ArtExpertOnLine

  Truly one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's most beautiful images is this painting, "Luncheon of the Boating Party".   It is part of the permanent collection of the Phillips  Collection in Washington D.C. ; and  was painted between 1880 and 1881.   Renoir is considered an artist of the Impressionist movement, taking easels out-of-doors to record people and places in a natural setting.  Here friends of Renoir's are gathered at a popular French restaurant on the Seine.  All of the people in the painting are known and their names can be found by a little research.  Renoir did the sketch on site, but then had each person pose at his studio so he could complete the likeness.   The woman on the far left with the little dog will become his wife soon after the painting was completed.    Composition is reasonably simple.  The white tablecloth cements the foreground and the white shirts of four strategic people form a half circle around it.  The orange/red canopy seals the top,

   Need a challenge?  Here is a very contemporary work, done in 1981 or 82 by Jean-Michel Basquiat.  It is listed as either Untitled, or "Skull".      This interesting painting leaves little to interpret but much to discuss.  In looking into Basquiat's work, I have discovered he did more than one on these skull images, all of which are similar in subject and color.  In 2017 one of them sold to a Japanese collector for $110.5 million    So what are we looking at?  A human head divided into strange sections, floating in a blue space.  There is little here for us to recognize, but I see the head interior like a house with three floors and many rooms, and maybe a track of some sort entering near the left eye traveling around and into parts of the head.  But this is only conjecture, and mine at that.   I believe each of us can interpret as we desire.   Certainly a general agreement could be that the head is not pleasant, but is it hopeful?  Does it display a history of tro

   Have you ever seen a "realist" painting where nothing is right?  Take a look at this fun image.  This is titled, "The Dream", and is by the great French artist Henri Rousseau. It is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  Rousseau painted about 20 of these "jungle" pictures, this being the largest measuring almost 7 feet in height and almost 10 in width.  He completed the work in 1910, the year he died.  It is his last painting.    I find this work a delight to look at.  My eye is drawn all around the format wanting to discover everything especially those hidden in the dark corners.     If we divide the painting into four quarters, down the middle vertically and across the middle horizontally, we see the center of attention fills the lower left space, with the lines of her settee perfectly framing her space.  Also, notice there is no attempt at showing any depth, this whole scene seems to be within maybe 6 -