Which painting or sculpture do you love?

DarthDimi

There's a museum in Brussels where this sculpture by Julien Dillens (1849 - 1904), Tomb Figure, always draws my attention. I stand in front of it and I can't say goodbye to it. The girl's facial expression is both disarming and sad, lovely and melancholic. I wonder what she's thinking. I wonder why she keeps her hands folded the way she does. She looks sweet and innocent but is she? I'm in love with this statue. I think it's full of mystery and beauty.

chrisisall

I like this one:

Dragonpol

I love the painting that now adorns my avatar. I found it in a Google Image search, but I'm afraid I don't know the artist. I think the man in it looks quite Bondian, too, though I doubt the real Bond would balance a cat on his shoulders.

chrisisall

Okay, I had my fun. To answer seriously, there is a painting in a museum near me that always stops me in my tracks.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Girl,_William-Adolphe_Bouguereau,_1886_-_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Springfield,_MA_-_DSC04123.JPG
Technically it is brilliant painting, artistically it's warm and mesmerising.

4EverBonded

@DarthDimi, that is lovely and intriguing! I had not seen it before; thanks for sharing.
It looks like she has maybe just let the leaves (ar they leaves?) slip from her fingers. And it is part of a tomb?

I have several that I love (paintings/sculptures); for exmaple, I adore Monet. But first, let me choose one that I have always found so intriguing, from Andrew Wyeth (painted 1948) and now at the Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York City ~
It is called, Christina's World:



I remember seeing this for the first time and thinking it was rather eerie, strange, different yet lovely. It raises questions immediately and has a complex atmosphere. This painting brings many thoughts and feelings for me.

And here is what the museum has written about it:
The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist's neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, "was limited physically but by no means spiritually." Wyeth further explained, "The challenge to me was to do justice to her extraordinary conquest of a life which most people would consider hopeless." He recorded the arid landscape, rural house, and shacks with great detail, painting minute blades of grass, individual strands of hair, and nuances of light and shadow. In this style of painting, known as magic realism, everyday scenes are imbued with poetic mystery.


Knowing the woman was a friend of his and had polio adds even more texture of meaning to this scene.

DarthDimi

Beautiful things, people!

@4EverBonded, she's not part of an actual tomb. ;-)

JWESTBROOK

I have this thing for big epic War Portraits. I just see something romantic in men battling men to defend their homes, protect their rights, or destroy an evil force. I know not all war is like that, but "Washington's Crossing" does speak on that sentiment of passion and pride that comes with war.



It just speaks to me and defines responsibility, cunning, leadership, and command. A painting of the lost, or never really found, American resolve.

4EverBonded

Ah, okay, @DarthDimi, the title of it (Tomb Figure) made me think it was.

@chrisisall, that is a lovely painting, too. She looks so thoughtful it makes you wonder what she is thinking, what she is doing there. I had not seen it before.

@Dragonpol, the man in the picture has mesmerizing eyes! Like Houdini or some other magician.

@JWestbrook, I've always loved that painting! If I really take the time to look at it, it brings many emotions to me, reminding of of the extremely daunting tasks Washington took on so long ago, when it was never a sure thing that our country would be formed independent of the U.K. I like to think it is a resolve we didn't lose, and have always had. A strong resolve, willing to do whatever it takes, and independent streak is at the core of what it means to me, to be a U.S.A. citizen.

I really enjoy looking at art other people like; and at times I get to see new things, which is great. I like this thread. :)

Dragonpol

4EverBonded wrote:

Ah, okay, @DarthDimi, the title of it (Tomb Figure) made me think it was.

@chrisisall, that is a lovely painting, too. She looks so thoughtful it makes you wonder what she is thinking, what she is doing there. I had not seen it before.

@Dragonpol, the man in the picture has mesmerizing eyes! Like Houdini or some other magician.

@JWestbrook, I've always loved that painting! If I really take the time to look at it, it brings many emotions to me, reminding of of the extremely daunting tasks Washington took on so long ago, when it was never a sure thing that our country would be formed independent of the U.K. I like to think it is a resolve we didn't lose, and have always had. A strong resolve, willing to do whatever it takes, and independent streak is at the core of what it means to me, to be a U.S.A. citizen.

I really enjoy looking at art other people like; and at times I get to see new things, which is great. I like this thread. :)

Yes,@4EverBonded, the man's eyes are certainly fascinating. Looks a little bit like me, too. I found it in a Google Images search, but I've not been able to find it again or find out who painted it or if it is famous. Still, I like it immensely and intend keeping it as my avatar for good.

