what is your favorite art work and who is the artist?

Question

I need to write an art critiscism essay for school on any painting that is not in my art book. any suggestions?

(ps. my teacher is freakin high and she expects our interpretation of the painting to be all deep so any insight on the artwork would be nice too, such as what some of the things represent and stuff)

Answer 1

Can you love one art movement and hate another? I doubt...

According to movements (19th century onwards), here are my best paintings of all time (choose your best):

1 - 19th Century Art (Romanticism):
"The Hay Wain" by JOHN CONSTABLE
I even have a reproduction of it hanging on one of the walls in my house... what a marvelous sereneful landscape... notice the amazing use of color, it is very clear that the sky is getting cloudy, and will eventually rain... wow!

2- Impressionism:
"Impression: Sunrise" by CLAUDE MONET
Breathtaking sunrise! Look at the sun... it is a small round ball in the middle-right side of the painting, but it is glowing and attractive with use of clever coloring...

3- Postimpressionism:
"The Starry Night" by VINCENT VAN GOGH
Have you ever traveled into the mind of a mentally challenged person? The Starry Night by Van Gogh takes you there. Enjoy the exploration of the great balls of fire in the night sky!

4- Art Nouveau:
"The Kiss" by GUSTAV KLIMT
Notice how the artist united both the bodies of the lover couple by the act of kissing. It symbolizes that with love a bond has formed, where you have found your other half (the spouse) to complete yourself (to convert yourself from a man to a gentleman, and from a woman to a lady). Long Live the Kiss!

5- Expressionism:
"The Scream" by EDVARD MUNCH
Notice how the screaming figure is neglected by the two couple walking on the top-left side of the painting. They continue walking and never bother to look back, showing how cruel and harsh we as humans have become in today's world... we lost the sense of communication and caring to one another.

6- Cubism:
"The Girls of Avignon" by PABLO PICASSO
Look at these woman with big Mesopotamian eyes and African masks doing erotic poses but hiding their true feelings; it's not that they're doing it because they like to do it, it's because it's their job.

7- Surrealism:
"The Persistence of Memory" by SALVADOR DALI
Can you kill time? Of course you can, if you're Dali. Never in a million years would I have thought of clocks melting, devoured by insects, and lost in the middle of nowhere. Doesn't the painting take you to a totally different dimension that is not part of this world?

8- Abstract Expressionism:
"Bay Side" by HELEN FRANKENTHALER
Just look at the beautiful mixture of the colors. What romantic abstract emotions that painting has!



But hey, if you're looking for something not in the book...
Try "Swans Refelcting as Elephants" by SALVADOR DALI. You can find it on the web. Notice the great effect of psychic automatism in the work, yet there is a clever use of decoration. Each of the subjects on canvas has nothing to do with what's around them, hence no unity is found in the painting, but they were put in correct positioning that make the painting appeal as a composition to the audience. Though an expressionist work, notice the excellent use of realism in the fine lines, proportions, colors, value, and texture of the subject matter on canvas. However, the size of the elephants are not relatively bigger than the size of the swans, meaning proportion wise, the size of the elephants are not in proportion with the size of the swans. Balance is maintained well, and asymmetrical balance is evident since the left side of the work do not mirror the right, but complements it and balances out with correct positioning of the subjects. Rhythm is formed in the placing of the swans next to each other, and so too the elephants, which both combined make some sort of a pattern. The painting lacks some sort of a symbolic meaning or theme though, as well as the element of inconography, since Dali's style in art was grouping different subjects altogether on one canvas, where each object can be interpreted alone, but not in unity with the rest of the objects on canvas...


hope that helps!

Answer 2

If you want your choice to be debated I'd say go for DaVinci's 'The Last Supper' since Dan Brown's book a lot of speculation around the painting has surfaced i.e. is it Mary Magdalene sitting next to Jesus? Is the holy grail made of glass and not wood ? You can clearly see glasses on the table and also the person sitting near Jesus has the reversed colours of the same kind of robes.. With that painting you're sure to get deep thoughts and get everyone taking sides.. Good luck

Answer 3

Art Déco is for me an evergreen. But I like also some parts of Impressionism, Illuminism and the first Romantic period. I like the paintings and the movies of the Expressionism, expecially the German Expressionism. Some artists, who are always in my heart: Van Gogh, Friedrich, Leonardo, Mondrian, Canova, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Nolde.

Answer 4

I love Francis Bacon's work, especially his "study after Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X". Bacon spoke a lot about the mouth and how it was the locust of pain (the part where it originates). All of his mouths in his paintings are alive with the same type of quality as TV static, distorted and active and usually either grinning evilishly or in the middle of a scream. His works remind me of Edvard Munch, his "Scream" also focuses on the mouth and the body of the figure being altered my his disturbed mental state.

Answer 5

An excellent work for you to report on is Anima Animus by Dana Levin. This set of two paintings in the classical realism style represent the male and female sides of our personalities.
http://www.eegallery.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?artist=DANA%20LEVIN
There is a lot of infomration on the web regarding the theories of Jung on Anima Animas.

Answer 6

Screw painting.

Look up

Kiki Smith or Matthew Barney. You'll find some deep interpretations of their work.

I would look for
Kiki Smith's "Blood pool" there's several versions of this piece. not a painting though

Matthew Barney's "Cremaster" series. you wont be able to find the actual piece, but you will be able to find stills. his sculpture work is amazing also.

Answer 7

Nicolas Le Beuan Bènic..... I just simply like his graphic things on canvas, so particular.

Answer 8

"Ojibwa Story Tree", by Norval Morrisseau.

Answer 9

i LOVE m.c. esher....he does really interesting artwork!!!!

Answer 10

check out http://www.piotrwolodkowicz.com