English Romantic landscape painter J.M.W. Turner reflected the elegant glamorous ruins of Tintern Abbey more than once in his paintings. William Wordsworth and Lord Tennyson left beautiful lines inspired by the mysterious beauty of its ruins. Memories of the feelings and people “that are no more”. “Tears, Idle Tears” by Tennyson are full of sadness, regret, thoughts of death and friends already gone into the underworld.

Dear as remembered kisses after death,
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feign’d
On lips that are for others; deep as love,
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret;
O Death in Life, the days that are no more!”

The mysterious Tintern Abbey is not a mythological place but a Cistercian monastery in Monmouthshire founded in 1131. Its ruins are still standing and attract tourists, poets and artists.

Surprisingly people of today, who have never heard of it know more than they realize about it by facts and associations. Who does not know unhappy king Henry VIII who is famous for his numerous marriages and the legend that he killed all of his wives? Bookstores and libraries are full of tragic novels of his passion for Ann Boleyn who he married and executed a few years later. The popular TV series The Tudors dedicated an entire season to this love story that changed the history of England. Trying to justify his divorce with his Catholic wife Catherine of Aragon, the king turned to Protestantism and ordered the so-called Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales. One of the episodes of the TV series shows Henry’s army crushing and robbing the monasteries, killing all the monks and putting the buildings on fire.

It seems that Tintern Abbey surrendered more peacefully and the building was granted to Henry Somerset, Earl of Worchester. The earl was not interested in living in it and started selling it piece by piece from the roof down. That is how its decay started in 1536.

The magnificence of its architecture became even more apparent during its slow demise, and it became a symbol of dying beauty. Fans of Jane Austen may recall that it is mentioned in Mansfield Park.

Turner’s image of Gothic arches covered in growing vines, broken stained glass windows, and sharp diagonal shadows on crumbling walls creates a ghostly atmosphere of decaying splendor.

If the Earl of Worchester was not interested in living in Tintern Abbey, the intentions of many other noble recipients of royal gifts of dissolute monasteries were quite different. How else did the family of Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham end up in Downton Abbey?

The sitter for the famous Da Vinci portrait, Lady with Ermine, is a beautiful and talented lady – Cecilia Galerani. On the portrait she is about sixteen, already a woman, whose life took a few dramatic turns in the hands of her ambitious father. Not of noble birth, he tried to arrange the marriage of his ten-year old daughter into a noble family. What is known next is that the marriage never took place and a few years later she became the mistress of her father’s patron, the Milanese duke Ludovico Sforza, known as Ludovico el Moro. His unattractive appearance and the suspicious death of his nephew under his regency created a monstrous aura around his personality, which is reflected in the recent TV series The Borgias.

In reality he was a wise ruler and a patron of the arts and his court was one of the major cultural centers of the time. His beautiful, well-educated fifteen-year old bride, Beatrice d’Este, became the center of Milan’s numerous festivities and the heart of poetic, philosophical, and artistic circles for the next six years of her married life.

The image presented in The Borgias – an ugly monster sitting in his dark cave-like castle and feeding bones to his caged nephew – does not exactly correspond with the extravagant balls and celebrations the Milanese court was known for. As far as it is known, the largest disappointment Cecilia must have experienced at Sforza’s court was his marriage to the noble Beatrice d’Este in the same year when Cecilia gave him a son. Otherwise, she was well provided for by Ludovico who even arranged a prestigious marriage for her.

Leonardo da Vinci spent many years of his life serving Ludovico Sforza in different capacities, including painting a portrait of his favorite mistress. Cecilia is shown in an elegant turn, as graceful as the charming white ermine she is holding, the symbol of purity and the personal emblem of Ludovico.

