Fashion and Art have always been inextricably intertwined. Think Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 MondrianDressor the designs Elsa Schiaparelli conjured in the 1930’s from sketches and photos by Salvador Dali.
Looking back to Berlin-based Anselme Reyle’s limited edition collaboration for Christian Dior’s most fabulousaccessories.Known for his large scale abstract paintings and found object sculptures, Reyle delved deep into the label’s DNA, pinpointing such iconic pieces as the Lady Dior bag and infusing them with boldly toned twists or camouflage prints and just a splash of top-stitching on an ankle-strap wedge.
Reyle shot to fame in late 2007, when his stripe paintings sold for six figure sums, even as works by Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst remained unsold. Earlier that year, the artist’s profile received a boost when a purple foil-in-Plexiglas box sold for $192,000 at auction in London.
Reyle, whose works are characterized by bold brushwork, neon paint, 80s kitsch and silver foil, has also showcased his work at the ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen, the Gagosian in New York, Tate Modern in London and also showcased his abstract work in Mumbai.
“Energy and motion made visible – memories arrested in space” – Jackson Pollock
Sometimes a painting does not need an introduction. Such is the case with this stimulating “Phantom” abstract by Patrice Lesick (Acrylic on Canvas 77 x 64 inches – 1990). Elan Fine Art – Vancouver.
“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes.…Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.” – Arshile Gorky (Armenian-American painter).
To compliment the new “Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs” exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, which opened October 12th, here are some Fall/Winter 2014 looks that evoke some of the artist’s most famous works.The masterful combination of contrast, line and color that Matisse was able to create with scissors is no doubt something that fashion designers today strive for as they cut their garments.
Perhaps these images will inspire you so much that you’ll want to go at your clothes with a pair of scissors…“Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs,” is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City October 12, 2014 through February 8,2015
Maybe a scarf or t-shirt but not the whole shebang for me. How about you?
High up on my trippy wish list is Barcelona. Not only for fun but to pay a visit to the Fundació Joan Miró and be reminded that life is filled with colour and shape and that the small things in the world are worth noticing and celebrating.
Playful, joyful, energetic and colourful, Joan Miró’s paint language appears very simple – bird, star, sun, moon, figure, colour, surface, and so on. But like the best poets, the artist’s juggling of these elements is sophisticated and playful at the same time. The results are unique, immediately recognizable and vibrant – a delight to behold.
Miró was passionate about art from an early age and after a failed attempt by his family to get him into business, he was allowed to pursue his artistic studies. His early work was influenced by the Fauve painters and Cubism. He admired Picasso’s work and eventually left Barcelona to live in Paris where he spent six months of each year, working alongside other artists in relative poverty. The other half of the year he spent in Spain on the family farm.
BLUE I, II AND III
Like his fellow Catalan artist, Salvador Dali, Miró is most closely associated with the surrealist movement started by Andre Breton. While Dali embraced surrealism wholeheartedly, with Miró it is more accurate to say that surrealism embraced him.
Constantly experimenting in his work, he was careful never to align himself completely with any one art movement. His take on the world is quirky, humorous, child-like in its depiction of subject-matter yet extremely sophisticated in its ability to comment on life’s experiences.
Dali, flamboyant, attention-seeking, extreme, takes us to the edge with paintings that show us a world that is distorted and disturbing. Miró’s approach is calmer, more playful. Always his own person, never interested in playing to the gallery, his work feels focused, centred, stable. His view of the world is uplifting, fun, life-enhancing.
Available at Elan Fine Art Limited,Vancouver
Above all, Miró reminds us how important a sense of humour is in life and his brilliant paintings, sculptures, wall hangings and ceramics give us permission to stop taking ourselves so seriously.
First off, I am no authority on collecting fine art but I admire beautiful paintings and would like expert advice on how to build a worthwhile collection. This means being true to my tastes while acquiring pieces that are of value.
