# We're evacuating the planet. What 100 paintings do you insist we bring with us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 2, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976 "2011-09-02T17:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Jennmonkye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jennmonkye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennmonkye)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/81 "2011-09-03T04:59:32Z")
[“Arnolfini Portrait”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnolfini_Portrait) by van Eyck should be taken. Also at least one piece by [William Johnson](http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/sets/72157623263871511/) (my favorite artist). ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/82 "2011-09-03T09:10:03Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > _Guernica_ by Picasso. > > Shouldn’t even be a question about it. Took far too long before that one was mentioned. Moving right along, [Breugel](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=breugel&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=2158l3718l1l5842l7l7l0l0l0l0l402l1884l0.2.2.2.1l7l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1280&bih=586&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi), cannot continue without Breugel. Hunters in the Snow, Peasant Wedding, Childrens’ Games, Tower of Babylon; all good. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/83 "2011-09-03T10:16:57Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Simon Schama created a documentary called “[The Power of Art](http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/powerofart/)” which was subtitled “8 pieces of Art that changed the world.” It includes powerful arguments as to why the following should be included: > (Some have already been mentioned.) Similarly, Peter Greenaway’s 10 Western paintings of note: Rembrandt - [The Nightwatch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Nightwatch_by_Rembrandt.jpg) Da Vinci - [The Last Supper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DaVinci_LastSupper_high_res_2_nowatmrk.jpg) Veronese - [The Marriage at Cana](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paolo_Veronese,_The_Wedding_at_Cana.JPG) Raphael - [Wedding of the Virgin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Raffaello_-_Spozalizio_-_Web_Gallery_of_Art.jpg) Picasso - [Guernica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PicassoGuernica.jpg) Velazquez - [Las Meninas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas) Monet - [The Water-lilies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Lilies) Seurat - [La Grande Jatte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Sunday_on_La_Grande_Jatte,_Georges_Seurat,_1884.jpg) Pollock - [One: number 31](http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=78386) Michelangelo - [The Last Judgement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Michelangelo,_Giudizio_Universale_02.jpg) My personal pick would be something by Albrecht Durer, probably [Feast of the Rose Garlands](http://mydailyartdisplay.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/feast_of_the_rose_garlands_1506.jpg). He is my favourite artist and this is probably his masterwork (as far as painting goes – he had other masterworks in other media). Besides, if it was good enough for Rudolph II, it’s good enough for me. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/84 "2011-09-03T10:46:07Z")
None. Take the opportunity to start over. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/85 "2011-09-03T11:05:25Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > … > > [Pope Innocent X](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jaLfUqgdGmE/S9UN5ltttOI/AAAAAAAAACc/jX1u9aj_sXs/s1600/velazquez.innocent-x.jpg) by Velasquez > > … I’d go for [Francis Bacon’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Study_after_Velazquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X.jpg) version. Potent stuff. I love the pre-Raphaelites, particularly Rossetti’s [Beata Beatrix](http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rossetti/beatrix.jpg). There’s a whole, very sad, story in that painting. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/86 "2011-09-03T13:17:30Z")
_The Night Watch._ _Nighthawks._ Lots of the Pre-Raphaelites. Frederic Remington’s _The Stampede_. Frank Frazetta’s _Golden Girl_. For the panther, of course. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/87 "2011-09-03T13:45:15Z")
> [@Tapiotar](#): > > You don’t ever need to enter that part of the ship. Your minions can do all the loading and unloading. That door is quadruple locked, and all the keys were ground to powder, fed to rats which were then fed to cats which were then fed to hyenas which were then killed and cremated and their ashes scattered on Mars. Glinda scares me. > [@GuanoLad](#): > > None. Take the opportunity to start over. No one will be forcing you to look at them. But the rest of us want a world with history, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/88 "2011-09-03T21:39:47Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Hans Holbein’s portrait of [Sir Thomas More](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Hans_Holbein_d._J._-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_WGA11524.jpg/463px-Hans_Holbein_d._J._-_Sir_Thomas_More_-_WGA11524.jpg), because it’s like a photograph 400 years before the camera was invented. OMG, this is the painting I came in to mention, because I didn’t think anyone else would! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/89 "2011-09-03T21:41:59Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > OMG, this is the painting I came in to mention, because I didn’t think anyone else would! Yeah, we have to take that one. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/90 "2011-09-03T22:32:53Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > No one will be forcing you to look at them. But the rest of us want a world with history, thank you very much. But don’t manufacture it. If this is a new world, it should have its own History. Art is so subjective, it’d be impossible to bring along works everyone would agree on. Nobody would suggest Alex Ross’s _Kingdom Come_ covers, for example, but I prefer them to the stupid Mona effing Lisa. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/91 "2011-09-03T23:47:39Z")
