TITLE: “Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies”
ARTIST: Claude Monet
DATE: 1899
WHY WE CHOSE IT: Claude Monet (November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926), the founder of French Impressionism, was born 172 years ago today.
From the Met:
In 1893, Monet, a passionate horticulturist, purchased land with a pond near his property in Giverny, intending to build something “for the pleasure of the eye and also for motifs to paint.” The result was his water-lily garden. In 1899, he began a series of eighteen views of the wooden footbridge over the pond, completing twelve paintings, including the present one, that summer. The vertical format of the picture, unusual in this series, gives prominence to the water lilies and their reflections on the pond.
SOURCE: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “The Thinker”
ARTIST: Auguste Rodin
DATE: 1880
WHY WE CHOSE IT: French sculptor Auguste Rodin (November 12, 1840 – November 17, 1917) was born on this day, 172 years ago.
From the Rodin Museum:
Auguste Rodin originally conceived a smaller version of this sculpture to sit atop his monumental bronze portal entitled “The Gates of Hell” (1880-1917). The figure was intended to represent Italian poet Dante Alighieri pondering “The Divine Comedy,” his epic story of Paradise and Inferno. However, in 1889 Rodin exhibited the sculpture independently of “The Gates,” giving it the title “The Thinker,” and in 1902 he embarked on this larger version.
Rodin recalled: “Guided by my first inspiration I conceived another thinker, a naked man, seated upon a rock, his feet drawn under him, his fist against his teeth, he dreams. The fertile thought slowly elaborates itself within his brain. He is no longer dreamer, he is creator.”
SOURCE: Rodin Museum
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “Le Vieux Roi (The Old King)”
ARTIST: Pablo Picasso
DATE: 1963
WHY WE CHOSE IT: Pablo Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was born 131 years ago today. The Spanish Cubist is unquestionably the most famous artist of the 20th century. In his artistic lifetime, lasting more than 75 years, Picasso created tens of thousands of works, including paintings, drawings, sculpture, lithographs, etchings, linoleum cuts and ceramics. Picasso changed art more profoundly in the 20th century, and had a greater influence on modern art, than any other artist in history.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” —Pablo Picasso
SOURCE: The Park West Gallery Collection
Fine art by Pablo Picasso is available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. Park West is one of the longest running and largest dealers of Picasso graphic works internationally. Learn more at http://picasso.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “Flower Jumper Over Sunrise II”
ARTIST: Peter Max
DATE: 2001 (© Peter Max 2012)
WHY WE CHOSE IT: Happy 75th Birthday, Peter Max! The legendary pop artist was born on this day in 1937.
“I’m just wowed by the universe. I’m just glad to do something I love to do. I love color, I love painting, I love shapes, I love composition, I love the people around me. I’m adoring it all. My legacy is in the hands of other people.” —Peter Max
SOURCE: Park West Gallery
Park West Gallery has enjoyed a relationship with Peter Max since the 1970s, and is the artist’s largest and longest-running dealer in the world. Peter Max fine art is available at Park West Gallery cruise art auctions throughout the world and via our gallery in Southfield, Michigan. Learn more at www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “The Gleaners”
ARTIST: Jean-François Millet
DATE: 1857
WHY WE CHOSE IT: French painter Jean-François Millet (October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875) was born on this day, 198 years ago. Millet is recognized as one of the founders of the Barbizon school, an art movement that embraced the splendors of nature and focused on depicting the native landscape.
“To tell the truth, the peasant subjects suit my temperament best; for I must confess, even if you think me a socialist, that the human side of art is what touches me most.” —Jean-François Millet
SOURCE: Musée d’Orsay, Paris
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “La Grande Odalisque”
ARTIST: Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
DATE: 1814
WHY WE CHOSE IT: French Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (August 29, 1780 – January 14, 1867) was born on this day, 232 years ago.
According to the Louvre:
[“La Grande Odalisque”], his most famous nude, was commissioned by Caroline Murat, Napoleon’s sister and the queen of Naples. Here, Ingres painted a nude with long, sinuous lines bearing little resemblance to anatomical reality, but rendered the details and texture of the fabrics with sharp precision. This work drew fierce criticism when it was displayed at the Salon of 1819.
This woman lying on a divan is offering herself because she is nude and turns her face towards us. The painting’s title, which means “harem woman,” and the accessories around her conjure up the sensuous Orient. But the woman is also discreet because she shows only her back and part of one breast. The nude was a major theme in Western art, but since the Renaissance figures portrayed in that way had been drawn from mythology; here Ingres transposed the theme to a distant land.
SOURCE: Louvre Museum
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “New York Moonscape”
DATE: 2004
ARTIST: Fanch Ledan
WHY WE CHOSE IT: French artist Francois Ledan (b. August 9, 1949), known primarily by his Breton nickname “Fanch,” celebrates his 63rd birthday today!
Fanch is known for his brightly-colored “interiorscapes,” which often include paintings by other modern masters, as he says, “to pay tribute and humble homage.” Can you identify the other artists referenced in the work above? (Answers: 1, 2)
SOURCE: The Park West Gallery Collection
Fine art by Fanch Ledan is available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea. Learn more at www.parkwest-fanch.com.
TITLE: “Self-Portrait”
ARTIST: Andy Warhol
DATE: 1986
WHY WE CHOSE IT: The “Prince of Pop,” American artist Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987), was born 84 years ago today.
“If you want to know all about Andy Warhol, just look at the surface: of my paintings and films and me, and there I am. There’s nothing behind it.”
—Andy Warhol
SOURCE: Tate
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “Self-Portrait”
ARTIST: Giorgio Vasari
DATE: 1550-1567
WHY WE CHOSE IT: Italian painter, architect and Renaissance historian Giorgio Vasari (July 30, 1511 – June 27, 1574) was born 501 years ago today. Vasari’s famed publication, “Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects” (1550), has been a standard reference in art history courses throughout the centuries, earning him the nickname “The Father of Art History.”
SOURCE: Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
TITLE: “The Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer (Petite danseuse de quatorze ans)”
ARTIST: Edgar Degas
DATE: ca. 1879–80
WHY WE CHOSE IT: French artist Edgard Degas (July 19, 1834 – September 27, 1917) was born 178 years ago today. A founder of the Impressionists, Degas sought to capture the fleeting moments of modern life, often depicting scenes at the theater, the café and the ballet.
SOURCE: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
To learn more about your favorite artists and the fine art available through Park West Gallery and its cruise art auctions at sea, visit www.parkwestgallery.com.