Marc Chagall – I and the VillagePablo Picasso – Girl Before a Mirror
If you’re like most people, you know how to buy art on a piece-by-piece basis, but may not be all that accomplished at formulating a plan for making multiple acquisitions over the long haul, or in other words, building a collection. You can find art you like just about anywhere you look and in an incredible variety of subject matters, mediums and price ranges, but that can be confusing as well as intimidating. So how do you wade through it all and decide what direction to go in? How do you relate one purchase to the next? How do you organize or group your art together? How do you present it? And most importantly, how do you do all these things well? This is what collecting is all about; it’s the ultimate case of controlled purposeful buying.
Great collectors are often as well known and widely respected as the art they collect. Take the Rockefeller collection, the Phillips collection or the Chrysler collection, just to name a few. Collectors like these are famous because they demonstrate just as much talent in selecting and grouping their art as the artists show in creating it. Likewise, each work of art in a great collection commands premium attention as well as a premium price not only because it’s good, but also because of the company it keeps.
Andy Warhol – Ingrid Bergman
What makes a great collector great is his or her ability to separate out specific works of art from the millions of pieces already in existence and assemble them in such a way as to increase or advance our understanding of that art in particular or of the evolution of art in general. In any mature collection, the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts, the collector comes to be accepted as a respected authority and in exceptional cases, goes on to set the standards, determine the trends and influence the future of collecting for everyone.
Regardless of how you view your collecting, whether serious or recreational, there are techniques that you can use to maximize not only the quality and value of your art, but also your own personal enjoyment, appreciation and understanding of that art. Step one is being true to your tastes.This means acknowledging that you like certain types of art regardless of what you think you’re supposed to like or what seems to be the current rage. All great collectors share this trait; that’s one thing makes their collections stand out. When personal preference is ignored in favor of the status quo, one collection begins to look just like the next. A few people dictate, the masses follow, everyone walks in lock-step, and the art you see from collection to collection becomes boring and repetitive.
Collectors who aren’t afraid to express themselves yield exactly the opposite results.
Source: artbusiness.com
A few quotes I really like:
“Art must be an expression of love or it is nothing” ~ Marc Chagall
“Art is literacy of the heart” ~ Elliot Eisner
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance” – Aristotle
A continuation of my post from last Monday on the Art of Collecting ART and What Makes Good Art – answersfrom Art World Pros. However this discussion will always be continuing because everyone’s opinion differs. Here is one more:
Damien Hirst’s Spot Painting – Gagosian gallery, Paris. As the title promises, Spot Paintings features borrowed and newly created works of art featuring the UK-based artist’s signature dotted paintings. Different colors, sizes, and shapes were all variations on the theme.
Scott M. Levitt, Director, Fine Arts, Bonhams & Butterfields, Los Angeles:
Quality, quality, quality. This is the mysterious and subjective key to good art. In all periods of art there are good and bad works of art. I find that defining quality in representational art is easier than in modern and abstract art. The other key word is looking. Everything looks good when you first start looking at art, as you have nothing to compare it to. As you hone your eye, you begin to distinguish between good and bad. The more you look at art, the easier it is to determine what is good and what is bad.
Claude Monet Landscape Painting
Also, there are two schools of thought as to what is good and bad. Some people believe that good and bad are personal distinctions and entirely in the eye of the viewer. Others believe that there is good art and crap art and no one can tell them otherwise. I think the real answer is somewhere in between, and this is based entirely on the quality of the eye of the viewer.
Each area of art requires its own set of criteria when determining good and bad, i.e. painting, sculpture, printmaking, craft, conceptual etc. Personally I hold originality to be important in this determination. For contemporary artists that can be tough. Most of what is being created today is, in my personal opinion, not very original. To me a Mark Rothko is a masterpiece, while a thousand color-field artists after him are not. I find Pop artists brilliant and Jeff Koons completely reactionary. There is originality in contemporary art, but it is tough to find.