The original of this painting is not easy to see as its home is the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, Poland. Fortunately it is among the best-preserved creations of Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci was a true Renaissance Man with numerous extraordinary talents and skills. His genius revealed itself in an incredible range of fields. Although we know him as one of the greatest painters in history, he considered himself rather an excellent architect and military engineer who could also paint. His interest in science was such a huge part of his nature that he could not stop himself from experimenting and taking risks with all of his various projects. As a result some of his creations were lost and many require lots of care to survive. “Lady with an Ermine” has survived almost unaltered. His signature techniques and fingerprints, found on the surface, prove that it was created entirely by his hands.

It has been a while since I have been so drawn to a movie as I was to the recent creation of Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris. This time the story and the coming-to-life of the most influential poets, painters and thinkers of the roaring 20′s in Paris are simply amazing!

In the movie, disenchantment with the present leads Gil, a naive but endearing American played by Owen Wilson, to return to the golden age of the 1920s. One night, having taken leave of the fiancée who doesn’t understand him, he is wandering the streets of Paris when a clock rings out the chimes of midnight. A vintage black car pulls up, its doors swing open and its passengers invite him to a party. After a while it dawns on Gil that he has been transported back in time to a soiree where he finds himself in the enjoyably loquacious company of Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí.

I have lost myself in the feelings of this particular movie so much that I was genuinely upset that I cannot be there – up there on the screen! Dancing, drinking absinth and getting the inside scoop on a Picasso portrait!

Paris in the Twenties. Has there ever been, before or after, such an incredible concentration of talents in one space and time? Specifically the painters of the era with Picasso and Dali leading the way along with Henri Matisse, George Brack, Juan Miro, Franz Marc, and Amedeo Modigliani who are all mentioned and take part in the film.

The movie continues as the main character Gil meets Picasso’s mistress Adriana. Together, they have a romantic get-away back to the era of the Belle Epoque meeting Edgar Degas, Toulouse Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Edward Manet who all believed that the Renaissance was the greatest period. Everyone, it seems, cling to the past. It turns out the grass might not be greener in any side.

If I had a chance to meet great painters like Gil’s meeting with Dali on a glass of table wine or his encounter with Gauguin at the Belle Epoque I would have liked to:
1. Share a cigarette with Frida Kahlo
2. Prepare a dinner for Georgia O’Keeffe
3. Dine with Pablo Picasso and find out who was his most beloved wife
4. Join Salvador Dali for coffee in Madrid
5. See New York through the eyes of Edward Hopper
6. Be there at Rockeffeler Center in the unveiling of the Diego Rivera giant mural in the 20’s
7. Get seriously drunk with Vincent van Gogh
8. See Jackson Pollack at work in his early studio; maybe even just paint drop his unfinished work.

This is my list – what would yours look like?

overstockArt.com announced last week that it has joined forces with Bravo and Magical Elves to launch a new line of artwork from the cable network’s series “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.” The exclusive line of reproduced artwork is created by the artists participating in the creative competition series produced by Magical Elves and Pretty Matches Productions.

The artwork featured in “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” will be made available for purchase exclusively on overstockArt.com following airing of new episodes each Wednesday. Reproduced artwork created by artists who competed in the first season of the show will also be made available for purchase. The new line will be available at overstockArt.com/workofart.html.

Bravo’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” is a creative competition series that seeks to discover new talent and shed light on the artistic process that typically occurs behind closed doors. Assembled in New York City under the watchful eye of art world elites, 14 up-and-coming artists are ready to make their mark on the industry and battle it out for a solo show at the Brooklyn Museum and a cash prize of $100,000.

“We’re constantly looking for ways to innovate, furthering the proliferation of our brand while providing added value for our customers,” said David Sasson, CEO of overstockArt.com. “This collaboration will take overstockArt.com to the next level by leveraging our commitment to creating high-quality, affordable art with Magical Elves’ dedication to discovering today’s hottest up-and-coming artists and jointly bringing quality products to market.”

