What is your favorite work of art, and why?
Mine will always be Monet’s Wild Poppies, near Argenteuil, 1873. The splashes of color, the symmetry betwen the tree and the larger female figure, the way the child’s face draws the eye, and the general poise of the entire layout. Actually, I don’t know why I like it so much, but I was willing to live on eggs and white-bread toast for a week so I could afford my treasured oversized print.
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39 Answers
The Raft of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault. Because it is beautiful.
The Nike of Samothrace, in the Louvre. Perfect form and insanely accurate depiction of texture. Sometimes I think people were more skilled 2000+ years ago.
The Clarke Museum (in Williamstown, Ma) had a show of Monet’s notebooks and charcoal caricatures two summers ago. They had also some of his oils on loan. How can you choose only one?
Here’s one of mine. “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel (elder) and the poem that WH Auden wrote called “Musees des Beaux Arts,” where the painting is displayed.
Both
edit: sometimes called Brueghel.
Vermeer’s Milkmaid.
When I saw this in the Louvre 25 years ago, I was transfixed. There is a small handful of works that have actually had a physical effect on me, and this is the most powerful of them. I have no idea why that’s the case, and I prefer to leave that mystery unresolved. I simply had the sensation of seeing directly into truth.
Oddly enough, seeing reproductions of it don’t have this effect on me. But every time I’ve seen it in person, the effect is just as powerful.
There are plenty of other works that I find more interesting visually, but this experience of immediacy and truth trumps all of that.
I have to say it is between The Maiden or Death
both done by Gustav Klimt. I am very found of his style and the way he uses texture and pattern. I also like the meaning of his paintings, and the mysteriousness. I had to do a project for Gustav, I had to create a piece inspired by him. The project made me grow very fond of his work.
I love the old masters but I really can identify with more contemporary art. One of my all time favorites is this dali .It is so serene. I’ve always felt the breeze and can drink in the scent of the water. Dali isn’t for everyone, but if you get a chance to visit the museum in St. Pete you might take a different look at the master.
Three Muscians by Picaso because I’m a muscian and I love Picaso’s work.
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@breedmitch, I second Rothko. I always seek his stuff out.
@all, you’ve really made some beautiful choices. This is a great question.
I just discovered Taos artist Inger Jirby. Her paintings are so fanciful (with a sense of fingerpainting) that you can’t help but smile. Link Scroll over “Gallery” and click “Paintings.”
@Kevbo: I was recently in Washington, DC. Every gallery/museum seemed to have Rothko in their collection, but I liked the Rothko room at The Phillips Collection best. By the end of the trip my 7 year old niece could identify a Rothko from across the street.
If you’ve never been to the Rothko chapel in Houston, put it on your list.
There are no non-great answers in this thread. Hooray!
fully enjoying the works of Rahman and Stolte. The “New Masters”?
Mmmm Rothko. And Robert Rauschenberg. And Paul Jenkins.
It is too hard to pick just one, but I have to say, Magritte is one of my favorites. Of his wonderful works of art I love The Banquet
and Time Transfixed
Oh, and there is Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights
My parents purchased a Bosch washing machine, and I call it Hieronymus.
Michaelangelo’s Pieta del Duomo because these incredibly lifelike, passionate humans are so gracefully carved that the flesh and stone are indistinguishable. Stare at them long enough (and this goes for David as well) and they almost start to breathe and sway. This sculpture captures the ecstasy of emotion and the meticulous craftsmanship of the artist as much as any work of art i’ve seen. And since it is unfinished it offers a rare glimpse into the sculptor’s process, and the artistic genius of Michaelangelo.
@stocky: Isn’t that by Hokusai? I love that print, too.
growing up Copley’s Watson and the Shark was my favorite painting. is that drama or what? put me off swimming for life…
Yea I just came back to fix that, “The Great Wave off Kanagowa” by Hokusai is the correct name.
@emt – I like that piece. Very suspenseful!
Sleeper, Lost in Dreams and Low Tech by James C. Christensen. He manages to combine Pre-Raphaelite, Classical, and Renaissance styles into something new with every piece.
I, like Delirium, can’t just have one favorite, but of the top of my head I think of Flaming June . It is one of the most beloved art patrimonies of Puerto Rico, up there with Ramón Frade’s El Pan Nuestro – Our Bread & Francisco Oller y Cestero’s El Velorio’ – The Wake . As far of reasons for liking it, what can I say that it is not obvious? It is sensual, classy, colorful and very pleasing to the eye, composition and subject matter-wise.
Very challenging to find just one piece of art. But I think Springtime by Rodin is certainly one of my favorites. Rodin is just so insightful with his beautiful bodies, and that piece is just so tender and lovely.
Standing Male Nude With A Red Loincloth – Egon Schiele
Not sure about the why. I love most all of his work.
It’s rather incongruous, yet captures a certain truth to it.
There’s an ease to his line work that I find compelling.
Nimis, I absolutely love Schiele. Have you seen his sketchbooks?
Only snippets here and there, nothing in its entirety.
I do love peeking in artists’ sketchbooks though.
There’s something lovely when they’re fast and loose.
Honestly, seriously, I greatly prefer it to their completed painting. It tells you so much more.
I know what you mean.
There’s something more honest and intimate about it.
Exactly. It isn’t intended to be in a gallery. It is imperfect, which somehow makes it more alive.
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