Mark Rothko contemplation
It is also tough when the art market influences good and bad. I would like to say that monetary value determines quality, but unfortunately they are often unrelated, as many factors can influence the value of artwork other than quality. Damien Hirst is an interesting and relatively unique artist, but I don’t think his prices at auction reflect how good he is. When one of his works is worth more than a good Monet landscape, something is very amiss.
I think the best “take away” here is that if you want to know what is good and what is not, you have to get out and look for yourself and make that decision. Take a year… and make it a rule to visit museums and galleries every weekend and read art-related books and magazines as much as possible in as many art fields as possible. You will have your answer. If you don’t use this approach, you will officially have no eye or ability to make these distinctions.
If you are in this purely for your own collecting interests, then look at as much art as possible in all fields and eras as I have just said. If you are in it purely to make money, then buy a subscription to Artnet or E*Trade. It’s your call.
When it comes to art everyone seems to have an opinion. Of course everyone has different tastes and what someone loves, someone else might despise. But there is art…and then there is ART!
Elan Fine Art Gallery, Vancouver
Have you ever wondered how experienced art world professionals separate out the best art from the rest?
I came across a website about the business of ART by Alan Bamberger, a San Francisco art consultant, advisor, and independent appraiser of all aspects of original works of art including art-related documents, and art reference books. He has been selling art since 1979 and has been consulting and appraising for artists, galleries, businesses, organizations and collectors since 1985. He is the author of “The Art of Buying Art.”
Mr. Bamberger asked some Art World Pros for answers. Here they are:
Brian Gross, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco: Art that is unique in conception and well executed.
DeWitt Cheng, freelance art writer and critic, Bay Area, CA: Good visual art looks stunningly right and, in retrospect, obvious, or inevitable– yet it’s also continually surprising. It is a powerful paradox. How can someone have possibly made this? How in the world could it not have been made?
A magnificent painting by Joseph Kyle hangs in a downtown office bringing light and life to an already beautiful space.
Cheryl Haines, Haines Gallery, San Francisco: Clear intention, unwavering dedication, patience, perseverance, self awareness and the drive to make for yourself and no one else.
Robert Berman, Robert Berman Gallery, Los Angeles: Reality is by agreement. The reality of art is usually by some kind of agreement. The arbiters are the museums, the museum curators, the people who spend their lives and their time actually being critical of what they see and judging what they see. If you add in four or five art critics who are then able to write about it, if you get four or five major collectors who are passionate about what they collect to patronize it, and several major auction houses to auction it, then a consensus or vetting process begins to unfold. Of course there’s magic dust involved, so this is not a sure way, but it’s a safe way to go about judging what is good art.
by Marc Séguin
Catharine Clark, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco: When it has its own internal logic. It took me a long time to get to this place, but that is the answer that I now give. I used to say that good art is like porn; you know it when you see it.
Mat Gleason, Coagula Art Journal, Los Angeles: The moment and the memory. It has to be something that engages you, on one of a million levels, in person, and establishes a memory that remains positive. This can be an artwork that challenges you and then makes you think about it days later or one that seduces you and delivers pleasant feelings days later. There are as many ways to produce this 1-2 effect as there are artists, but so much art that grabs you is glib and you forget it or is lousy and only recalled as something you sped past or upon which you only regret wasting your day.
Robert Shimshak, Collector, Berkeley, CA:
Marc Chagall
Good art is timeless. It will assume a new relevance to each generation, and to yourself as you grow. It will connect to the past and feed the future. It has a simple and rigorous beauty that commands your gaze and thoughts whenever you look at it. The best work will break your heart. As a collector, you will know it when you see it. It’s personal. You will not have to be convinced by anyone to acquire it; it will be something you simply must have. It is like a good marriage that completes a feeling inside you, something that lasts forever and grows with time.
