Les Demoiselles d’Avignon 1907 – Pablo Picasso
What makes Picasso’s painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon one of the most influential Western paintings of all time?
– Powerful, nude women
– Racism
– Geometrical figures can seduce too
Figurative
Mother and Child, 1865 by Frederic Leighton
Why is Lord Frederic Leighton’s masterpiece Mother and Child still so popular?
– Symbolism in lilies, shoes, birds, and a grape
– When a mother frames your whole world
– The Baron painter Leighton: rich, famous and still relevant
Woman Combing Her Hair 1936 – Julio Gonzalez
How does Woman Combing Her Hair 1936 stand out as an abstract sculpture?
– Wild gestures in iron
– Welded with Picasso’s friendship
– Ruminations on a pelvic curve
Young Woman with a Water Pitcher by Johannes Vermeer
Why’s Vermeer’s painting Young Woman with a Water Pitcher such a big deal?
– Light elevates everyday tasks
– Young Woman with a Water Pitcher – the inner sanctum
– A more iconic shield than Captain America’s
Black Sea by Philip Guston
Why Black Sea by Philip Guston is an important painting:
• The inspiration behind Black Sea by Philip Guston.
• What’s controversial about the painting Black Sea?
• Wait a second, this is just a badly painted boot heel…
The Blind Girl by John Everett Millais
Every time I look at The Blind Girl I forget the two girls are beggars. That may be due to the blind girl’s blissful expression. Also, John Everett Millais sets them in a picturesque field of lush, joyful color. Still, this lovely duo holds us gripped in their happy moment.