Is there an image from any work of art you have ever experienced that has stood out for you over the years?
For some reason, the blinking green light that signaled “go” in “The Great Gatsby” has come up for me many times over the years. I’m not sure what that means, except that it may symbolize for me that I am going and not stopping at this point in my life. It’s something I always wanted to do.
What image is it for you? Why do you think it has appeared so much in your thinking over the years?
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“The Picture of Dorian Grey” by Ivan Albreit. It scared me to death in the movie of the same name. It is so full of evil that I mentally shuddered when I thought of it. Many years later, I was at the Art Institute in Chicago. I turned a corner and there the painting was! After my heart stopped pounding, I was able to go up to it and look at all the details that made it so frightening to me. It was a painting of the sins of commission. Another painting of his has more of a sins of omission theme: “That Which I Should Have Done, I Did Not Do.” I think the two paintings remind me of what I do not want on my conscience.
This
I have loved it ever since I first saw it as a little girl on a field trip to the DIA. I love the color,compostion and size of this piece…no hidden meaning whatsoever for me.I just love it and have painted this image on canvas,ceramic and have even laid out a pattern to reproduce a panel of it in either stained glass or ceramic tile.
I recall a drawing from a book my grandmother kept, showing an allegorical representation of a boy who had eaten too much at Thanksgiving dinner. The drawing was of a live and somewhat humanized turkey taking revenge on the youngster by rolling a huge pumpkin over his gut. He was assisted in the endeavor by other anthropomorphic representations of other vegetables.
But what I recall specifically was the evil look on the turkey’s face as he tortured the boy by rolling that pumpkin over him so slowly, and the lad helpless to save himself.
Gave me nightmares for years. Thanks for the reminder.
Yes, this painting has always been everywhere I go, and goes to find out that the original is actually in the museum of art in puerto rico, I was born there but was raised in the US and so I have no connection with the roots of the history of the island, but I have always found it interesting to have such a connection witht eh painting, I would love to see it someday, and it may become one of my goals as I get things together in my life.
Well, being an audio rather than a visual oriented person, the works of art that stand out for me are from music rather than painting or sculpture. I am not really a big opra fan, but the part in Don Giovanni where the spirit of the underworld appears and belts out Don Giovanni’s name in a booming baritone has always stuck with me.
The Pieta
What is there not to say about this masterpiece? I was raised Catholic and this sculpture embodies the majesty of that pivotal moment in Christianity.
The Fall of Icarus, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder breaks my heart artistically and emotionally.
http://www.fineart-china.com/htmlimg/image-05488.html
And here’s the Auden poem about the painting. It is housed in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Brussels.
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;…
@Cruiser – Interesting – I was going to say La Pieta also, and I’m not Christian. It’s just such a beautiful piece of sculpture that it makes my heart jump being in its presence. They’ve got it behind bullet-proof glass nowadays, since someone broke off a piece of it a while back, but seeing it in person (and just being in San Pietro altogether) is pretty intense.
@Seelix I jealous you were able to see that in the daylight! I would have sat there for hours just to watch the changing light and see firsthand how he new exactly how that piece would look any time of day.
This is the best photo I was able to get (my camera isn’t that fancy). But yeah, it’s pretty amazing.
@Seelix Wow very cool! Thank you for sharing!
Well, @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard already has a Magritte up, but this here that stuck with me from the start. I’m also fascinated by Klimt’s The Kiss.
As far as literary stuff goes, in Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, there’s a quote that is from Ovid that has just stayed in my mind since I first read it. It’s referring to the myth of Daedalus, and my username is actually the beginning of said quote. ^_^
M.C. Escher’s Metamorphosis I, II, and III always stood out to me. I’ve always loved his stuff.
I have seen the Mona Lisa and it was amazing, but nothing will ever top the Sistine Chapel for me
@seazen OMG, now I understand all the turmoils of the middle east.
I also now have more desire to visit Madagascar!
Caravaggio’s Last Supper
Christ’s humanity struck me immediately. It was the first time I thought, “Ya know, maybe Christ was just a guy”.
Also the lighting and dynamic composition are amazing. And notice how there’s an empty seat at the table for you, the viewer. Love this piece.
@seazen I didn’t I am only a newbie here. Makes my love of geography and global exploration all the more meaningful. I think it was Vasco Núñez de Balboa that was first to see much of it.
It would be the image of Death on the beach from Seventh Seal
The face of Michelangelo’s “David”. It is astounding how Michelangelo could carve such life into a cold dead piece of marble back in the 1500’s with no computers or power tools. I see such anguish, courage and determination in the face and of course the rest of the statue is also of flawless perfection.
Since my freshman year of high school, van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” has always intrigued me
Recently, there have been two movie scenes, if you consider them art, that have really gotten to me. The first being the scene from “Sunshine Cleaning” where Amy Adams character talks to her dead mom using the CB radio in the van. The second is the scene from “Away We Go” that takes place in the stripclub where the wife of the couple in Montreal gets on the stage and dances while the husband tells John Krasinski’s character that they had another miscarriage. These two scenes express real emotions that have captured my thoughts many times since I have seen them.
Magritte’s La Folie des Grandeurs has become a pilgrimage stop for me every time I go to Washington. I’ve been lucky. For years, it seemed, the Hirshhorn had it on permanent display. Then it disappeared into storage. But last time I was there, the first time in years, I got lucky. It was on display again.
I have no idea why, but it is an image that feeds my soul.
Another Magritte lover here. La Clairvoyance is one that has always stuck with me.
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ by Andrea Mantegna
What can be done with a brush and pigments on a two-dimensional surface. This requires a lot of looking and thinking and questioning.
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Irises, Van Gogh, in Amsterdam…...........I was spell bound
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