ArtCorner

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the epitome of the Italian Renaissance Man. His interests were as varied as his art. He had a profound impact on almost every field of study both as a scientist and as an artist.

As of recently, the “Da Vinci code” and other literary works that followed have increased admiration for Leonardo’s work especially as a scientist and inventor. Nevertheless, his glory rests on his great achievements as an oil painter. Specifically, due to a handful of art works that are considered to be among the most popular art masterpieces ever created.

The Da Vinci masterpieces are famous for a variety of reasons. From the subjects to the mystery that surround the oil paintings. The paintings have been researched and discussed by connoisseurs and critics since their conception.

The attributes that make Leonardo Da Vinci’s work so unique are:

• His will to innovate – using various techniques for layering onto the paint.
• His thorough knowledge of the human body.
• His insightful work in optics and light fixtures.
• His profound interest in Geology and other life sciences.
• His keen intellect and will to learn about human nature, including human behavior and responsiveness.

All of these rare qualities have somehow come together in the form of one man during the dawn of forward thought – 16th Century Renaissance. His ability to incorporate all of his passion and interests onto a bare canvas, have made us all view his art on many different levels. Leonardo’s work is interesting and profound, dazzling our interest for centuries.

It takes a simple glimpse in paintings such as, the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper to understand the genius that is Leonardo Da Vinci.

These two oil paintings, the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper are not only the most famous and most recreated oil paintings of all times, but they are also a source of numerous conspiracy theories. People have speculated and analyzed these two paintings for hundreds of years and the truth will probably forever remain tucked away somewhere under that Mona Lisa smile.

Hope II is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt painted in 1907-08, gold, and platinum. The painting is part of the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Klimt used golds in his paintings and his rich ornamental style is one of a kind. Look at the way he’s painted the garment worn by the main figure, how it’s an abstracted shape decorated with circles yet we still perceive it as a cloak or dress.

Klimt, “applied real gold and silver leaf in order to heighten still further the impression that the painting is a precious object” said Frank Whitford in his illustrated biography of Gustav Klimt.

Klimt, a native of Vienna, Austria drew his inspiration from Eastern cultures, from Byzantine art, Mycenean metalwork, Japanese screens and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Klimt is one of the rising stars of recent years, some of his paintings, like the famous Kiss, have become a household name throughout the world.

Recently, Art Newspaper released it’s annual list of most popular art museums in the world.

The Mona Lisa still drives the most traffic among any work of art and paced the Louvre Museum in Paris with an estimated 8,300,000 visitors.

Here’s the list of the top art museums in the world in its entirety:

No. Visitors – Museum, City:
8,300,000 – Louvre, Paris
5,509,425 – Centre Pompidou, Paris
5,191,840 – Tate Modern, London
4,837,878 – British Museum, London
4,547,353 – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
4,518,413 – National Gallery of Art, Washington
4,310,083 – Vatican Museums, Vatican City
4,159,485 – National Gallery, London
3,166,509 – Musée d’Orsay, Paris
2,652,924 – Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
2,650,551 – National Palace Museum, Taipei
2,435,300 – Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2,395,075 – State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
2,232,475 – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
2,219,554 – Museum of Modern Art, New York
2,133,149 – Field Museum, Chicago
1,772,255 – Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo
1,674,607 – CaxiaForum Barcelona, Barcelona
1,650,000 – Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow
1,649,969 – Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

I had the privilege of visiting the New York and London Museums on the list this past year, a pleasure that I will cherish forever. I would recommend visiting all the museums on the list and enjoy the magnificent art and culture that they embrace.

Another small museum in New York is the Neue Galerie Museum that holds the most prised New York painting aside of the MoMA’s Van Gogh Starry Night. Portrait of Adele Bloch Bauer by Gustav Klimt is going to be the Mona Lisa of the city. I went to see it this past summer and it is as breath taking as any artwork you have ever seen. The price tag is equally impressive tallying over $135 Million.

This week, is International Women’s Week. It is a week long celebration celebrated by women around the world every year the week of March 8th, which is International Women’s Day.

International Women’s Day is the story of ordinary women who made history. It is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal plateau with men.

To commemorate this day, I wanted to share with you a video on 500 Years of Women in Western Art:

To learn more about the women in this presentation, visit this page.

I hope that you will all have a lovely Women’s Day!

Van Gogh gave us his soul, his sanity and most notably his ear… He has always symbolized to me the inequities of life as an artist in a world where people expect you to put food on the table before expressing your passion.

In his lifetime, he painted fiercely, despite the cold gestures of the world around him, he kept creating and today his art can only be enjoyed in the finest museums.

The following is a short video depicting the many self portraits of Van Gogh, try and look into the eyes of this amazing master and may be you can find the passion to ignite your life.