Famous Paintings Reviewed

Famous Paintings by Matisse

Some of the most famous paintings in the world were created by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), indisputably one of the most famous painters in art history. After receiving his legal degree in 1888, he regretted his career choice and opted for art school instead. He began studying in Paris with William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1891, but subsequently moved to the more progressive studio of Gustave Moreau. In these years, Matisse built a modest art collection, acquiring art paintings by other Paris-based artists like Paul Gauguin, Paul Cezanne, and Rodin. Matisse later commented that his acquisition of Cezanne’s Bathers was profoundly influential.

Henri Matisse.  The Dance, 1909-1910. Oil on canvas, 8'6" by 12'10".  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

This influence is plainly visible in two of the most famous paintings by Matisse, the pendant, or paired, works known as Dance (La Danse) and Music (La Musique).  Both art paintings were commissioned in 1909 by the Russian merchant, Sergei Shchukin, who was a leading collector of late 19th and early 20th century art. By 1914, Shchukin had acquired 37 paintings by Matisse; the bulk of these were bequeathed to the Hermitage and form the core of its expansive collection of Matisse paintings.

In 1910, Matisse submitted La Danse and La Musique for the Salon d’Automne, the Salon or art exhibition organized in 1903 as an alternative to the more conservative Paris Salon. Although Matisse's monumental nudes were gender-neutral, his pair of art paintings nonetheless provoked a far-reaching scandal culminating with Shchukin's rejection of them.   He intended for La Danse and La Musique to adorn the stairwell of his Moscow house, the Troubetzkoy Palace (above right), but claimed that the sexuality of these art paintings would offend his daughters and Russian friends. After protestations from Matisse, Shchukin recanted after one "explicit" portion was “touched up”.

The inspiration for La Danse came to Matisse from various sources, including the dance floor of the popular Parisian cabaret,

 

Henri Matisse.  La Musique, 1910.  Oil on canvas, 8'6" by 12'9". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Moulin de la Galette, and two previous art paintings, Joie de Vivre (1905) and an earlier version of Dance (now  at the Museum of Modern Art in New York). The nudes of the Hermitage La Danse are amorphous, mythical creatures who skip and dance as if they were vying to unite Man, Earth and Heaven. Matisse’s palette of only green, red, and blue captures, as he wished, "the bluest of blues for the sky" and "the greenest of greens for the earth".  This simple but powerful palette captures the joyous vitality of his dancers. 

In the pendant painting, though, this palette seems incongruous with the placidity of the musicians - the figures sanguinely sit or play instruments and the reds, blues, and greens appear muted.  Although La Musique lacks the vitality of its pendant, La Danse deservedly is one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Read about more famous paintings by Matisse and others in Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history cards of Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings.

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Famous Paintings by Leonardo da Vinci

The number of famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is around 14, according to recent sources.  The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, boasts two of these da Vinci art paintings, Madonna with a Flower (commonly known as Benois Madonna) of 1478, and Madonna and Child (or Litta Madonna) from the 1490s. 

Not surprisingly, these famous paintings attract teeming s of swarms of sharp-elbowed visitors (and even of art museum guides), despite the sweltering heat blanketing Russia.  Studying these Leonardo paintings, though, is all about patience, ignoring those furtively snapping flash photos (and reminding me to discuss Large Crowd Etiquette with my teenage sons). The Benois Madonna, one of the few art paintings from the early career of Leonardo, is a genre scene of the Madonna and Child, a topic Leonardo favored in various sketches and drawings in his earliest years as an artist.

Leonardo da Vinci.  Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna), 1478.  Oil on canvas transferred from panel. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Attired in fashionable clothing and a hairstyle current at the time, the Benois Madonna (left) gazes at her baby in pure adoration while he plays with a four-petalled flower, a symbol of the Cross. The simplicity and purity of her reverence is palpable, yielding a seemingly spontaneous interaction between the two.  Leonardo used oil paints in this work, a relatively new technique for Italian painters of the 1470s.

