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 circl...

   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...

   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 s...

  Have you ever seen a person cry?  I am sure.  Remember how a completely anguished individual is always moving?  In 1937 Pablo Picasso completed this oil painting that is now in the Tate Gallery in London.  It is one of my favorite Picasso works for I see it as so realistic and such a great expression of complete sorrow.   No painting is easy, as anyone who has tried it can testify, but how do you realistically convey a FEELING in paint on canvas?   This is how Picasso accomplished the feat.    In the background we can see what looks to be a room.  The vertical lines could indicate some panels, the horizontal band 1/3 up trim board at the base of a wall.  The colors are intense, and all six are represented.     Notice how well dressed the woman is:  An interesting red hat with blue bow; her well groomed hair and her earring suggest she may not be home, or has prepared to be out for the day.    ...

    What a fun image for this week!   Here we have the great Dutch painter Frans Hals' oil on canvas painting of a couple obviously having a great time together.   The title of the painting is interesting.  One of my sources titles it:  Yonker Ramp and His Sweetheart, with another giving it the title: Young Man and Woman in an Inn.    I have also seen titles where the woman is called, Wife.  Hals painted it in 1623 and it is in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.    The composition is amazing.  All of the essential components are featured inside a band extending diagonally from his hand down the format to the dog's head, with the two human faces dead center.    Notice the interesting white shape created by her long "lace" cuff.  Hals has recreated that shape with slight variations several times, I have counted 7. And I love the deep turquoise color of his sl...

  Our latest painting is by Gustave Caillebotte titled Street in Paris, Rain.   It is an oil on canvas painted in 1877 and is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Caillebotte is considered an Impressionists, however his style was a little more realistic.   Here we see people walking a wet Paris street, umbrella's in hand.  Although not sure, I believe the building in the rear, left, could be what has become the Galeries Lafeyette on the Boulevard Haussmann.  This building was purchased in 1896 to soon become the famous department store, but the building probably existed in 1877.     Structurally this painting is very similar to others reviewed.   Here again, the painting is divided exactly in half, with the street light and its shadow as separation.  The right side is almost a portrait of the couple so realistic we could call them by name if we knew them.  But they do not realize ...

   Here we have one of my favorite Leonaro Da Vinci paintings.   It is titled, Lady With An Ermine and was painted about 1490 when Da Vinci was 38 years old.  It is an oil on walnut and is the property of the National Museum Czartoryski in Krakow, Poland.    This is a beautiful, realistic image that is very striking.  Da Vinci decided against a background (as he used in Mona Lisa )  in favor of creating great contrast between the flesh tones and rich blacks.  So it is only the woman's dress and the ermine that suggest who she was and what her interests were.     Many years ago when I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre I was amazed at the beauty of her hand, and here again, he has rendered the hand with great skill and tenderness.  But my attention is drawn to the ermine.  How did he do this?  It is amazing.  The animal seems to be looking the same direction as the lady, so soft and such a tender relationshi...