great thread, i'm only about halfway through it, i have it bookmarked because i don't want to rush, some very amazing art, i've spent many hours at the met and moma and look forward to many more hoping this is not too egocentric but my daughters mentor Robert Armetta Art - Bing images , robert armetta asked me to sit for a portrait which is one of those things i never expected in my lifetime so i want to share it this is me: it's not my favorite of all time, i just can't get over that it exists
After keeping a print of my favourite painting rolled up & tucked away for years, I finally decided to get it framed: Caspar David Friedrich-Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog:
Picking a fan of one painting of all time is like picking one song - really impossible for those that love art. I am a fan of so many for various reasons - each brings something unique to the human condition and express beauty/tragedy and every other perspective in various nuanced ways. I love many of Monet's paintings and Seurat's. May have to post a couple for various reasons, but here is my first: Rembrandt, Christ In The Storm On The Sea Of Galilee, 1633 This commentary summarizes my affection for this painting more poignantly than I ever could: "Rembrandt’s most striking narrative painting in America, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, is also his only painted seascape. Dated 1633, it was made shortly after Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam from his native Leiden, when he was establishing himself as the city’s leading painter of portraits and historical subjects. The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the relatively polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style. Eighteenth-century critics like Arnold Houbraken often preferred this early period to Rembrandt’s later, broader, and less descriptive manner. The biblical scene pitches nature against human frailty – both physical and spiritual. The panic-stricken disciples struggle against a sudden storm, and fight to regain control of their fishing boat as a huge wave crashes over its bow, ripping the sail and drawing the craft perilously close to the rocks in the left foreground. One of the disciples succumbs to the sea’s violence by vomiting over the side. Amidst this chaos, only Christ, at the right, remains calm, like the eye of the storm. Awakened by the disciples’ desperate pleas for help, he rebukes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” and then rises to calm the fury of wind and waves. Nature’s upheaval is both cause and metaphor for the terror that grips the disciples, magnifying the emotional turbulence and thus the image’s dramatic impact. The painting showcases the young Rembrandt’s ability not only to represent a sacred history, but also to seize our attention and immerse us in an unfolding pictorial drama. For greatest immediacy, he depicted the event as if it were a contemporary scene of a fishing boat menaced by a storm. The spectacle of darkness and light formed by the churning seas and blackening sky immediately attracts our attention. We then become caught up in the disciples’ terrified responses, each meticulously characterized to encourage and sustain prolonged, empathetic looking. Only one figure looks directly out at us as he steadies himself by grasping a rope and holds onto his cap [Rembrandt surprisingly painted himself into the painting]. His face seems familiar from Rembrandt’s self-portraits, and as his gaze fixes on ours we recognize that we have become imaginative participants in the painter’s vivid dramatization of a disaster Christ is about to avert." see Luke 8:22-25 Source: Michael Zell, "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 145. Here is the closeup of where Rembrandt painted himself into the painting with Christ and the 12 disciples. Also notice that Rembrandt is the only one looking forward, directly at us.
I don’t realy have a favorite but man I’ve always liked this painting, would have loved to see the one with her strap hanging off her shoulder ( he had to bring it down to PG rating). Scandalous in its time for its provocativeness she never showed it in public. Perfect painting by Sargent.
My great-grandfather had painted this also. He was a retired housepainter and making copies of famous paintings was a hobby. This took me right back to my great-grandparents little house, which smelled of paint and cigarsmoke and I feel the thick tablecloth (more persiancarpet.... like in old Amsterdam pubs) while cards are played .....thanks man! Another on of his copies decorated my room for years: Schoenen - Van Gogh Museum
Botticelli's La Primavera or Carlo Crivelli's Annunciation. Renaissance art and its history is a passion for me. I see as much of it 'for real' in galleries as I can, and read a great deal about it. The Primavera is in the Uffizi in Florence, Crivelli's Annunciation in the National Gallery in London.
Astonishing painting. In 15 year's time it will be 600 years old, and it still glows like it did when first painted. It's in the National Gallery in London. There's a very good book about The Arnolfini Portrait called Girl in a Green Gown by Carola Hicks (Vintage Books 2011). I love it.
Its been mentioned here several times, but my favorite is also Nighthawks by Hopper. It takes me back to the late 80's, working the night shift, then grabbing a bite to eat, a couple cups of black coffee and thumbing through the newspaper at 4am.
I posted some Egon Scheile landscapes a while back. His work with figures and portraits is also stellar, IMO.
Well, my current answer to the question on an artwork is Landscape with Chestnut Tree by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The next three in line are very fitted and tight next to my first choice. Anguish by August Friedrich Schenck. L'Absinthe by Edgar Degas. The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Dali has some incredible pieces but I'm not sure if any one of his artworks stand out against his whole collection. I seem to just really admire many of his paintings with preferences of each one changing from time to time to be honest.
My favorite painting is one from (I think) the 1960s, titled "The Artist's Studio". I have no idea who painted it or where. I appears (so I remember) in a book from the 80s/90s called Art of the Sixties that I no longer have access to. I have been trying to figure out who painted it for ages. I cannot find it on the 'web. Help.
Paul Klee also has some work which I constantly go back and look at and find interesting aspects of the art each time I see it. In a way it feels timeless but also like each piece represents a significant moment in the artist's life. Well. I get that impression anyway.
We had a great retrospective here years ago at our Art Museum. Really huge, my feet were killing me. We saw the old Dali museum in Tampa, but it's on our list to get to the new one.
Last summer, we had a display of American artists from around 1920-1950. Hopper painted a very cool landscape! I couldn't believe it.
I don't think I could ever pick one painting as my favorite. Slightly off topic, but has anyone see The Painting?