Over a dozen years later, Leonardo returned to this favored theme in the Madonna Litta, probably painted in Milan; Leonardo moved there in 1482 to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza (perhaps best remembered in art history as the commissioner of The Last Supper). In contrast to his earlier Madonna, Leonardo presents here an idealized version in which she epitomizes ultimate maternal love and devotion for a child.  Here is the humanist dream of Ideal Life, with pure love and idyllically peaceful surroundings.  The child, brilliantly modeled in chiaroscuro, is all roundness; his direct gaze lures the viewer into the painting with one of those riveting gazes that tracks with you as you move. These two famous paintings are a startling

Leonardo da Vinci.  Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta), 1490s.  Tempera on canvas, approximately 16" by 13". Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

reminder that even the genius of Leonardo evolved and changed over time.

There’s nary a peep in the Hermitage description of Madonna Litta that its attribution has been questioned.  Some art history scholars contend it was at least partially painted by an assistant,  Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio (1466/67 - 1516); he worked in Leonardo's studio, and some believe he was responsible for some, if not all, of the landscape seen through the symettrical arched windows.

Talk about lucky – I could have missed the Madonna Litta, which will be on loan to London's National Gallery for its forthcoming Leonardo art exhibition running from 11/2011 to 2/2012.  Perhaps this Leonardo art exhibition was inspired by the recent, 18 month long restoration of one of the most famous paintings by Leonardo, Virgin of the Rocks.  The radical change in its appearance prompted the art critic, Jonathan Jones, to quip that Virgin of the Rocks is now "freed from an amber prison".  Because Madonna Litta will be in London, I consider myself doubly lucky to have  seen it at the Hermitage - I would have been bereft to have missed her!  Read more about other famous paintings by Leonardo in this art exhibition, Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan.

You can read about other famous paintings by Leonardo-- The Last Supper and The Mona Lisa- in Masterpiece Cards, a set of art history flash cards of renowned art paintings. They span Renaissance paintings through Pop art paintings, providing an art history survey of famous paintings.

Want a sample to see and hold? Request samples of Masterpiece Cards, and we'll oblige. Want to go green? See sample art history flashcards online.

More Famous Paintings by van Gogh

Crowds swarmed around the Hermitage's famous paintings by van Gogh -  and with good reason.  Many of these art paintings seldom leave this art museum, and they are jewels in its collection of European paintings.

Unlike famous paintings in most art museums, the Hermitage's are

Vincent van Gogh. Memory of the Garden at Etten (Women of Arles), 1888.  Oil on canvas, approximately 27" x 35".  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. 

seldom behind plexiglass or glass, and proximity to them isn't impeded by alarms, ropes, or stanchions. Or even guards.  This seeming breach of security would be disquieting in any museum, but it's particularly so in the Hermitage -- in 1985 Rembrandt's Danae was slashed with a knife and splashed with sulfuric acid by a man later deemed insane; traces of the acid still lightly mar this famous artwork.

Nonetheless, it is remarkable to have such unfettered access to art paintings like Memory of the Garden at Etten (Women in Arles), one of the art paintings van Gogh made after relocating to Arles. Remarkably,he was prolific there in spite of his untreated mental illness.  Memory of the Garden is a patchwork of decorative areas of color; the frenzied, hurried brushwork is jarring against the stoicism of the women, but simulataneously appears intentionally applied.  The paint is applied in varying densities across the canvas -- on the white and yellow mums it is 3/8" thick - making a rolling, rippling texture.  It's an extraordinary painting to view so closely.

Vincent van Gogh.  Thatched Cottages, 1890.  Oil on canvas, approx. 22" x 27".  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

In the spring of 1890, van Gogh relocated to Auvers-sur-Oise, a town north of Paris, and began treatment with the psychiatrist Dr. Paul Gachet (who became a model for van Gogh, like so many others close to the painter). Van Gogh enjoyed his most prolific period during what would become the final months of his life, completing an astonishing 70 art paintings in as many days.  From Auvers, he wrote to his sister:

Vincent van Gogh.  White House, June, 1890.  Oil on canvas.  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

There are some roofs of mossy thatch here which are superb and of which I shall certainly make something.

