ArtExpertOnLine

       This week I ask you to spend some time with this painting.  Take two fingers and pull and stretch to examine every corner.  It is amazing the detail you will see and enjoy.  The artist is Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca.1525-1569), and yes, there was a "Younger".  Pieter Bruegel the Younger was the son of  today's artist and my memory reminds me he was not as talented or accomplished as his father.           This huge vista in today's painting was done in 1565 as a commission of six works depicting the seasons, of which only four are known to exist today. Bruegel was then 40 years old and at the height of his career.  The scene is Flanders, the Dutch speaking area of north Belgium close to the Netherlands and France.  For the time, this is a totally remarkable painting.  The Reformation is in full swing dividing Europe into Protestant north and Roman Catholic south.  Almost all painting has been religious in nature, or portraits and so suddenly, here in Flanders c

  Today's painting comes by special request from a frequent reader.  I have avoided the subject since starting this blog, but I think it is about time I take it on!     Female nudes have been painted for centuries, and many artists have taken their turn.  Drawing and painting the human body has been a standard in art schools since the renaissance, the idea being that a study of the muscles, bones, and sections are essential to doing justice to the whole. The female figure has been especially admired in Europe, but old Puritan standards in the U.S. have kept it behind closed doors here.      Our painting today is one of the oldest I have shown.  The artist is the Spaniard, Diego Velazquez (1599-1660) and the title is The Rokeby Venus.  An exact date is not known but given as 1647-51.   The title comes from Rokeby Park in County Durham, England where the painting hung for much of the 19th century.  The painting shows the goddess Venus and her son, Cupid, who was the Roman god of phys

    I thought I would toss something quite different to you this week.   It is an image with lots going on in it.  The most important consideration when viewing is that this work is extremely large.  It is 84 inches (7 feet) tall and 78 inches (6 feet, 6 inches) wide. This means picking up the full impact is difficult for us, but, we can easily see the painting as a whole, as if from a distance.   In a gallery situation, a painting this size must be in a very large room, so viewer can approach from afar moving in.  Once in, the work will submerge us, surround us, so we catch the swirls and seeming chaos.   The artist is Fiona Rae.  Born in Hong Kong in 1963 she moved to Britain in 1971.  Here she studied art and established her career.  She now lives in London.  The title of this work is "Untitled (emergency room)"       This image is very complex, with all emphasis on surface, no attempt at establishing depth or illusion to space.  There is not obvious pattern, no rhythm to

  I have always loved this painting.  It has always seemed so intimate to me.  A young woman, a young girl, and a small dog out for the day and resting on a bench.  She is looking straight at us as if we have interrupted her reading.  Her pleasant expression seems to indicate she is listening to us, wondering what we have to say.   Manet has painted the girl close enough to her so we must assume they are related, is this mother/daughter or maybe two sisters?   If we do a search of the painting we would discover the name of the model, but I prefer to allow her to remain anonymous pretending maybe some day, long ago, I knew her and I am there.   The artist is Edouard Manet (1832 - 1883).  He was the oldest of the group of artists loosely associated with the French Impressionists.  Manet never considered himself part of this group, but there are huge similarities and they certainly influenced one another.   During his mature period, Manet painted out of doors and selected similar subjects