I gotta have me some [Richard M. Powers](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xBwQLJf5c1M/Tf8vWA8um2I/AAAAAAAABoc/PWCTsi10YQE/s1600/Powers.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/92 "2011-09-03T23:50:35Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But don’t manufacture it. If this is a new world, it should have its own History. > > Art is so subjective, it’d be impossible to bring along works everyone would agree on. Nobody would suggest Alex Ross’s _Kingdom Come_ covers, for example, but I prefer them to the stupid Mona effing Lisa. Probably should insist on nobody speaking English too. Or drinking beer. Or kissing. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/93 "2011-09-03T23:53:28Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > None. Take the opportunity to start over. On one hand, I find this idea very appealing. On the other, I don’t want to abandon history, because there is so much to learn from it. Interesting point, though. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/94 "2011-09-04T00:00:43Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But don’t manufacture it. If this is a new world, it should have its own History. Three things, **GuanoLad** : 1. Did you mean to capitalize _history_ above? If so, why? 2. Worlds don’t have history absent sapient inhabitants, and this world obviously was uninhabited prior to humanity’s arrival. 3. You wrote above that in such a circumstance, humanity should “start over.” What does that mean, exactly? Do we abandon all our tech too? If so, why? If not, why not? And… > [@](#): > > Art is so subjective, it’d be impossible to bring along works everyone would agree on. Nobody would suggest Alex Ross’s _Kingdom Come_ covers, for example, but I prefer them to the stupid Mona effing Lisa. Because…? I invite you to give your reasons for wanting Alex Ross. Anyway, nobody’s talking about abandoning Ross. It’s been implicit throughout the discussion that tons of stuff was being digitized – as much as we can. We’re talking about what _original_ works of art need to be saved. I will submit that Ross’s work, being intended for mass market reproduction, need not be saved in its original form in the same way that _Sunday Afternoon…_ does, because the effect of the latter is not generally (maybe not ever) preserved in photos. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/95 "2011-09-04T00:26:40Z")
I did mean to capitalise “History” but I’m not sure why I did. It just seemed right. Art isn’t great because an expert said it is, but too many people follow this lead. I just want that to be abandoned and to start again somewhat more democratically, and considerably less pretentiously. I’d like people to bring whatever art they actually like, not what is considered “great” by Historians. Arguably that’s what people are listing, but there’s an underlying snobbishness to it all that bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/96 "2011-09-04T00:40:04Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I did mean to capitalise “History” but I’m not sure why I did. It just seemed right. > > Art isn’t great because an expert said it is, but too many people follow this lead. I just want that to be abandoned and to start again somewhat more democratically, and considerably less pretentiously. > > I’d like people to bring whatever art they actually like, not what is considered “great” by Historians. Arguably that’s what people are listing, but there’s an underlying snobbishness to it all that bothers me. Not at all. You’ll note that I have disagreed strenuously with people who like Pollock and Picasso (two giants of 20th century art), and I’m the guy who started the thread. I don’t think everyone agrees with my choices, either. Experts appraise the quality of art differently than most not because they’re anti-democratic or elitist but because, having studied more, they _know_ more. they have an an appreciation of technique and cliche and a ton of other stuff that someone like me (who took some art appreciation & humanities classes in college and has always liked paintings, but has never done anything like a systematic study of the visual arts) cannot approach. Similarly, my sustained if unfocused and amateurish (literally) study of paintings gives me somewhat better standing than someone whose doesn’t even know who Pollock is. Anyway, the point of this thread was to give people an excuse to talk about their favorite paintintgs. I can start another Tolkien thread if you prefer. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/97 "2011-09-04T02:18:25Z")
“Sons and Orphans Near Kurlkurta” by Anatjari Tjakamarra [http://www.artslant.com/ny/events/show/87719-contemporary-aboriginal-painting-from-australia?print=1](http://www.artslant.com/ny/events/show/87719-contemporary-aboriginal-painting-from-australia?print=1) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/98 "2011-09-04T03:31:44Z")
Most paintings I couldn’t care less about, but I’ll suggest either[The Voyage of Life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voyage_of_Life) or [The Course of Empire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire) by Thomas Cole. Voyage if you wanna be optimistic in the new world, Empire if more cynical. I don’t know if they’re great painting or not, but they’ll help us remember who we are. And I was a nicer person when I saw them, so I’ll want them around anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/99 "2011-09-04T05:23:17Z")
Frederic Remington’s _[A Dash For The Timber](http://www.frederic-remington.org/A-Dash-for-the-Timber-large.html)_ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976/100 "2011-09-04T15:35:56Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > You ought to see it in person. It’s simply amazing. > > (It’s in the Louvre, by the way, so you probably could, with much less hassle than us 'Murkin Dopers…) Yeah… I loathe Paris, though. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > By the way, **SciFiSam** , you want to impress people - especially female people - with love poetry? Try “Love is not all”, by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Seriously, this is the literary equivalent of a roofie - dropping on some poor girl constitutes date rape. Good God, there’s no way I’d ever want to try to use poetry to impress a date. I don’t do that kind of cheesy. (And I’m female, btw). I wouldn’t use poetry to impress anyone at all now, but when I was a teenager who’d been brought up in a bit of a cultural wasteland it was unusual that I know a little about poetry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-evacuating-the-planet-what-100-paintings-do-you-insist-we-bring-with-us/594976.md?page=6)