And make something he did, painting Thatched Cottages and White House in his instantly recognizable style of furiously energetic brushstrokes.  Still struggling with mental illness and for recognition from the art community, van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the latter part of 1890.  Tragically, he didn't get to read a favorable review of his art paintings by the prominent art critic, Albert Aurier, whose early praise initiated recognition of van Gogh as one of the most famous painters in art history.

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Famous Paintings at the Hermitage

Visiting the Hermitage, with its famous paintings dominating some 3 million works of art, has been a dream for decades.  The founding of this art museum is usually dated to 1764, when Catherine the Great began acquiring art collections and deploying art agents throughout Europe to purchase on her behalf.  I've seen a famous painting by Michelangelo, Crouching Boy; twelve or so art paintings by Titian; Giorgione's Judith;  over three dozen art paintings by Rubens; two dozen by van Dyck; two famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci; The Lute Player by Caravaggio; Danae by Rembrandt; two famous paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, and noteworthy art paintings by famous painters like Matisse and Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). It's breathtaking, even with temperatures and humidity in the 90s.

Although van Gogh was phenomenally influential on generations of subsequent artists, he sold only one art painting, Red Vineyard in Arles, during his brief lifetime.  Born in Holland to an evangelical preacher, he struggled to secure a career; after being fired from his uncle's art gallery, he opted to enter the Church but displeased its superiors with his overzealous care of the poor.  Desperately, he turned to painting.  In merely ten years, van Gogh generated an oeuvre that impressed famous painters like Claude Monet, who deemed van Gogh's art paintings the best in the Salon des Independants of 1890, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who reportedly threatened to duel a man critical of van Gogh's art paintings. 

In 1889, van Gogh was institutionalized in an asylum in Saint-Remy for care of recurrent mental illness.  His somber palette of earlier art paintings like The Potato Eaters had been

Vincent van Gogh. Portrait of Madame Trabuc, September, 1989. Oil on canvas.  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

supplanted by a more diverse palette of brighter hues.  From St. Remy, he wrote his brother,Theo:

Life passes by, and you cannot undo it, but precisely for that reason I am working without sparing any effort: the opportunity to work may not present itself again.  This is so much more the case with me: after all, an unusually strong attack could destroy me as an artist forever (LT 605).

 One of the famous paintings from his Saint Remy stay is Portrait of Madame Trabuc, or Jeanne Lafuye Trabuc (1834-1903). Little is known of her other than she was married to the head warden at St. Remy, and was 55 when she posed for van Gogh.  Vincent describes her to Theo:

She [Madame Trabuc] is an unhappy, faded, and quiescent woman, so inconsequential and unnoticeable that I felt an acute wish to paint on canvas this dusty blade of grass (LT 605).

This sentiment is captured in van Gogh's controlled brushstokes that define Madame's dress; these vertical, evenly spaced marks are remote from the impasto, or thick, circular strokes more typical of his art paintings.  Van Gogh made a copy of this Trabuc portrait for Theo, making it impossible to know if the Hermitage painting is the version from the live model or this copy. And who cares? It's stunning, brilliantly capturing her quiet, unassuming demeanor.

A painting of the same year acknowleges the esteem van Gogh held for Jean-Francois Millet, recorded in a letter he wrote after seeing some of Millet's drawings on sale:

When I went into the room in the Hotel Drouot where they[Millet's drawings] were exhibited, I was seized by a feeling something like this: Take off your shoes; you are standing on holy ground.(LT 29).

