love was generally seen to be a pure sort of love: selfless, charitable, and u...

2020 is over! I’m sure we’re all rejoicing that this difficult year is over. However, despite all the problems that 2020 created, I also had a great time exploring art over the past year. I’ve discussed 365 pieces of art in the past 365 days, so, today, I want to recap the year by talking about some of my favorite paintings that I’ve covered in the past year. Without further ado, let’s dive in. Happy New Year! 1. El Velorio by Francisco Oller - I can clearly remember the first time I saw Francisco Oller’s masterpiece El Velorio . A print of the famous piece was hanging on the wall of a Puerto Rican funeral home that I visited after the death of a relative. My mother identified the painting in passing, telling me that it was very famous. I later researched the painting on my own, and it has been one of my favorites ever since. El Velorio is one of the most famous pieces of art in Puerto Rico. Measuring eight by thirteen feet, El Velorio (which literally translates to The Wake) is tru...

Allegory of Winter Source: WikiArt Today is the last day of the year. It’s been a wild and stressful ride, and I have to say that I’m glad to turn the page on this year. As we look forward to 2021, however, I want to share one more painting: Allegory of Winter by Remedios Varo. I am often captivated by Varo’s paintings. She was one of the most imaginative artists of her age, employing a complex set of symbols and visual story-telling techniques to convey meaning. As a result, her paintings often conjure images of some half-imagined, legendary past, steeped in magic. Varo’s profound creativity can be seen in paintings like Allegory of Winter. The painting portrays strange, spiky, cactus-like plants growing in a parched, barren landscape. White snowflakes swirl in the background against a flat, grey sky. Ice-like pods grow between these strange trees, crystallizing into multi-faceted shapes. Each of these ice crystals contains a different bird, flower, or insect, perhaps representing r...

Couple on Horseback Source:  wassilykandinsky.net Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky is best known as the father of abstract art. While that is not quite true (many cultures practiced abstraction for thousands of years before Kandinsky began working; and, in Europe, Hilma af Klint was the first painter to explore abstract art), Kandinsky is certainly a pioneer of modern art. Today, he is famous for his bright, colorful abstract compositions full of geometric shapes. In fact, the name Kandinsky is almost synonymous with modern art. However, when he created Couple on Horseback , Kandinsky was only beginning his exploration of abstraction. The painting depicts a young couple riding on horseback amongst the trees. A wide river and a traditional, Russian cityscape dominates the background. The piece is picked out in multi-colored dabs of paint; alone, these drops of paint are abstract and meaningless, yet, together they make a coherent picture. It is reminiscent of the pointillist style ...

Rest on the Flight into Egypt Source: Museum of Fine Arts Boston As the holiday season begins to wrap up, I want to share one more painting that celebrates the Christmas season: Luc-Olivier Merson’s version of Rest on the Flight into Egypt . The piece depicts a scene from the gospel of Matthew in which an angel appears to Joseph in a dream to warn him that Herod is seeking to kill the Christ child. Upon waking, Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt, where the family was safe. Although the rest on this journey is not specifically mentioned in the bible, it became a part of recognized Christian iconography by the fourteenth century, and, over the years, it has provided the framework for some of the most imaginative pieces of art in Western history. Merson’s version of this subject is particularly unique and interesting. Here, we see the Holy Family silhouetted against a star-strewn desert sky. Joseph sleeps on the sand, wrapped in his cloak while the family’s mule rests nearby. Ma...

The Knight Errant Source: The Tate The Pre-Raphaelite movement was truly an extraordinary time in the history of art. The Pre-Raphaelites threw out the rule book of art, rejecting the conventions of their age in favor of returning to an earlier style of art. As the name suggests, the Pre-Raphaelites were inspired by early Italian artists and the art of the Medieval age. Their work focused on realism and vibrancy, rich and energetic. John Everett Millais was one of the most talented artists of his age. Although he began his artistic career as a Pre-Raphaelite, Millais later developed his own unique and mature style. The Knight Errant is an example of this unique style. The painting depicts a traditional Medieval theme, the Knight Errant. Here, we see a knight clad in armor rescuing a woman who has been stripped and tied to a tree. Millais's inscription, which accompanied the painting, read, “The order of Knights errant was instituted to protect widows and orphans, and to succour mai...