Marsea Goldberg, New Image Art, Los Angeles: Originality, representational of the time when it was created, passion, a frame of reference, freshness, intellectual content, and is uniquely identifiable as the work of that particular artist. The art should effortlessly have as many of these characteristics as possible– or none at all. It also has to have magic; if you try too hard, the magic could fly away. The artist needs to have a vision and it’s important that the work doesn’t go into a dead end. It’s helpful if the artist has the capacity to reinvent their creativity through various skills and mediums.
Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus, Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco: It is truly an unanswerable question without stating something that appears pretentious… the perception of what makes art “good ” revolves around the application of that difficult word, “taste” which I observe to be in considerably short supply in society today. People are not willing to take the time and effort to develop their own personal sensibilities through study or reflection but are prone to “go with the flow” from the “tastemakers” so as not to be seen as square and out of touch… so sad…
Jack Hanley, Jack Hanley Gallery, New York: I like something where the intensity of the experience of the person making it comes through. Maybe somebody is turned on by the nature of the materials, a psychological issue or some kind of narrative. Maybe some people have greater intensities of experience than others. What makes art good on a grander scale is how extraordinary and profound the components of those experiences are. Some artists are maybe better than others at tapping into their own idiosyncrasies and conveying them to others.
Justin Giarla, The Shooting Gallery, White Walls & 941 Geary, San Francisco: What makes good art is when you see a piece from across the room, you immediately fall in love with it without knowing anything about it and are in love with it forever.
Paul Kyle, Private Art Dealer, Elan Fine Art, Vancouver: A good work of art for me, is a piece that has the ability to awaken and remind me of my essence or the highest aspect of my being, if you will. To successfully accomplish this, I as viewer, must be open to allowing the work to reveal itself to me without pre-judgement, what I call contempt prior to investigation. Also, a great work of art gets better the more it is viewed. Often it is the work that has an immediate impact that is the one that wears thin over time, being the one with little real substance, as opposed to the one that takes time to reveal itself as the one with the greatest depth and meaning. There are certain elements however that the work must contain before the experience I seek is possible. Two elements that I look for in art are: Beauty and Elegance.Beauty, not referring to “pretty” but beauty referring to directness and honesty. Elegance is where there is nothing that can be added or taken away from the individual work. This can only be accomplished by an artist with great technical competence and authentic original vision.
Alan Bamberger, itinerant artster, San Francisco: At its most fundamental level, good art is an effective combination of concept, vision and mastery of medium (the ability to get the point across). Good art is also uncompromisingly honest, unselfconscious, bold, ambitious, enlightening, original, challenging, and a feast for the senses. It doesn’t necessarily have to have all of these qualities, but at the very least it has to keep you coming back for more… and never ever bore.
An easy-to-understand book on how to buy, sell, evaluate, appraise, and collect art. Soft cover; 284 pages. By Alan S. Bamberger, noted art expert, author, and syndicated columnist. Available at http://amazon.com
ART is part of our culture and can improve our LIFE
By art alone we are able to get outside ourselves, to know what another sees of this universe which for him is not ours, the landscapes of which would remain as unknown to us as those of the moon. Thanks to art, instead of seeing one world, our own, we see it multiplied and as many original artists as there are, so many worlds are at our disposal, differing more widely from each other than those which roll round the infinite and which, whether their name be Rembrandt or Vermeer, send us their unique rays many centuries after the hearth from which they emanate is extinguished. (Proust)
“What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.” – Lucian Freud
Agnes Martin
When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.
What I say is that we’re capable of a transcendent response, and I think it makes us happy. And I do think beauty produces a transcendent response.” – Agnes Martin
Albert York
“The modern world just passes me by. I don’t notice it. I missed the train.”
“I think we live in a paradise. This is the Garden of Eden, really it is. It might be the only paradise we ever know, and it’s just so beautiful, with the trees and everything here, and you feel you want to paint it. Put it into a design. That’s all I can say.” – Albert York
Joan Miró – 1927
“I feel the need of attaining the maximum intensity with the minimum of means. It is this which has led me to give my painting a character of even greater bareness.”