Vincent van Gogh.  Morning: Going Out (After Millet), January, 1890. Oil on canvas, 28 3/4" x 36 1/4".  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

In this art painting, van Gogh's brushstrokes are energetically applied as he employed color to create moods rather than to replicate reality.  As he told Theo, "Instead of trying to reproduce what I see before me, I use color in a completely arbitrary way to express myself powerfully." His reliance on the expressive values of color made him a darling of later Fauvists and Expressionists... and of art museum visitors everywhere!

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No Famous Paintings - Customer Service Sagas Instead!

While I'm usually all about famous paintings, two customer service tales take precedence this week -  one a true karma workout, as my friend, Jan, says, and the other, stellar service.  It began innocously - I ordered a sports jacket from Bloomingdale's for my husband's birthday.  Several days later, our son called UPS to pick up a package of diabetes supplies for return to Neighborhood Diabetes.  You guessed it - UPS picked up the Bloomingdale's package and returned that to Neighborhood Diabetes, who called to report the error and kindly re-sent the package.

Except it got lost.  Armed with tracking number, I called UPS for help and got Kara. After I explained the snafu, it unfolded like this:

Me: So what happens now that the package is missing?

UPS: Thank you for your patience, Ms. Benford (TYFYPMB). What's the tracking number?

Me: Oh, I just spoke that into the voice-activated system.  Here it is again. H(as in Henry)98S(as in Sam)P(as in Peter)...

UPS: We delivered that to 75 Fletcher Road on 7/7 at 6:32 p.m. and left it at your front door.

Me: I know - The Voice said that, but I never got it.

 

 

 

Edvard Munch.  The Scream, 1910.  Tempera and pastels on cardboard, approx. 36" x 29".  Munch Museum, Oslo.

Tuesday's title: Please Connect Me to a Thinking Human.

UPS: TYFYPMB. Did you check with neighbors?

Me: Well... but you said it was left at my front door.

UPS: Ah, yes. You need to call Bloomingdale's to report that it's lost.

Me: Bloomingdale's? The package was shipped by Neighborhood Diabetes.  Since it was delivered to my house, why do I need to call ND? Isn't this a UPS problem?

UPS: TYFYPMB. Policy says the shipper must initiate a missing-package claim.

Me (having just spent 20 minutes with ND locating the tracking number): Wait a minute. I look at this as a mistake that UPS made, and feel that UPS should rectify the problem.

UPS: It's UPS policy about how this must work, Ms. Benford.

Me: May I please speak to a supervisor?

 

Francisco Goya.  The Duchess of Alba, 1797. Oil on canvas, 82 1/2" x 58 1/6".  The Hispanic Society of America, New York.

Tuesday's title: I Insist YOU Fix Your Mistake, UPS!

UPS: May I put you on hold? Click (before I respond).

UPS (8 minutes later): Hello, Ms. Benford. TYFYP.  This is [name omitted].  Kara has updated me on your situation, and I'll happily call Bloomingdale's for you.

Me: Bloomingdale's isn't even in the picture! They aren't the shipper!

UPS: Well, that's not what Kara said.

Me (Retells the switch-up saga, take two).  And please, don't thank me anymore for my patience, which is now in short supply.

UPS: I understand your situation, Ms. Benford. Contact Neighborhood Diabetes and ask them to initiate a missing package search.

Me: You know, this is chewing up more time than I have -- and I really feel that finding the package is your responsibility, given that UPS made the mistake.  See what I mean?

UPS: It's not taking a long time, Ms. Benford -- we've only been on the phone for 7 minutes.

Me: It's been 46 minutes for me!

Call mysteriously disconnects.  While fuming, I hear the Siren-call of decapitating weeds and find it suddenly enticing.  Maybe my husband didn't need a sports jacket anyway. Should I save it for his next birthday? As I don my garden sneakers, the phone rings.

Voice: Hello, Ms. Benford? This is Suzanne from UPS in South Carolina.  Are you having a shipping problem?

Me (not containing my shock and awe): Are you serious?

