I know I'm starting this topic, but I don't really have much to offer since I don't know anything about art.
There was a painting at Kirkland's (stop laughing, we don't have any art museums close by that I know of) of the side/back of a woman sitting at a dressing table or something with a mirror, impressionist style I think. I usually imagine that she's sad. Maybe her husband or lover never showed for their date/anniversary/whatever, maybe he's gone forever. Or maybe it's before he is supposed to arrive, and she's not sad, but quietly peaceful, waiting. And I didn't buy that painting and can't find a picture of it anywhere to show it on here. Mostly I prefer the ones that evoke emotion, which for me, rarely includes abstract art or anything similar to it.
I do like this one, but not enough to ever want it:
I don't have one single favorite piece of art or even a particular favorite artist. The closest I could come to answering that question is to limit it to favorite type of art... and that would be the female nude. I like statues, paintings, photography, pretty much anything "artful but not pornographic".
I like them all the way back to Greek & Roman sculpture, and all the way current to some of the art by Spencer Tunic (limited to his ones with females though).
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"Yabba Dabba Doo" - Frederick J. Flintstone... So what?
(Judd Nelson as Atty. Robin 'Stormy' Weathers in "From the Hip")
I like Renaissance art and the Impressionists best. I cried when I saw Michelangelo's David. The best part about going to Europe was the art. The Cathedral de Notre Dame de Paris was amazing. The rose windows are so pretty, even on a rainy day. It is impossible to choose just one favorite piece since so many pieces of art move me and in very different ways.
I wish I had a picture to show you but it wouldn't do it justice anyway. My favorite work of art is the stained glass window in my friend's church.
It's heart hurting make you wanna cry beautiful. And then with the singing and praying. Done. Just done. I'm getting all weepy just thinking about it.
If I was cynical I would believe that beauty like that is what inspired religion because it makes you FEEL so much that whatever someone is telling you at the time you would be powerless to resist them. LOL!
But I'm not cynical. My church isn't anywhere near that beautiful and I still believe.
Salvador Dali's The Sacrament of the Last Supper. There is so much going on in that painting you see more the longer, or more often, you look at it.
It needs the right setting, however. It was moved for a temporary exhibit at the National Art museum last time I saw it, and the bad lighting and location made it seem like an ordinary painting. It was very disappointing, as that painting was the whole reason for our visit to the museum.
actually, pb, your avatar looks like she's about to rearrange her face, not 'take her'.
I meant that.
"Take her" doesn't mean take her down (i.e. beat her up)?
without the 'down' "take her" is closer to sleeping with her than beating her up, at least around here. Of course, I'm surrounded by college-age horntoads and pontificating know-it-alls lately, so that may be skewing my perception.
actually, pb, your avatar looks like she's about to rearrange her face, not 'take her'.
I meant that.
"Take her" doesn't mean take her down (i.e. beat her up)?
without the 'down' "take her" is closer to sleeping with her than beating her up, at least around here. Of course, I'm surrounded by college-age horntoads and pontificating know-it-alls lately, so that may be skewing my perception.
Interesting, here" take" would mean beat her up. "Yeah, I could take Sally" means I could kick her ass.
I don't think I could settle on one piece. There is lots of art I like. I like Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Gustave Courbet, Rouault, Van Gogh, Picasso, Egon Schiele and others.
Work of art is pretty broad, so it could apply to music, dance, movies, etc but I am confining it for this discussion.
In many early paintings of The Virgin/Madonna and Child the baby looks small, but kind of like an adult. In others-later ones- he looks like a baby, but sometimes on the large side. It's mostly due to the stylistic conventions of the time the paintings were done. I like most of them-they are not realistic or very pretty by our standards but I find them interesting, and kind of charming and amusing. And I think I prefer the early, rather grim looking ones to the later more sentimentalized ones.
I like stylized paintings like this as well as more naturalistic and realistic art.
Here's another one, with an even more middle-aged hairline:
-- Edited by Cactus on Wednesday 9th of January 2013 12:42:23 PM
Your company takes field trips to art museums? That sounds kind of nice, as long as you're not too busy at the time. How and why did they decide to go to the Guggenheim in particular?
I am not all that fond of modern abstract art either-color field paintings and things like that.
I think I do like a lot of art which many might consider ugly-that includes art that depicts "ugly" things, and art that is itself considered bad.
-- Edited by Cactus on Wednesday 9th of January 2013 02:58:51 PM
She certainly looks young and beautiful. I like it. I also like stuff like this Madonna with Child by Cimabue, where the Christ child kind of looks like a miniature middle aged man:
heh heh. Well I don't know that it's what I would choose to look at on my wall every day, but I find them quite interesting. It's the aesthetic convention of another time.
I once went on field trip to the Guegenheim (sp?) in NYC for a company field trip (I **** you not). I wanted to kill myself most modern and abstract art makes my eyes bleed.
I love Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night. I'd like to have a framed print of it for the kitchen or dining room. I also like Diego Rivera's work since calla lilies are my favorite.
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"I never understood why blessings wore disguises. If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked." - Sophia Petrillo
cactus have you read Nana by Emile Zola..Manet did a portrait of her and the book was quite good. Represented a lot of the time during the impressionist period
Your company takes field trips to art museums? That sounds kind of nice, as long as you're not too busy at the time. How and why did they decide to go to the Guggenheim in particular?
I am not all that fond of modern abstract art either-color field paintings and things like that.
I think I do like a lot of art which many might consider ugly-that includes art that depicts "ugly" things, and art that is itself considered bad.
-- Edited by Cactus on Wednesday 9th of January 2013 02:58:51 PM
I have no idea how and why they picked the Guggenheim.