A coffee with Art

The mud bath 1914 Oil painting on canvas (152,5x224 cm) Tate Gallery, London ******* At first glance, it seems that this painting does not have the slightest figurative intention. In truth, the work is intended to represent a public bathroom frequented by the Jewish community of Whitechapel in London. The blue and white lines and figures make up the jumping figures that gather around the pool, represented by the red rectangle and seem to surround the dark central pillar. The angular forms are used by our painter to express the vitality and dynamism of the twentieth century and the enthusiasm for recent industrial development. Bomberg, the son of Polish immigrants, was one of the founders of the London Group, an association founded in 1913 for the organization of shows and exhibitions. Although Bomberg kept his distance from Cubists, Futurists and Vorticists, groups active at the time, his work can easily be identified with some of their theories. By 1920 Bomberg moved from geomet...

Nicolas Poussin - Landscape with Polyphemus (1649)

An apparent, banal landscape. Art History is full of it. But nobody has the mythical, historical and mythological charm of this. Nicolas Poussin's painting is mythological. Mythical figures hidden in the bushes. A Polyphemus who seems an integral part of the mountain. Without a doubt we are faced with a vision and an invitation. We live in a world that is formed on the myth, let's see it in everyday life. They are not simple stories, it is the explanation of our being.

Hans BALDUNG GRIEN - The three ages of man and death (1539)

The three ages of man and death 1539 Oil on the table (151x61 cm) Prado Museum, Madrid ******* Four simple figures, an allegory: the three ages of human life together with inevitable destiny. A sleeping girl is childhood, a girl is youth and an old woman is old age. Death is easily recognized by itself. Does the end of all things have an hourglass in your hands, a symbol of time that passes inexorably or the inevitable that sooner or later arrives? A strong realism permeates the bodies created by Baldung, the result of his very careful and prolific studies on real life models. He received very practical help from his engraving techniques, an activity that unites him with his famous master: Albrecht Dürer. With Hieronymus Bosch he shares a passion for terror and suffering represented through fantasy. Thanks to his Art he was able to enjoy great fame and well-being, when he died in Strasbourg he was one of the most important and influential members of the community. Comparing artis...

BALTHUS - Girl and cat (1937)

Girl and cat 1937 Oil on the table (88x78 cm) Private collection ******* To create a painting, one does not necessarily have to resort to majestic scenes. Here we are faced with a moment of daily simplicity: a seated teenager, the lonely and desolate darkness of a room, a placid cat. The picture, however, has something disturbing: the girl does not seem to have that innocence typical of her age but she is more sensual than one would expect. Balthus was not satisfied with portraying a person and an animal in one place; wanted to do much more: he portrayed that moment of transition that everyone has experienced in which he passes from the innocent childhood age (of which the cat is an echo, for the many hours spent playing and the daydreams that lead us to talking to animals) to adulthood. It is no coincidence that the light falls unequivocally on the girl's legs. Balthus never studied at the academy but this did not prevent him from deepening the work of artists such as Pierre Bon...

Fra' BARTOLOMEO - Resurrection of Christ and saints (1516)

Resurrection of Christ and saints 1516 Oil painting on canvas (284x204 cm) Palazzo Pitti, Florence ******* This painting is characterized by a strong dynamic sense, infused by the drapery, the raised arm of Christ, the arms and heads of the saints pointing and turning. The figure of Christ is imposing in the construction of the picture, an aspect due to convey to the observer a profound sense of adoration and contemplation. Baccio della Porta studied painting in Florence, the city where he met and suffered the strong influence of Savonarola, after whose death he decided to join the Dominican order and take the name of Fra 'Bartolomeo. It seems that he too reacted in the manner of Botticelli, burning all his previous paintings in which there were nudes; these facts can be attributed to Savonarola and his ability to manipulate weak minds like those of the two artists. Fra 'Bartolomeo could boast the presence of Michelangelo and Raphael in his group of friends. His art took shap...

John James AUDUBON - Rose spoonbill (1835-40)

Rose spoonbill 1835-1838 Engraving on paper (65x95 cm) from Birds of America, 1835-38, Vol. 4 ******* John James Audubon has crafted every single detail of this strange bird with exceptional care. The artist has undertaken an encyclopedic work: cataloging all the birds of North America; result: 435 illustrated tables. His training is neoclassical and he chose Jacques-Louis David as a model. Not just theory and study, much less a search for beauty as an end in itself; Audubon wanted to give practical value to his technique, giving a strong impulse to his ornithological passion. The titanic work took a lot of time and as much money, which he also had to look for in the UK. It was worth it: even today it is considered an important work of art and a precious scientific document. Given the success of this adventure, he also dedicated the last seven years of his life to quadrupeds. Comparing artists: Agasse, Catlin, David, Stubbs

William BLAKE - Pietà (1795 circa)

Pietà about 1795 Watercolor and ink on paper (42x54 cm) Tate Gallery, London ******* A woman who apparently seems to have recently become muddy (given the color still present on the vaults and arms) lies lifeless on the ground; above her we can see two female figures on horseback and with the wind in their hair. One of the two women looks down and holds a newborn in her arms. This work represents one of the most important scenes of the Shakespearean tragedy in which Macbeth meditates to assassinate Duncan: "Mercy, like a naked baby, riding the hurricane, or the celent cherubs, on horseback ...". These figures so precisely delineated by Blake, rejecting the ideal tradition of perspective composition, evoke enigmatic images of other worlds. His style reflects with great precision his personal mystical vision, in which image and reality are one. William Blake began his activity as an artist as an engraver but he was also able to express himself through poetry and painting, in ...

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