UPS: TYFYPMB.  Please tell me what happened.

That morning, my computer started flashing red, menacing lock symbols and wouldn't boot up. With Dell customer support, we deduced that either the motherboard died (bad news) or the CPU did (even worse news).  Horrible news, in fact, for an internet business, and highly unamusing for a woman just back from four days of helping elderly in-laws secure in-home nursing care.

Dell customer service promised that a technician would come to my house/office the next day, and then asked if my computer

Henri Matisse.  The Dance, 1909-1910.  Oil on canvas, 102" x 154".  Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.

Tuesday's Title: Susan Greets the Dell Technician.

needed other parts, like key covers they might replace at the same time.  Proactive thinking! No false and ingenous concerns for my patience! A customer service person empowered to fix problems!

At the end of Monday, I was computer-less still -- inconvenient, but with a forthcoming solution within a prescribed timeframe, it's no biggie. A far more consequential issue than a missing sports jacket, but with UPS' abysmal customer service, the jacket saga rankled.  And still does. 

Russell, the Dell technician, arrived as scheduled yesterday (see above), swapped out the motherboard, and replaced the rubber feet on my trusty steed. I'm good to go. 

Seth Godin, who blogs about internet marketing and business issues in Seth's Blog, observes that most companies measure customer service reps on the wrong metrics, like calls taken per hour.  Why isn't it obvious that this metric favors speed in lieu of customer satisfaction (read his thoughts in Thanks for calling, please go away)? He notes in other posts that corporations have begun to monitor negative comments posted online -- any wagers on whether UPS might call?

Meanwhile, I'm off to email Dell and thank them for Russell's exemplary customer service. It's still too hot for sports jackets, anyway. And TYFYPDR (and thank you for your patience dear reader) - I can't help it that I think of life in terms of famous paintings.

P.S. Then there was the other UPS snafu, famous in family lore. With the Red Sox in the World Series, I finally buckled to our boys' request for a big screen TV, due to arrive two weeks prior to the games.  The arrival date came and went, I DID contact the shipper, we cancelled the party (sans TV, we went elsewhere), and two weeks later we learned that UPS delivered it to our neighbor, who'd been shamelessly watching it for two weeks...

Caravaggio Painting Recovered!

The Caravaggio painting, The Taking of Christ or The Kiss of Judas, was recently recovered in Berlin after four members of a reputed international gang of art thieves attempted to sell it.  Stolen in July 2008 from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odessa, Ukraine, the Caravaggio painting was cut from its frame after thieves bypassed the museum's antiquated alarm system.

The Taking of Christ shows Jesus immediately after being kissed and betrayed by Judas (hence the painting's alternative title, The Kiss of Judas); soldiers drag Jesus away as his disciples observe in horror.  In true Caravaggio fashion, there is disagreement about this art painting.  Some contend it is merely a student's copy of the identically-titled Caravaggio painting housed in the National Gallery of Ireland (left).

Nor is Caravaggio controversy limited to his art paintings.  Efforts to identify his bones -- four centuries after his mysterious demise -  are riling the art history community. A group of Italian researchers, headed by Silvano Vinceti, announced last week they are "100% certain" they've identified the bones of the famous painter.  These fragments may be seen in Porto Ercole, Italy, where they are displayed on a red velvet cushion in a transparent box. (Read more details about Caravaggio's bones here).

An indication of the controversy comes from Keith Christiansen, the Met's curator of Italian and French painting, who commented, "I don’t see why anyone would be remotely interested in finding Caravaggio’s bones. I thought relic worship went out with the Middle Ages.”

Meow.

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Art Paintings in Washington, D.C.

With so many art paintings in Washington, D.C. art museums, what's an itinerary for seeing some of its famous paintings -- without becoming overwhelmed?