“What I am looking for… is an immobile movement, something which would be the equivalent of what is called the eloquence of silence, or what St. John of the Cross, I think it was, described with the term ‘mute music.'” – Joan Miró
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” ~Thomas Merton
By Pao – in Rome, Italy. SpongeBob Square Pants. I’m familiar with the character but never watched the cartoon. I find this humorous.
Call it what you will but there are some truly astounding works to behold all around the globe. Besides beautifying otherwise downtrodden neighbourhoods and offering innovative art to the public for free, the transient nature of street art is part of its appeal. It’s also a lot nicer than looking at a blank wall. Street art is an ephemeral thing. Here today, maybe gone tomorrow. Many a mural has been erased due to the whims of local governments and the impulses of other street artists. I was upset to notice that an intricately beautiful mural I’ve always admired on a gelato shop had been painted over.
So I thought it would be fun to post the TOP TEN BEST CITIES in the world to view streetside art.
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Like many other cities, Sao Paulo has had a turbulent relationship with local street artists. Originally, much of the prohibited public painting going up in the city was political and the government was opposed. But it has relaxed this stance in recent years, collaborating with street artists to produce colourful works on highways and housing developments. When you’re there, be sure to look down to find artist Tec’s fascinating road murals. If you can’t make it, you can find a virtual selection of Sao Paulo’s best works on the Google Art Project website.
London, England
London has incubated its fair share of street artists over the years. While many works have been removed and repainted, many pieces stand untouched throughout the city (including some elusive pieces by the famous Banksy). Though officially condemned, the popularity of street art in England’s capital has led the city government to commission various pieces, like the sometimes odd installations on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
New York City, USA
New York is where it all started. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first graffiti artists began tagging everything in sight. At that time, the driving force behind this nascent street art was ubiquity. The art form has evolved since then to encompass the elaborate murals and clever works that can be found around NYC today. Neighbourhoods like Chelsea, Bushwick and the Lower East Side are all meccas for street artists. At 106 and Park in Spanish Harlem, you can find the Graffiti Hall of Fame, a section of wall that has seen some of the best graffiti writers of all time scribble their stuff.
Berlin, Germany
Berlin’s tumultuous history offers inspiration for street artists to produce some of their best work. Nowhere is this more apparent than the East Side Gallery, a section of the former Berlin Wall that has been turned into a 1.3-kilometre canvas. Here, you’ll find 105 murals that were painted on the east side of the wall in 1990, where graffiti had been banned during Soviet rule. Kreuzberg is another popular district for street art, and is home to the largest stencil in the world, the Kreuzberg Spaceman. But you don’t have to travel far from downtown Berlin for impressive creations: the central Mitte district is a creative enclave, home to Tacheles, a former department store covered in artists’ work.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
One of the most popular tourist areas in Buenos Aires, Caminito, is a district that bills itself as the world’s first open-air pedestrian museum. Its colourful building facades are very photogenic, and a number of artists sell their wares in the neighbourhood. However, Buenos Aires is known worldwide for its support of street art. Barren walls city-wide are transformed into building-sized murals, which are not only tolerated by the city government, but oftentimes actively funded. Buenos Aires native Martin Ron’s famous 3D turtle is found here, in addition to a number of his other vibrant and breathtaking murals.
Philadelphia, USA
As a burgeoning artistic centre, Philadelphia boasts a creative spirit that’s easy to find on its “Mural Mile”. Surprisingly, Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program – the largest public art program in the United States – began as part of a government-funded anti-graffiti movement. Tired of the artless tags that plagued the city, Philadelphia officials approached graffiti artists and had them direct their considerable artistic talents into full size murals. Today, there are more than 3,600 of these impressive works dotting the city. In addition to these full-size pieces, a number of famous street artists have left their mark here.
