Favourite Paintings

[Satchmo Distel]

Bouguereau gets dismissed as too conservative in some quarters but I think his photos of siblings, for example, are deeply moving, especially coming from a period when children were seen but not heard. I have assigned Virgin With Angels as a one of the examples for an essay on depictions of the Madonna and child.

[Various Artist]

Heheh, you're right of course Sits – I was thinking she looks more of a seamer actually, ready to send down a couple of nice leg-cutters, but I'll defer to your greater knowledge...

I love that Satchmo's inadvertently referred to Bouguereau's "photos" there. That's the amazing thing about his paintings, though: as G-man alludes to, they might as well almost be photographs, the technique really is astonishing because try as you might it's just about impossible to see any brushstrokes.

[Various Artist]

My favourite is that dark one by Dali in the Art Gallery in Glasgow. Looking down on the guy on the cross, who is looking down at the world.

Great call Gero – that's Christ of St John of the Cross you're thinking of. I've long loved Dali; was going to post something before but got distracted looking up Bouguereaus (there's a sentence to conjure with) and forgot.

It's an obvious choice I know, but The Persistence of Memory has always done it for me; here it is along with its counterpart/sequel from a couple of decades later, The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory, prints of which I used to have alongside each other on my wall in university:

[Various Artist]

On that note, after a few years I eventually added this one too...

[Lang Spoon]

Always loved this one in Embra. Old Woman Cooking Eggs by Velasquez. The eggs are quite something if you're starving.

[Hot Pepsi]

Other than dogs playing poker, I've found that most of the "real art" I like sort of resembles comic book art, at least to me. Not like Roy Lichtenstein - although he's good too - but just anything that feels sharp and figurative. Like Edward Hopper, Depression Murals, woodcuts, etc. Lots of industrial landscapes and pictures of people working.

[Benjm]

My best mate's mum was an enthusiastic supporter of anthropomorphic canine art. Her area of special expertise was spaniels dressed as cavaliers.

I was blown away when I saw this at the Tate in Liverpool some years ago. Reproductions really don't do justice to how vivid it is in life. Also Mondrian's early work is a reminder that his better known minimal geometric works came from a bold artistic journey, rather than always having been part of the visual furniture, so to speak.

[G-Man]

Talking of climbing into life-like paintings, this from 1895 by Jean-Léon Gérôme.

[Gerontophile]

The sculptor's eyeline is very revealing (or was that the point?).

[Sits]

Great call Gero – that's Christ of St John of the Cross you're thinking of. I've long loved Dali; was going to post something before but got distracted looking up Bouguereaus (there's a sentence to conjure with) and forgot.

It's an obvious choice I know, but The Persistence of Memory has always done it for me; here it is along with its counterpart/sequel from a couple of decades later, The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory, prints of which I used to have alongside each other on my wall in university:

Our dog often sleeps on her bed (which is about three inches thick) with her head, a couple of legs or both hanging off the side onto the floor. Looks incredibly uncomfortable but clearly isn't. Always referred to as "Soft Dogs".

[Satchmo Distel]

This slide: Compassion. Next slide: Fraternal Love. Artist on both: Bouguereau

[Satchmo Distel]

[ad hoc]

I did think it was suspiciously hi-def, but posted it anyway. The sentiment stands; seeing it "in the flesh" in a suitably darkened room at Belvedere was enough to raise goosebumps.

I was in the Belvedere yesterday and among the pieces that I loved was this Klimt that somehow seems to provide the link back to Monet