My Favorite Paintings

I guess this statement is gonna sound kinda obvious but here it goes: my favorite class in middle school was art class! It was always the best part of the week. We would go project by project and in each one, my teacher would give us a lesson on an artist (mostly 19th-20th century painters) that went with it. I loved how she taught. It sparked my interest in art more! The first time I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art was for her class. I remember we skipped the first floor with all the ancient artifacts (which I would eventually prefer) and went straight to the paintings upstairs. I don't remember much about that first trip from there but I do like to credit it and her class as the thing that sparked my love for art history.

For this weeks post, I thought I'd share some of my favorite paintings. Most of these are from different time periods and centuries and from different movements in the history of art. Some of them I've loved for years (since middle school art classes) and some I gained a fondness for after learning about them in art history classes. I will try my best to provide links such as Khan Academy videos and online articles about each painting if any catch your eye.

My favorite artist for as long as I can remember has been Gustav Klimt.

Klimt was an Austrian painter around in the late 19th to early 20th century, his main subject being the female body, his backgrounds filled with pattern. My favorite paintings of his are also among his most famous: The Woman in Gold (Adele Bloch Bauer I) and The Kiss.

The Woman in Gold, pictured above (images found here where you can also read a bit about it), painted in 1907, is housed at the Neue Galerie in New York City (just down the block from the MET). The Kiss, pictured below (images found here) was painted 1908-1909 and is located at the Belvedere in Vienna, Austria.

Here's a link to a great Google Arts and Culture virtual exhibit for The Kiss, and here's a Khan Academy video.

Both paintings were include gold and silver leaf, done during his gold period. I'm very lucky to have been able to see both of these paintings. The Kiss I was able to see on a trip to Vienna in 2019 after studying abroad in France. The Woman in Gold, I saw for the first time back in 2016, and I've gone to see it a couple times since. The Neue Galerie's daily admission price is pretty up there but they do have free admission from 6-8pm on the first Friday of every month, if you're ever in New York around then. I would definitely recommend it. Klimt's gold period paintings are spectacular in person. I mean, all art is best to see in person but the way the gold leaf shines in the light adds a whole other feeling to these works. They have a regal quality to them, especially The Woman in Gold.

I learned about Diego Velazquez's Las Meninas, pictured above (image found here), my sophomore year in college in the Survey of Western Art II class. It was painted in 1656 and is located at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. It was an instant stand out to me. I even chose it as my research topic for an assignment. It is one of the most intriguing paintings I've ever seen. This Khan Academy video explains it better than I can but, essentially, it is a master of perspective. It can be looked at in many different ways, focusing on many different areas in the painting. There's a couple different theories on it. One of them being that the painter to the left is Velazquez himself painting this very painting. Las Meninas depicts the infant Princess Margarita, the young girl in the center of the painting, surrounded by her maids of honor.

Other than the interesting ideas and theories about this painting, what drew me to this, and to Velazquez's work in general, is his use of looser brushstrokes, something that was quite innovative for his time. A closer look at the princess, pictured below (image found here), shows the perfectly placed yet loose strokes in her dress. It's said that this later influenced the Impressionists of the 19th century.

This next one is a compositionally complex delight, filled with immense crisp and clear detail and intriguing oddities. Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch painted ideas that were quite different than the rest of the painters of his time. I learned about Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights, pictured below (image found here), in a Survey of Western Art class, but came to really appreciate it when I took a separate class on the Northern Renaissance.

It was painted around 1500-1505 and is housed at the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. The left panel depicts the creation of Adam and Eve, and the right panel shows hell. The central panel shows a garden of life's pleasures, giving the triptych it's name. Through a closer look at it, you'll see people bathing in water, hanging around giant birds in the central panel and people being tortured, crushed by instruments and held upside down in the hell panel. It's truly amazing how much symbolism and intricate little details you can find in this one painting (and I didn't even mention of the back panels). Click here to zoom a bit and discover it for yourself!

Another great painter I like to look at from the Northern Renaissance is Jan van Eyck. I won't talk about his paintings now, but this is a really cool site if you want to look into him more too.

Moving it south to the Italian Renaissance...

The Birth of Venus, which depicts the birth of the mythic goddess of love, is Sandro Botticelli's most recognizable painting, but I much prefer the painting pictured below (image found here).

Primavera was painted by Botticelli around 1477-1482 and is located at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. It is an allegorical representation of the spring (hence the title), depicting several mythic subjects. These include (from left to right) the god Mercury, the three graces, the goddess Venus in the center, and Cupid above her. On the right is Zephyrus (the west wind) and the nymph Chloris, who transforms into Flora the goddess of spring (the person to her left). If you would like to learn more about what's depicted, I suggest watching this Khan Academy video.

The reason I like this painting over others of the Italian Renaissance is it's flatness. There isn't a great sense of depth or atmospheric perspective in this painting. The ground and the trees in the background are relatively the same shade, contrasting with the people and bringing out their luscious color.

That's all I'll write about for now. I really like this subject so I might write a part two later on so keep an eye out for that!

Thanks for reading!