greatest treasures in the world’s...
Transcript of greatest treasures in the world’s...
Johannes Vermeer (baptized October 31,
1632, Delft, Netherlands—buried December
16, 1675, Delft), Dutch artist who created
paintings that are among the most beloved
and revered images in the history of art.
Although only about 36 of his paintings
survive, these rare works are among the
greatest treasures in the world’s finest
museums. Vermeer began his career in the
early 1650s by painting large-scale biblical and
mythological scenes, but most of his later
paintings—the ones for which he is most
famous—depict scenes of daily life in interior
settings. These works are remarkable for their
purity of light and form, qualities that convey
a serene, timeless sense of dignity.
Vermeer’s most famous work, Girl with a
Pearl Earring, was created in 1665 using oil
paint on canvas.
Gir
l wit
h a
Pe
arl E
arri
ng
Guernica by Pablo Picasso - On April 26, 1937, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco ordered the bombing of the
small town of Guernica. It was a market day; civilians, predominantly women and children, were outdoors in
public squares. As the first place where democracy was established in Spain’s Basque region, the town was a
symbolic target. The brutal bombing killed hundreds of people and injured as many as 900 others. This painting
was inspired by that attack. The original work is a mural that is 11 ½ feet tall and 25 ½ feet long. It was created
by Pablo Picasso and is considered by many to be his greatest work.
The painting is a mural 11 ½ feet tall by 25 ½ feet long. It is displayed at a museum in Paris.
The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
One of the 4 great
postimpressionists,
Vincent van Gogh is
generally considered
the greatest Dutch
painter after
Rembrandt. His
reputation is based
largely on the works of
the last 3 years of his
short 10 year painting
career, and he had a
powerful influence on
Expressionism in
modern art. He
produced more than
800 oil paintings and
700 drawings, but he
sold only one during his
lifetime.
The Starry Night on display at MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art) in New York City
Seurat painted this
masterpiece entirely
by means of dots of
pure color. The most
subtle ranges of color
could be shown by
changing the
combination of colors
of the dots. This was
a very controlled way
of painting, and the
compositions of his
pictures are entirely
in keeping with the
great care required
by the method. The
painting Sunday
Afternoon on the
Island of the Grande
Jatte is a view of a
holiday crowd on an
island near Paris.
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte - George Seurat
This painting is more than 700 years old! It is categorized as a bird-and-
flower painting and was created by artist, Qian Xuan. Here’s some text
from an article accompanying an image of the work in Wikipedia,
“according to Chinese tradition, bird-and-flower painting covers flowers,
birds, fish, and insects. It can thus deal with a wide range of natural topics,
including flowers (plants), fish, insects, birds, pets (dogs, cats) etc.” Look
closely at the detailed dragonflys, frogs and plants. The artist’s work was,
and still is, amazingly detailed!
Here is an enlarged view
of one section of the
painting. Look at the
amount of detail in the
dragonflies’ wings, as well
as the plants’ stems and
leaves.
Artist Jean Michel Basquiat transitioned from being homeless and unemployed to selling a single painting for up to $25,000 in a matter of several years. In 1978, Basquiat worked for the Unique Clothing Warehouse in their art department and at night he began "SAMO," painting his original graffiti art on neighborhood buildings. Unique's founder Harvey Russack discovered Basquiat painting a building one night, they became friends, and
he offered him a day job. Note: the man shown in the photograph is NOT Jean Michel Basquiat.
This work, Untitled, has been sold at auction for more than $100 million.