From a library of 23 art history books, I researched which art paintings the pros cited to exemplify styles and art movements from Renaissance art through Pop art. 17,000 pages later, I published Masterpiece Cards, 250 flashcards of the famous paintings that cropped up most -- think "The Greatest Hits of Art History"!  If you, too, are willing to defer to the collective wisdom of forty art historians, here's your guide to some of the most renowned art paintings in Washington, D.C. art museums: 

• Beckmann Max. The Argonauts (Triptych). Oil on canvas, 1950. National Gallery of Art.

Giovanni Bellini and Titian, Feast of the Gods.  Oil on canvas, 1514.  80 1/4" x 86" x 3".  Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art.

• Bellini, Giovanni and Titian. Feast of the Gods. Oil on canvas, 1514. National Gallery of Art. Read about these art paintings by Titian.

• Bonnard, Pierre. The Open Window. Oil on canvas, ca. 1921. Phillips Collection

• Cassatt, Mary. The Boating Party. Oil on canvas, ca. 1893 - 1894. National Gallery of Art

• Castagno, Andrea del. David with the Head of Goliath. Tempera on leather mounted on panel, ca. 1450-57. National Gallery of Art 

• Cezanne, Paul. Boy in a Red Waistcoat (below). Oil on canvas, 1888-1895. National Gallery of Art

Cezanne, Boy in a Red Waistcoat.  Oil on canvas, 1888-1890.  Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the National Gallery of Art.

• Chardin, Jean-Baptiste Simeon. The Kitchen Maid. Oil on canvas, ca. 1740. National Gallery of Art

 

• Church, Frederic Edwin. Niagara. Oil on canvas, 1857. Corcoran Gallery of Art

 

• Clouet, Francois. Lady in her Bath (Diane de Poitiers). Oil on wood, ca. 1570. National Gallery of Art

• Constable, John. Wivenhoe Park, Essex. Oil on canvas, 1816. National Gallery of Art

• Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille. Ville d'Avray. Oil on canvas, 1867 - 1870. National Gallery of Art

• Cuyp, Aelbert. Maas at Dordrecht.  Oil on canvas, ca. 1660. National Gallery of Art

• David, Jacques-Louis. Napoleon in his Study.  Oil on canvas, 1812. National Gallery of Art.  Read about other famous artwork by David.

• Derain, Andre. Mountains at Collioure.  Oil on canvas,1905. National Gallery of Art

• Frankenthaler, Helen. Mountains and Sea. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 1952. Collection of the artist on extended loan to the National Gallery of Art

• Gainsborough, Thomas. Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan.  Oil on canvas, 1785 - 1787. National Gallery of Art

• Hicks, Edward. The Peaceable Kingdom.  Oil on canvas, 1833 - 1834. National Gallery of Art

• Hofmann, Hans. The Gate.  Oil on canvas, 1959 - 1960. Guggenheim Museum

• Homer, Winslow. Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), Oil on canvas, 1876. National Gallery of Art

• Indiana, Robert. The Figure Five.  Oil on canvas, 1963. Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Lawrence, Jacob. During the World War There Was a Great Migration North by Southern Negroes (panel 1 from The Migration of the Negro). Tempera on masonite, 1940 - 1941. Phillips Collection.  Read about all sixty art paintings by Lawrence in The Migration series. 

• Leyster, Judith. Self-Portrait, Oil on canvas, 1635. National Gallery of Art

• Modigliani, Amedeo. Nude on a Blue Cushion.  Oil on canvas, 1917. National Gallery of Art

• Picasso, Pablo. Family of Saltimbanques.  Oil on canvas, 1905. National Gallery of Art. Explore other Picasso paintings, including Portrait of Gertrude Stein.

•  Pippin, Horace. Domino Players.  Oil on composition board, 1943. Phillips Collection

Horace Pippin, Domino Players. Oil on composition board, 1943.  12 3/4" x 22". Phillips Collection.