The “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist” canvas transfer art reproductions will be offered in a variety of sizes with prices starting at $119. Customized frames can also be purchased. Reproduced artwork is first available exclusively on overstockArt.com and will later be made available for purchase by overstockArt.com’s partner online retailers.

“This partnership builds on the success of both brands, providing us the unique opportunity to engage with our fans and viewers and to connect with consumers beyond the television screen,” said Ellen Stone, Senior Vice President of marketing for Bravo.

“Work of Art: The Next Great Artist,” is produced by Pretty Matches and Magical Elves for Bravo. Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alison Benson and Eli Holzman serve as executive producers.

With the premiere of part one of The Deathly Hallows on November 20, Harry Potter is faced with his greatest challenge yet. November 20 is a date Mr. Potter also shares with famous artist Rene Magritte, whose birthday we also celebrate. However, both of these men have far more in common. 

Loss of a Mother

In 1912, Rene Magritte’s mother committed suicide by drowning herself in the River Sambre. This was not her first attempt. When his mother was found a few miles from Magritte’s childhood home, her face was covered by her gown. While the artist studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, many of his paintings would include figures with their faces covered by a thin drapery. 

However, in young Harry Potter’s case, his mother gave her last breath to save her son from the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. Her love assisted in the rebounding of Voldermort’s death curse and imbued the protagonist with some of Voldemort’s powers–the ability to speak the language of snakes, for instance.

Tom Riddle and La Reproduction Interdite

Is that Tom Marvolo Riddle? No, that is a portrait by Magritte entitled La Reproduction Interdite,which translates to “Not To Be Reproduced.” In this artwork we have a young man, who certainly resembles Mr. Riddle, staring at the back of his own head. It is an awkward Hall of Mirrors. Magritte, as a godfather of Surrealism, often incorporated symbols and distortions of reality to show his viewer that he could never capture the actual thing on canvas, which brings us to the question at the heart of his work, do we really know ourselves? Who is this? Who is Tom Marvolo Riddle?

For those who follow the Harry Potter series, we know that Tom Marvolo Riddle’s name rearranges into the letters Lord Voldermort, but who is Lord Voldemort? In the third book, The Prisoner of Askaban, our villain does not appear in person or as a magical manifestation. We later discover that Lord Voldemort has split his soul into seven pieces and hid these pieces in “horcruxes” (Tom Riddle’s diary). Similarly, each of Magritte’s works seem to contain pieces of himself and the repetition of various common and symbolic objects in an usual setting (a bowler hat, lion, bird, and the female body, etcetera). 

Philosophy and Mystery

My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, “What does that mean?” It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable. -Rene Magritte

This perception is relevant to Kantian philosophy, and scholars say it is the basis for modern relativism. Since we each only have one perspective, we can never know they universal, it is said. With such elements as The Department of Mysteries, the Mirror of Erised (which you look into, see what you most desire, and become obsessed with it), and horcruxes, the Harry Potter series is a splendid artwork in cinematography which modernizes surrealism and the ideas which are central to Surrealist works like that of Magritte. I wonder how Magritte would depict himself looking into the Mirror of Erised, and if he did see his mother, would a drapery cover her face? Magritte is hailed as the godfather of Surrealism, and J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is unquestionably the author of a new generation of symbolism and Surrealism, not mere fantasy.

Now in its fourth season, the hit ad agency drama Mad Men has us going gaga over more than clean typography and innovative plot. Set in the 1960s, the drama focuses on issues not only realistic to the period but also mad modernists and stylish furniture. The 1960s mark Kennedy’s assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights activism, second-wave feminism, and the Vietnam War. However, the decade foretold more than political upheaval—a dynamic change in the art world.

Modernism in the 1960s

From New Realism, Conceptual, Post-Minimalism to the beginnings of Postmodernism, experimental art forms (such as Pop Art) drew greater public attention to artistic expression. Challenged by Pop Art, abstract expressionism underwent expansion in terms of possibilities artists had available to create art. Such artists as Frank Stella, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. These innovative artists probably never imagined that four decades later their artwork would star on Mad Men, with some pieces being central to the plot. A Rothko piece seemed to have its own debut character role in season two.