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne has become one of the world centres for street art, with dozens of acclaimed artists having left their mark on the city. Numerous alleyways in the Australian cultural capital are decorated with vibrant works. Hosier Lane and Caledonian Lane are iconic spots, and in 2010 the local council commissioned a number of artists to paint the walls of Union Lane. These alley artworks are now highlighted by local tourism agencies. Though the relationship between street artists and government has been strained at times (city workers accidentally demolished a Banksy piece), the government has largely supported its creative citizens and it shows in the variety of urban spaces where street art has popped up.
Los Angeles, USA
If there’s anywhere in the world where street art has jumped the gap between radical expression and commercial enterprise, it’s in LA. Here, you can find LAB ART, a 6,500 square-foot gallery of street art that’s not so much on the street anymore, but can be purchased instead. But that isn’t to say that the art form has been completely commercialized here. A number of iconic works can still be seen in the La Brea area and walls in Hollywood are regularly redone with fantastic images from local artists like Robbie Conal and Saber.
Tel Aviv, Israel
While some cities shirk the free public art its talented citizens spray on the walls, forward-thinking places like Tel Aviv embrace it wholeheartedly. The community centre on Rothschild Boulevard and the area around Jaffa Port are ever-changing exhibits of innovative paintings, wheat paste art and stenciling. You can find interesting works wherever you may go in the city, though, like elsewhere, the best works are often found in less developed neighbourhoods. In Tel Aviv this means heading toward the less hip areas of Florentin to see what inventive Israeli artists have to offer.
Paris, France
Walking around Paris, you’re likely to come across small tiled 8-bit figures a couple of stories above the street on building corners and monuments. These are works done by the artist Invader, who works across the world but hails from Paris. His colourful tiled mosaics of characters from the arcade game Space Invaders can be found throughout the city. Paris is also home to Blek le Rat, the father of stencil graffiti, who has been at work on Paris streets for over 30 years. You might have to pay to see the Mona Lisa, but some of the best art in the French capital is found streetside.
*Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and it has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire.
Every year millions of dollars are spent by art collectorseager to own the world’s most sought after paintings. However, the most expensive paintings are not necessarily the most famous paintings. The most famous ones are generally owned by museums, which very rarely sell them, and as such, they are quite literally priceless. An overview of the TOP 10most famous paintings of all time, found in museums around the world:
the birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli
10. The Birth of Venus is a painting by Sandro Botticelli created around 1485–87. It depicts the goddess Venus (or Aphrodite as she is known in Greek mythology) emerging from the sea upon a shell in accordance with the myth that explains her birth. The original location of the painting and its commissioner remain uncertain. Some experts attribute its commission to Lorenzo de’ Medici and the Villa of Castello as the site to which the work was originally destined. Today, the painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Water Lilies, Claude Monet
9. Water Lilies is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet. The paintings depict Monet’s own flower garden at Giverny and were the main focus of his artistic production during the last thirty years of his life. The paintings are on display at museums all over the world. The one shown here is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
The night watch, Rembrandt van Rijn
8. Completed in 1642, at the peak of the Dutch Golden Age, The Night Watch is one of the most famous paintings by Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It depicts a city guard moving out, led by Captain Frans Banning Cocq and his lieutenant, Willem van Ruytenburch. For much of its existence, the painting was coated with a dark varnish which gave the incorrect impression that it depicted a night scene, leading to the name Night Watch. This varnish was removed only in the 1940s. The painting is on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
The Scream, Edvard Munch
7. The Scream is a series of expressionist paintings and prints by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, showing an agonized figure against a blood red sky. The landscape in the background is Oslofjord, viewed from the hill of Ekeberg, in Oslo. Edvard Munch created several versions of The Scream in various media. The one shown here was painted in 1893 and is on display in The National Gallery of Norway. It was stolen in 1994 in a high-profile art theft and recovered several months later. In 2004 another version of The Scream was stolen from the Munch Museum, only to be recovered in 2006
the girl with the pearl earring, Johannes Vermeer
6. Sometimes referred to as “the Dutch Mona Lisa”, the Girl with a Pearl Earring was painted by Johannes Vermeer. Very little is known about Vermeer and his works and this painting is no exception. It isn’t dated and it is unclear whether this work was commissioned, and if so, by whom. In any case, it is probably not meant as a conventional portrait. Tracy Chevalier wrote a historical novel fictionalizing the circumstances of the painting’s creation. The novel inspired a 2003 film with Scarlett Johansson as Johannes Vermeer’s assistant wearing the pearl earring. It has been in the collection of the Mauritshuis gallery in The Hague (Netherlands) since 1902.