• Pissarro, Camille. The Boulevard des Italiens, Morning, Sunlight. Oil on canvas, 1897. National Gallery of Art

• Pollock, Jackson. Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist). Oil, enamel and aluminum on canvas, 1950. National Gallery of Art

• Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio). Alba Madonna.  Oil on canvas transferred from panel, ca. 1510. National Gallery of Art

• Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio). The Small Cowper Madonna.  Oil on wood panel, ca. 1505. National Gallery of Art

• Rauschenberg, Robert. Reservoir.  Oil, pencil, fabric, wood and metal, 1961. Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Rembrandt (Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn). Self Portrait.  Oil on canvas, ca. 1659. National Gallery of Art.  Read about another famous painting by Rembrandt, Aristotle with the Bust of Homer.

• Renoir, Pierre-Auguste. The Luncheon of the Boating Party.  Oil on canvas, 1881. Phillips Collection

•  Rothko, Mark. The Ochre [Ochre and Red on Red].  Oil on canvas, 1954. Phillips Collection.  Don't miss the Rothko Room, which holds four art paintings by Rothko.

• Stael, Nicolas de. Musicians.  Oil on canvas, 1953. Phillips Collection

• van der Weyden, Rogier. Portrait of a Lady.  Oil and tempera on panel, ca. 1460. National Gallery of Art. Check out other art paintings by van der Weyden.

• Vasarely, Victor de. Arcturus II.  Oil on canvas, 1966. Hirshhorn Museum

• Vermeer, Jan. Woman Holding a Balance.  Oil on canvas, ca. 1665. National Gallery of Art.  Explore other famous paintings by Vermeer.

The largest of the Washington D.C. art museums is the National Gallery of Art, which, in spite of its youth -- its art collection was formed in the 20th and 21st centuries -- has an internationally influential collection of American and European art paintings. The Phillips Collection houses famous artwork by European and American painters. Its founder, Duncan Phillips (1886-1966), was an early proponent for American art, contending that American painters were as talented as their European counterparts. The Phillips Collection of 3,000+ art paintings focuses on impressionist paintings and modern art paintings. The Smithsonian American Art Museum contains works of art solely by American painters and artists, boasting one of the most extensive collections of American art, while the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden shows contemporary and modern art from the 20th and 21st centuries. American art from the 18th century on is the focus of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Design.   Click on any link to go directly to visitor information for that art museum.

And remember to take this itinerary with you!

Want to print this list in Microsoft Word? Click on this link: Art Paintings in Washington, D.C.

Female Artists: Artemisia Gentileschi's Later Life

One of the first female artists with a reputation beyond her native Italy, Artemisia Gentileschi endured a tumultuous childhood (read about Gentileschi's early life).  She and her father, the famous painter Orazio Gentileschi, were acquainted with the renowned Italian painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 - 1610).  In one of Gentileschi's most famous paintings, Judith Beheading Holofernes (right), her rendition of this apocryphal legend was influenced by Caravaggio's version created about two decades earlier (below). The violence and drama of her painting, enhanced by use of chiaroscuro, are typical of the Caravaggisti, or followers who imitated Caravaggio paintings. 

Artemisia Gentileschi.  Judith Beheading Holofernes.  Oil on canvas, c. 1620.  Uffizi, Florence.

In comparing the Holofernes theme executed by each,  Mary D. Garrard (Artemisia Gentileschi; Rizzoli Art Series) observes, "Her strategy was not so much to pay Caravaggio homage as to demand to be compared with him, to be taken seriously as an artist, perhaps even to go him one better." In Gentileschi's famous painting, Judith appears older, Abra is younger, and both unite to slaughter Holofernes.  The women dominate and control the action in a manner impossible to imagine with Caravaggio's timid females.  Gentileschi has not only demonstrated her superior ability to portray these women convincingly, but also has asserted her prowess in painting the Biblical and mythological themes typically handled only by male artists.

