This is a sadly neglected area of my life. I like paintings, I like art museums, I like books of paintings but I seldom take the time.
For Mrs. Pluto it’s easy – Hopper’s “Nighthawks”. For me, I suppose it’s Picasso’s “Don Quixote” – technically not a painting, I suppose.
Once several years ago I got a chance to visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. for about half an hour! I was literally running from room to room trying to see everything (and seeing nothing of course!) There’s a Rembrandt, there’s a Titian, etc. But the one artist that made me stop and really look was Gilbert Stuart, oddly enough. His portraits of Washington and Jefferson. Maybe they reminded me of money!
I have to classify my favorites by those I’ve seen in person and those I’ve only seen prints of. The difference between the two is so intense, there’s almost no way to compare them.
When it comes to prints, I’m a big fan of Parrish, Klimt, Chagall, Marie Cassatt, Renoir, Picasso, Redon, Monet, Gauguin, van Gogh, whoever painted the Lasceaux cavewalls, and dozens more.
In person, I haven’t seen nearly enough, but in San Antonio, where I grew up, there’s a small museum called the McNay, and they have about one of everything, it seems. There’s a Monet waterlily painting that I could sit in front of for hours. The colors, the brush strokes, it just swallows you whole.
Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss”
Marcel Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase.”
van Gogh’s “Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear.”
A slight hi-jack, but my LEAST favorire would be anything by Cy Twomby. The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a display of his “Ulysses” series, and I was enraged by their pretentiousness. They were everything that was awful about modern art. I don’t know the names of many late 20th century artist, but the sheer shittiness of his work made me remember Twomby’s name. Ironic, huh?
My favorite artists are Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. Favorite painting? Gotta be The Persistence Of Memory. I also really like Chuck Close’s work, amazing.
By far my favorite painter is Sargent; I have seen three shows so far, the El Jaleo exhibit, the Polynesian exhibit (saw both of these in Chicago) and the recent (last year? '98?) Sargent exhibit at the National Gallery in DC. I don’t think I could pick a favorite painting since I love so many, but there is one painting I’m thinking of that shows the head of a girl from Capri…her earrings have glints of light and her expression is enigmantic…sigh
I also love Dufy, Cezanne (landscapes, don’t really care for the still lifes), Van Gogh (of course), Chagall, Kandinsky, some Vermeers, and a single Van Dyke, a portrait of some fresh young thing in this fabulous green velvet dress.
I am the only person on earth who LOATHES Renoir. I don’t like his particular brand of impressionism, the bright colors and little girls with flowers, bleah.
“Annie McGinley” by Rockwell Kent. He was an American who left the country during the hunt for communists, and spent some time in Ireland. The painting in question, considered by some to be one of the finest examples of his work, is an Irish seacoast with a young girl laying on the edge of the cliff. It was once featured in the “ART” section on the back cover of Reader’s Digest.
Swimming,
What you said about seeing yourself is how I feel. OR something that gets a message across either to make me laugh, cry, or think.
I have too many favorites to post but recently my nine year old girl and I visited a the Romanovs exhibit. All I can say is wow. They had a painting of their wedding and I swear it looked like the candle light was flickering on their faces. There was also one that was 200 ft long around the room. http://www.angelfire.com/ma/romanov/
My favorite, by far, is The Floor Scrapers by Gustave Caillebotte. I bought a very old house some years ago and refinished the wood floors by hand. I immediately went out and bought the print and, if I ever win the lottery, I’m buying the real one.
I’ve also always liked Magritte, but I love him even more after seeing an exhibit a couple of years ago. It was just so cool to see so many of his works together.
“I should not take bribes and Minister Bal Bahadur KC should not do so either. But if clerks take a bribe of Rs 50-60 after a hard day’s work, it is not an issue.” ----Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Current Prime Minister of Nepal
Probably no surprise to anyone, but I find the Surrealists to be consuming.
There’s a Dali exhibit in town at the moment, and the bastards are selling timed admission. I need at least three hours for each piece, and I’m going broke buying tickets from the folks in line so I can keep getting back in . . .
Dr. Watson
“I know all about Art, but I don’t know what I like.” (after James Thurber, I think)
I like the Rumple Minze poster.
Seriously, I really like anything impressionist.
Everything else can be very touching, but the existentialism that impressionist artists convey to me is very soothing.
A sort of kindred spirit sort of thing.
how did it start? well i don’t know i just feel the craving. i see the flesh and it smells fresh and it’s just there for the taking…
VvvV
