Art History Presentation

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Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich

• Created on 1818.
• Also known as Wanderer Above the Mist.
• Height of 98.4 cm and length of 74.8 cm.
• Uses oil as medium and painted on canvas. 
• Uses landscapes as subject.
• Now displayed at Hamburger Kunsthalle.
• Some believe it is a self-portrait of Friedrich. 
• The figure stands in contemplation & self-reflection by the haze of the sea fog as if it is a religious and spiritual experience.
• He is sharing what he sees with the audience by turning his back to them.
• This painting could also be a patriotic tribute to a high-ranking forestry officer, Col. Friedrich Gotthard von Brincken, of the Saxon infantry.
• It is believed that this man was killed between 1813 & 1814.

The Kiss

The Kiss 

     Gustav Klimt's The Kiss was painted 1908. His career was declining when he painted this because his paintings of Philosophy, Medicine and Jurisprudence were labeled as "pornography". 

     He confessed "Either I am too old, or too nervous, or too stupid—there must be something wrong", before this painting become famous. This painting was also bought even before Klimt could made his final touch to it and it was also the highest price paid in Austria at the time. After that, Gustav's Adele Bloch-Bauer I become "the highest sum ever paid for painting". 

     The pose of the lovers show the natural forms favored in the Art Nouveau movement. Some art historians have theorized that the women was his life-long partner, Emilie Flöge, or Adele Bloch-Bauer, the women posed for a potrait that year. The Kiss is about 1.8 meter by 1.8 meter. 

Starry Night

Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

• Vincent van Gogh gets inspiration for painting this and wrote a letter to his brother, Theo, how he felt about the situation at the time.
• It is painted during his stay at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. 
• "This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." 
• This painting is filled with riling energy.
• This is an oil-on-canvas painting is filled with moon and stars in a night sky. 
• Beneath the sky you can see houses surrounding a church and a blue-black mountains in the background.
• This painting is based on Vincent van Gogh observations including his imagination, memories & emotions.  
• The contrast in style plays on the natural vs. unnatural, dreams vs. reality.
• The painting is now at Museum of Modern Art, New York. 

Las Meninas

Las Meninas

   Painted by Diego Velazquez in 1656, this painting just look like any other ordinary painting. At the center of the portrait is actually a queen at a young age. The portrait shows a behind-the-scene of a Spanish court. 

     The parents of the queen are also included behind her in the dark wooden frames. Velazquez made a brave move by including himself inside the portrait too, on the left side, which is considered as the 'the world first photobomb' for almost 175 years. Some said that the painting is actually based on a mirror reflection and the portrait of the king and queen is actually behind the painter. This portrait gives the audience a Spain king's point of view during 17th century because not all audience can feel that during the king's lifetime. 

     Historians claim that the honor on the painter's chest is added by the king after the painter's death. The painting is about 3 meter by 2 meter. This painting has never been to anywhere except from the castle to the museum. The painting has gone through various names from Retrato de la señora emperatriz con sus damas y una enana (Portrait of the Empress with her Ladies and a Dwarf), then to La familia del Señor rey Phelipe Quarto and La Familia. This painting have been a lot f inspiration to other painters like Gustave Courbet and James Abott Whistler.