Rothko: “Smudgy squares, huh. Interesting.”

In episode seven of season two, we are introduced to Rothko inside Cooper’s office. See for yourself.

Looking back, we would think that $10,000 is a deal for a Rothko when collector David Rockefeller purchased White Center in 1960 for less than that and sold the painting at Sotheby’s for $72.8 million. This sale still holds the auction record as the highest purchase for a contemporary painting. Was this part of the inspiration for the plot? Maybe.

Regardless of what influenced the plot, Mad Men has certainly inspired modern popular culture. Though Rothko has been a popular choice in the past, those “smudgy squares” of his are seeing an even greater surge of popularity across the world. Television today has an action-packed, sex sells quota to fill every month. An episode with a Rothko as a central “character,” wherein our characters engage in a brief aesthetic conversation about whether art should be decorative (“smudgy squares”) or mean something, does not hurt the general audience to see, especially when done in style. What do you think those “smudgy squares” mean? What was Rothko thinking?

Rothko, in part, was thinking about his children—his works of art. When Jean Kennedy (the President’s younger sister) tried to “take home” just one or two of those paintings, Rothko refused. To Rothko, art did not mean where something fit in on the wall. Cooper’s Rothko of choice, with a haunting red hue, is meant to do more than fit in. Every person who walks in that office must stop and get lost in it. It’s not about fashion, is it?

Turning the Wheels of Fashion

If you take a look at Don Draper’s office and flip through a few furniture catalogs, you could theorize that it is still about fashion. Ikea released a furniture piece in 2009 (top) by Bauhaus designer Franz Ehrlich. Where functionality meets form, the piece was designed in 1956 and released by its original manufacturer in 1963. Don Draper’s office (bottom) also underwent a charity auction on eBay last August. The public is going mad over the sixties thanks in major part to the drama.

In an age where our culture of consumerism is dealing with equality and freedom in gender, going green, love, and wars on terrorism and genocide, it’s no wonder a sixties drama featuring characters who work an ad agency has become a hit TV series. Mad Men runs the gamut of popular culture, from issues to style by turning the wheels of fashion and defining art as something more than “smudgy squares.” What do you get out of Mad Men?

A new production called Red is set to debut on Broadway on April 1st, the play is about none other than the Abstract Expressionist Painter – Mark Rothko.

Red was written by screenwriter John Logan, maker of Gladiator, The Aviator and the Sweeney Todd movie, among others. The play focuses mainly about the discussions regarding abstract expressionist aesthetics that Rothko had with his studio assistant while the famous painter was working on some of the most revolutionary canvases of his generation.

Red is set in 1958 as New York artist Mark Rothko (Alfred Molina) receives the art world’s largest commission to create a series of murals for The Four Seasons restaurant in the new Seagram building on Park Avenue. Under the watchful gaze of his young assistant, Ken and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Rothko faces his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting. Red is a moving and compelling account of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, whose struggle to accept his growing riches and praise became his ultimate undoing.

Rothko is played by Alfred Molina – a rare actor who conveys intelligence with visceral intensity. He makes you believe that what Rothko says, no matter how abstract it is, is of mortal importance to the painter. Molina has developed a specialty depicting 20th century artists as he already played another formidable painter, Diego Rivera, in the movie “Frida” along side Salma Hayek.

The actors in the play get their hands dirty throwing paint around on stage, the moment you step into the theater you are struck by the smell of oil paint in the air. The smell of the oil and the rage of the painter makes Red an extremely powerful theatrical experience.

So, if you are in New York in the following weeks, stop by the Golden Theater on 45th Street and enjoy a glimpse into the mysterious world of the 1950’s Abstract Expressionism.