Guernica, Pablo Picasso
5. Guernica is one of Pablo Picasso most famous paintings, showing the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. Picasso’s purpose in painting it was to bring the world’s attention to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by German bombers, who were supporting the Nationalist forces of General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso completed the painting by mid-June 1937. The painting can be seen in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
The Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo
4. The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is one of the most renowned artworks of the High Renaissance. The ceiling is that of the large Chapel built within the Vatican in Rome. Central to the ceiling decoration are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. Among the last to be completed was the Creation of Adam in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. The Creation of Adam is one of the famous paintings of all time and has been the subject of countless references and parodies.
The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci
3. The Last Supper is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci and covers the back wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. It represents the scene of The Last Supper when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him. Leonardo began work on The Last Supper in 1495 and completed it in 1498 though he did not work on the painting continuously. Some writers propose that the person in the painting seated to the left of Jesus is Mary Magdalene rather than John the Apostle, as most art historians identify that person. This popular theory was the topic of the book The Templar Revelation (1997), and plays a central role in Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (2003).
The Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh
2. The Starry Night was painted by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. Although Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life, the aftermath of his work is enormous. Starry Night is one of his most famous paintings and has become one of the most well known images in modern culture. The painting shows the village of Saint-Rémy under a swirling sky, in a view from the asylum towards north. The cypress tree to the left was added into the composition. Since 1941 it has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci
1. The most famous painting of all time, the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence. He began painting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504 and finished it shortly before he died in 1519. The painting is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of a wealthy family of Florence. In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen by Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian patriot who believed the Mona Lisa should be returned to Italy. After having kept the painting in his apartment for two years, Peruggia was finally caught when he attempted to sell it to the directors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Today, the Mona Lisa hangs again in the Louvre in Paris where 6 million people see the painting each year.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing six of these paintings in person. The Birth of Venus (Florence), Water Lilies (Met, New York), The Night Watch (Amsterdam), The Last Supper (Milan), Starry Night (MOMA, New York) & Mona Lisa (Paris).
So, do you have a favourite? I appreciate them all, but if I had to choose it would be between The Birth of Venus and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. Does this mean I’m a girly girl?
Think Yves Saint Laurent’s 1965 Mondrian Dress or the designs Elsa Schiaparelli conjured in the 1930’s from sketches and photos by Salvador Dali.
Known for his large scale abstract paintings and found object sculptures, Reyle delved deep into the label’s DNA, pinpointing such iconic pieces as the Lady Dior bag and infusing them with boldly toned twists or camouflage prints and just a splash of top-stitching on an ankle-strap wedge.
Sometimes a painting does not need an introduction. Such is the case with this stimulating “Phantom” abstract by Patrice Lesick (Acrylic on Canvas 77 x 64 inches – 1990). Elan Fine Art – Vancouver.
The masterful combination of contrast, line and color that Matisse was able to create with scissors is no doubt something that fashion designers today strive for as they cut their garments.
“Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs,” is on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City October 12, 2014 through February 8,2015
An easy-to-understand book on how to buy, sell, evaluate, appraise, and collect art. Soft cover; 284 pages. By Alan S. Bamberger, noted art expert, author, and syndicated columnist. Available at http://amazon.com
Sao Paulo, Brazil
New York City, USA
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Melbourne, Australia
Tel Aviv, Israel
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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