Nearly four centuries later, her popularity is once again as pervasive as it was during her late career. Works of art previously attributed to Orazio and other Baroque painters, for example, have been

 

Caravaggio.  Judith Beheading Holofernes.  Oil on canvas, 1598-99.  57" x 76 1/2".  Palazzo Barberini, Rome. 

attributed to Artemisia. The first art exhibition of Artemisia Gentileschi paintings was held in 1991 at Florence's Casa Buonarroti; significantly, the Casa was built by Michelangelo Buonarroti the younger, a nephew of Michelangelo and an early patron of Artemisia. Numerous books have been written about her (I'm a fan of Susan Vreeland's The Passion of Artemisia) and even a movie, Artemisia, was made in 1997. In it, the relationship between Artemisia and Tassi is portrayed as mutual and passionate -- but now you know that that is pure Hollywood, not art history!

Another of the famous paintings by Gentileschi, her Self-Portrait of 1630, typifies her tendencies to challenge the status quo. The position in which she portrays herself is highly unusual, and would be daunting for any painter at any time in art history. The Royal Collection, which owns this famous artwork, posits that she placed two facing mirrors on either side of herself. The mirror, traditionally an attribute of female vanity, is here associated with truth and accuracy -- and in Gentileschi's case, with a break from tradition.

Artemisia Gentileschi. Self Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1630. Oil on canvas, 38" x 29". The Royal Collection, St. James' Palace, London.

 

Famous Paintings by Caravaggio

Posted by Susan Benford

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 An exhibition of famous paintings by Caravaggio opened 20 February at Rome's Scuderie del Quirinale - with all the requisite ingredients of a blockbuster art exhibition. On the 400th anniversary of the death of "the painter of shadowy light", this art exhibition features only those works of art indisputably attributed to Caravaggio.  Artvpaintings created by the Caravaggio "school", or baroque paintings of disputed attribution, are not here, leaving a rare opportunity for pure immersion in Caravaggio's most famous artwork.  Astonishingly, some of the most famous paintings of the world are on loan from art museums around the world.  

With patronage from the President of the Italian Republic, this exhibition assembles both well-known and infrequently viewed Caravaggio paintings.  Among the more famous paintings are The Musicians (from the Metropolitan Museum), Basket of Fruit (from Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan), Judith Beheading Holofernes (Palazzo Barberini in Rome), and The Conversion of St. Paul (Cerasi Chapel, Rome).

Rather than being exhibited chronologically, the art paintings in the Caravaggio exhibition are hung to foster direct comparison among recurrent themes and subjects. For instance, Boy with a Basket of Fruit (above left) is juxtaposed with Bacchus (right). Also, multiple versions of a famous painting are juxtaposed -- like the three versions of St. John the Baptist, loaned from the Galleria Corsini, Nelson-Atkins Museum, and Capitoline Museums. Similarly, two versions of the Supper of Emmaus are shown for comparison: the one from the National Gallery in London (the version forged by Han van Meegeren, whose infamous exploits are richly detailed by Edward Dolnick in The Forger's Spell), and one from the Pinacoteca di Brera. 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was born to a prestigious family from Caravaggio, Italy in 1571, a date firmly established only in 2007 by discovery of his baptism certificate.  Despite the brevity of his life - he died at 39 - Caravaggio left innumerable contributions to art history, including artistic references to his legal entanglements. He had been sentenced to death for murder;  shortly thereafter, he portrayed himself as the decapitated Goliath in his famous painting, David with the Head of Goliath (right).

What virtually guarantees blockbuster status for the Caravaggio exhibition is the rarity with which some of these art paintings are shown in temporary exhibitions.  These include masterpiece paintings like Deposition from the Vatican Museums, Annunciation from the Museum of Nancy, the Crowning of Thorns from Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, and his Lute Player from the Hermitage (below)- it's on loan only until mid-May, a month before this exhibition ends on June 13.  So if you have any chance to visit Rome in the next four months, put this art exhibition at the top of your list!

 

 

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Tags: famous paintings, art paintings, Caravaggio, art exhibition, Scuderie del Quirinale