She was a rare blend, born to an Hungarian Jewish immigrant and a Mexican woman of Spanish and Indian decent. Her short life was full of turmoil and artistic creation.

Only years after her death when the Movie “Frida” staring Salma Hayek came out did the story of Frida Khalo‘s tumultuous life was brought to the attention of the public and over night she became an iconic female figure of the art world in the 20th century.

Her agony was drowned many a times with her favorite drink the Tequila. In honor of her life and her passion, the Khalo family has started a Tequila brewery that bares the Khalo name and Frida’s own portrait on the label.

Fridah Khalo bottled as fine Mexican Tequila

Her cousin Izevelda Khalo who published a book in 2004 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Frida Khalo’s death, was also the person behind the Khalo Tequila endeavor. In a statement to the Mexican press she said:

Tequila was her favorite drink, it was apart of Frida’s life in good times and in bad times…

The ties between great artists and motion picture have always been a personal intrigue of mine. It seems the film tends to transcend the artist and his masterpieces from their two-dimensional canvas confines into the conscious popularity of the general public.

I wanted to take this opportunity and go through my personal top 10 list of famous artists depicted in motion picture, and see how this exposure has changed the perspective of the public on their art.

1. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2004) – This beautiful movie give us a glimpse into the world of Johannes Vermeer in Holland, 1665. The climatic cinematographic treatment left me in awe. You wouldn’t think a movie could take form of a Vermeer painting, but Girl with a Pearl Earring is filmed with an amazing range of luminous glows that evoke the Dutch artist’s masterworks. Of course, it helps that much of the movie centers on Scarlett Johansson whose creamy skin and full lips have a luminosity of their own. Johansson plays Griet, a maid in the household of Johannes Vermeer, who finds herself in a web of jealousy, artistic inspiration, and social machinations. Though the pace is slow, Girl with a Pearl Earring genuinely conveys some sense of an artist’s process, as well as offering many chaste yet sensual moments.
2. Rembrandt (1936) – This 1936 flick features Charles Laughton who brilliantly captures the inner turmoil of the passionate 17th-century genius of Rembrandt. In Amsterdam of 1642, master painter Rembrandt Van Rijn (Charles Laughton) enjoys a rich, full life in a beautiful, blinding, swirling mist of fame and fortune. But with the sudden death of his beloved wife and muse, his work takes a dark, sardonic turn that quickly offends even his most loyal patrons.
3. Modigliani (2004) – Andy Garcia stars as the painter Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian Jew, has fallen in love with a beautiful Catholic girl in post World War I Italy and Paris. The story of the movie is almost completely untrue… but there are some particular anecdotes that bring light into the life of this talented painter and sculpture.
4. Pollock (2000) – Ed Harris directs and stars in a film that depicts his fascination with Jackson Pollock which only equals his physical similarity to the artist. Harris’s devotion assured a work of integrity, honoring the artist’s achievement in abstract expressionism, but at the same time acknowledging that Pollock was a tormented, manic-depressive alcoholic whose death at 44 (in a possibly suicidal car crash) also claimed the life of an innocent woman. The movie has elevated Pollock’s drip art to an American Icon and has sparked a huge lift in prices for Pollock’s masterpieces. Pollock currently holds the record of the most expensive painting ever sold at over $150 million!
5. Frida (2002) – I debated if I should feature the original 1988 Mexican film or the recent Hollywood remake, I choose the latter because that’s the one I’ve seen, but I heard wonderful reviews for the original so I might have to check it out. Salma Hayek plays the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo, whose tempestuous life with her unfaithful husband, muralist Diego Rivera, drives the story of Frida. The script spends a long time talking about the greatness of Frida’s paintings, which has transcended her popularity in the art world immensely.
6. Goya’s Ghosts (2008) – Starring my favorite actress of all time, Natalie Portman, Goya’s Ghosts is a sweeping historical epic, told through the eyes of celebrated Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Set against the backdrop of political turmoil at the end of the Spanish Inquisition and start of the invasion of Spain by Napoleon’s army, the film captures the essence and beauty of Goya’s paintings which is best known for both the colorful depictions of the royal court and its people, and his grim depictions of the brutality of war and life in 18th century Spain.
7. Surviving Picasso (1996) – Anthony Hopkins stars in this epic which tells the story of Pablo Picasso and his passionate affairs with his many mistresses or muse as he calls them. The story begins in 1943 during the German occupation of Paris. Picasso is in his 60s, and as wild and passionate as a youth. While swearing eternal love to Francoise, his new muse, his path is littered with former mistresses who he pays regular visits to. From the sensual, phlegmatic Marie-Therese, the brilliant Dora, also a painter, whose feelings for him have brought her to a nervous breakdown, to his Russian wife, Olga, a former dancer, whom he has driven to the point of actual madness.
8. The Impressionists (2006) – Looking back on his life in 1920, Claude Monet recalls the story of the Impressionists – a movement that shook the foundation of the art world. With his fellow painters, Auguste Renoir and Frederic Bazille, they begin a forty year struggle against the Salon, the annual state art exhibition. Monet along with his friends and rivals ultimately find the success that they only dreamed was possible.
9. Lust for Life (1956) – Appropriately titled, for mere passion seems inadequate when describing this superb fictionalized biography of Vincent Van Gogh. Kirk Douglas is the tormented Dutch painter, whose life is chronicled from his ill-fated stint as a preacher to Belgian miners in 1878, to his Impressionist-inspired artistic awakening and psychological descent to suicide in 1890.
10. Klimt (2006) – John Malkovich inhabits the role of dissolute artist Gustav Klimt so completely one almost expects to see his wild-eyed features reflected in Klimt’s well-known painting The Kiss. The story is a (very) loose biopic about the tortured life of the Austrian artist, whose deathbed ruminations begin the film and the flashbacks that begin to paint the portrait of his incredible, hedonistic life.