0013

My favorite paintings are:

La nascita di Venere - The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli


Saturno devorando a su hijo - Saturn Devouring His Son
Francisco Goya

DarthDimi

Any more art lovers here? ;-)

Murdock

I always got a chuckle out of "The Scream"

4EverBonded

Ah, me too, Murdock! I was also going to list The Scream (by Edvard Munch). It is unforgettable. I also enjoy all the parodies I see of it. One of my favorite books for kids is Babar's Museum of Art (or Babar's Gallery) which has Babar the elephant showing children his new art museum, where there are reproductions of many famous paintings, including The Scream ... but all have elephants in them! It is hilarious and so cute. I could not find a picture on the internet of the one with The Scream (a screaming elephant), but here is one of Georges-Pierre Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–1886):


and the original:

Dragonpol

I'm quite a fan of L.S. Lowry and have been in a way since childhood, though I need to read up on him more. I've always greatly admired his study of bleakness in inner-city life and his seeemingly simplistic matchstick men-style figures:

DarthDimi

@Murdock, @4EverBonded, @Dragonpol, excellent choices, people!

I myself love most of the impressionists' paintings. My favourite painter from that 'fin-de-siècle' era is Claude Monet. I love his use of colours, the insignificance of people in his paintings and his painting techniques.

WillyGalore

@DarthDimi I would have thought this was more to your tastes ;-)

Dragonpol

I like Magritte too. Here's his classic The Son of Man:



Collective Invention:



Memory of A Journey:



La Clairvoyance:

4EverBonded

Thanks for the Monet, @DarthDimi! :) I adore Monet, probably my very favorite painter. Lovely choice. Monet fills me with serenity.

And I am not familiar with L.S. Lowry, @Dragonpol, but I like those quite a bit. Thanks for sharing.

@Willy, go back to your playground now. ;) I think that picture, as a poster, was to be found in a few of my friend's bedrooms in the 80's ...

And I like Magritte - and of course now I always immediately think of The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce and Rene. :D

WillyGalore

@Dragonpol I recognise that top one from Brosnan's The Thomas Crown Affair.

Dragonpol

WillyGalore wrote:

@Dragonpol I recognise that top one from Brosnan's The Thomas Crown Affair.

Oh, good - didn't know that! Have it on DVD along with The Tailor of Panama and Butterfly on A Wheel but yet to see any of these. I'm on a Brosnan buzz, y'see and I hope to interview him.

4EverBonded

Oh The Thomas Crown Affair is great! And yes, the painting and bowler hat figure in significantly. Check it out soon!

Dragonpol

WillyGalore wrote:

@DarthDimi I would have thought this was more to your tastes ;-)

Come on, it's not even a painting, Willy. ;)

4EverBonded

And yet you had to quote him so now we see it twice on this thread ...

Dragonpol

4EverBonded wrote:

And yet you had to quote him so now we see it twice on this thread ...

What's wrong with that? Oh, OK. Consider it "Fixed". :\">

Dragonpol

I really like these Allied wartime propaganda efforts:



"How good a phrenologist are you? Can you tell what each object in Hitler's head denotes? If not, see other side. Rat - has invaded and betrayed every country with which he had a peace pact; Matches - has burned art and literature; Powder Keg - has tried to blow civilization to pieces; Baby - wants more babies for cannon fodder; Gun - has a gun at the head of everyone in Europe; Pig - wants to hog the world; Butcher - wants to carve to pieces everyone who will not yield to him; Skeleton - brings death and destruction; Cannon - has slain innocent women and children; Haywire and Crack-Pot; Nut - fit subject for the bughouse"

Dragonpol

I really like this one of Mussolini's brain too:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_S92AOjzV1WQ/SoEQ_rz4wsI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/BDkraYafJig/s1600-h/xray.jpg

Shardlake

While I can't profess to be a huge art fan, I am particularly drawn to the work of Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio

My visit to the Uffizi back in 2007 turned me into a fan and have seen his work in Malta, Rome, Dublin & London, I've also read Andrew Graham - Dixon's excellent biography.

I know Derek Jarman did make a film about Caravaggio years ago but his rather dramatic life is crying out for a film or maybe a series, Italian or English I don't mind.

I could pick plenty of his works but this painting particularly hypnotised me when I saw it in Dublin in 2009, the story behind it's re-discovery is compelling in itself.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Caravaggio_-_Taking_of_Christ_-_Dublin.jpg

hildebrand_rarity

Don't know why, but I've always been intrigued by Hopper's Cape Cod Morning

RogueAgent

The Scream painting is a personal favourite of mine. 8-X

Ludovico

Magritte is great and his relevant not only for visual arts. His art is like a crash course in semiology. My favourite contemporary painter is Fabian Perez. If there is one artist I'd like to see making a Bond novel cover it's him.

DarthDimi

Magritte and Munch are superb!

Anyone fan of Toulouse-Lautrec?