Caravaggio was a bona fide genius. And an interesting bloke to put it mildly, worth reading the biog on Wiki. I like his Beheading of St John the Baptist, mainly because the severed head is said to be a self portrait.
One more that made me smile. please log in to view this image A few more at this website http://www.thetegmentum.com/cool-3d-illusional-street-art/
I don't disagree at all. The Mona Lisa is stuck down the bottom of a corridor and encased in bulletproof glass in the louvre. You have to fight your way past loads of people to get a glimpse of a painting of a woman who just looks a bit fed up to be honest. On the same floor is the Raft of the Medusa which is an immense painting with a tragic story. I have been to the louvre three times and am always drawn to this painting.
Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa is another one of my 'Good Lord, that's a bit brilliant' moments. Only heard of it through reading Julian Barnes' A History of the World in 10 and a half Chapters, of which the story forms one of the chapters. That's a great book as well. The last chapter, about a Leicester City fan who wakes up in heaven and spends the rest of eternity scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final, improving his golf until every hole is a hole in one, meeting famous people from history and shagging famous beauties from history, sticks in the mind. I won't give away the ending, but be honest, that is what you want heaven to be like isn't it? Never seen it in the flesh though Royal. I am now intimidated by the huge galleries like the National and the Louvre. On the rare occasions I go now I limit myself to one period, two or three rooms, and do it really well. The whole thing is just overwhelming.
Here's another one that stopped me in my track's John Martin's "The Great Day of his Wrath" an interpretation of the apocalypse. Its in the Tate Britain, and is a huge canvas, no way you can get the sense of it on here. There are complete baroque cities collapsing into the chasm, with people tumbling in in the foreground. Guaranteed to get the most surly teenager, even an atheist one(I have remained true to my beliefs in this area at least) like I was when I first saw it, stop in his/her tracks. He was never a popular artist with the critics, outshone by his contemporaries Turner and Constable, and given the extreme religious nature of his pictures may have been a bit of a nutter. I wonder how he got the figures to sit for this one? Wouldn't want it one my wall, mind, though I would like a house big enough to accommodate it.
It's called 'Keelmen Heaving In Coals By Night', Swords. Set on Tyneside. http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.1225.html
I have a piece of art on my living room wall that I bought in King's Cross for £180 about 12 years ago which still fascinates me to this day. I can't imagine the Picasso giving me the same pleasure.
Oh Swords! You've got it the wrong way up!!! It's actually part of a triptych with Joey Barton on the left and Tom Huddleston's ball sack on the right.
My daughter (now 15) won a prize from her school district for this Christmas card design made when she was 7 years old. It was later printed for distribution. please log in to view this image Another daughter (13) gave me this as a Christmas gift last year:- please log in to view this image
I have only ever purchased two pieces of art. One, which I mentioned earlier in this thread, cost me £180 and still sits proudly on my living room wall. The other purchase was not such a success. About 15 years ago, some friends and I used to occasionally visit a pub in Farringdon called the Three Kings. This was a quirky, bohemian kind of place which had an art college across the road, and which would double as a gallery for the art students, with artworks for sale hung on the wall. One drunken evening, I was quite taken with one of the artworks – a 3D papier mache representation of a ship named HMS Rollmop. The price tag said £200. Flush with cash from a win on the horses, I offered the landlord £150 and nearly lost my arm as the deal was sealed. I sat on the train home proudly clutching my purchase and sharing its delights with anyone who would take any notice. When I got home, I thought I’d surprise my wife by replacing whatever mundane piece that adorned the living room at that time with my new, exciting purchase. So I hung HMS Rollmop on the wall and joined my sleeping wife in bed. In the morning, my hangover sleep was rudely disturbed by my wife’s scream as she entered the living room. Puzzlingly, it didn’t seem to be a scream of delight. “Where did that thing come from?” she demanded when she came back upstairs. “I bought it.” “How much did you pay for it?” “£50” I said sheepishly, sensing that the full price wouldn’t be well received. “What? You paid £50 for that piece of tat? You must be mad.” HMS Rollmop now resides in the loft - perhaps I should contact Sheik Hamad bin Jassim.
I have this hanging on the office wall.....entitled "The Management"..... please log in to view this image
This is what hangs on the wall above my desk at home, a print of Arctic Team by Gabriella Lewenz. Judging by comments on this thread won't be to many people's taste, but looks good in the room. It's big too, must be 4'6'' square, which makes it good value.....always buy art by the yard.
About 25 years ago I bought an Artist Proof (AP) of this work by local artist Molly Lamb Bobak (a wartime artist along with her husband Bruno Bobak), for $200. Interesting that 10 years earlier, browsing a small art gallery in St. Andrews on the Bay of Fundy, I had stumbled on this, liked it and later regretted not purchasing it. On a return visit all those years later I was surprised it was still there, so was obviously meant to be for me. When I tried to purchase it the gallery had to contact the artist first for approval since it was currently selling for a much higher price. please log in to view this image SKATERS serigraph, edition 5/150 12 x 18 in. framed dimension: 22 x 28 in. SOLD http://www.gallery78.com/mlbobakprint.htm I also purchased this work by Bruno Bobak for a former girlfriend as a Valentine's Day gift (I bought it for $50 back then):- please log in to view this image LOVERS engraving, signed edition 41/50 3 x 3.75 in. framed dimension: 10.75 x 12.75 in. $350 http://www.gallery78.com/bbobak.htm
They can be a bit much; the national is good in that they have a pamphlet that tells you where ' the paintings you must see' are. That is good of you want to keep your visit to a few hours. The Louvre is exhausting as is the hermitage in St Petersburg which I was lucky enough to visit five years ago. Re art on our walls. I did buy an original piece many years ago from one of the artists who sell their stuff outside Hyde park on Sundays. It did not look as good when I got it home, but we still have it up. The others I have are prints of fairly predictable artists Klimt,Modigliani, schiele and Kirchner . ... But I like them and that's what matters!