There were many more films done on great artists, these are just my personal favorites. I think some of these movies do a great job portraying what goes on in the artists head as he completes his masterpiece. The synergy between oil paintings and the movies is not an easy task by any measure, but as seen in the aforementioned list of movies, when you have the right combination of a good story and fantastic acting you can achieve great things by merging these two disciplines together.

In the modern era, great oil painting masterpieces have become a status symbol. The combination of beauty, popularity and the multi-million dollar price tag, have made the great oil paintings of the world, luxurious items coveted by the rich and famous.

The prestige of art has transformed itself to the silver screen, as more and more oil paintings make their way to the walls of majestic scenes in motion pictures. Many stage producers that are trying to give the perception of class and a luxurious setting add high-end reproductions of famous paintings to the background to spice up the scene.

Never was this more evident than in the “Ocean’s eleven” movie trilogy. The movie that is actually a remake of a famous rat-pack 1960’s film, has (in my opinion) the coolest cast ever assembled in Hollywood, ever since the aforementioned rat-pack. With brilliant and exciting actors such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt, the producers had to create a world of unsurpassed luxury and style.

I happened to watch both sequels last week, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen, and I was astonished to see in the background walls of Terry Benedict’s gleaming office, the ruthless Casino Mogul (played by Andy Garcia) the famous Klimt oil painting, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, the same painting that in reality is hanging in the Neue Galerie in New York City bought by cosmetics tycoon, Ronald Lauder for $135 Million two years ago and is considered by many as the Mona Lisa of New York City.

When I saw Ocean’s Twelve and Adele sparkling of gold tones in the background, I thought that the producers of the film really did their home work and added the most expensive oil painting known to man to the background of this movie. However, in Ocean’s Thirteen, Adele was still hanging in the background, but the painting got stripped down from all it’s gold and had only silver tones…

In any case, do you know of any other films that have famous oil paintings hanging in the background? Please share and I would love to add some photos of this as well.