Oil Paintings, Art and Wall Decor Blog

Marc Chagall was born on July 7th, 1887 in Vitebsk, Belo Russia - the oldest of nine children. He was a French painter and stained glass artist until his death 1985.

Much has been said and written about this talented artesian, his ability to define the light of the Jewish faith in the “Gola” has made him a synonym with Mainstream and Orthodox Jewish Art.

To celebrate his 121st birthday, Google has honored Chagall with his very own Google logo. He now joins an elite list of artists that have graced the internet’s most popular search homepage.

If you have a minute take yourself on a journey into the art world of Marc Chagall - as if you are stepping into a make believe playground where everything is possible.

See more Google Artist logo’s can you identify the artists?

Claude Monet painted The Poppy Field, near Argenteuil in 1873. Painted in the wildflower fields outside Argenteuil, this painting reveals Monet’s passion for color. With dabs of reds, he scatters the poppies in a natural abundance through a lush green field.

Poppies, Near Argenteuil, Claude Monet, 1873.

In the foreground, Monet illustrated his darling Camille and their son Jean with simple strokes of violet, black, and white.

In the countryside, a vivid splash of poppies seems to move in a gentle breeze. The position of the poppies seems uncertain. To many viewers, they appear to quiver as the wind blows.

Monet who is unknown as the classic Impressionist, some might say the father of Impressionism, painted not a landscape but the impression of a landscape.

Play with the slider and see how the reds and greens just turn this painting on and give it life.

Earlier this week a Claude Monet water lily painting was sold for more than $80 million, breaking the record for the famous French artist – the father of impressionism.

The painting is called “Water Lily Pond,” which was part of a four-work collection of water lily paintings that Monet created during the latter part of his lifetime.

The four large-scale paintings of Monet’s water lily garden were created in 1919. The paintings are scattered around the world, the most famous of which is the famous large panels exhibited in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Monet created his Water Lilly garden in Giverny, France by artificially re-routing a stream. Monet then filled the pond with different hybrids of water lilies in an effort to get as many different colors of flowers in the pond. This turned the pond into Monet’s most favorite motif during the last years of his life. The water lily garden in Giverny it still a landmark for art lovers around the world.

After an exciting bidding war, the painting finally sold to an anonymous collector for 41 million pounrds equivalent to $80.5 million, setting a new record price for Monet paintings in auction.

The painting was originally purchased in 1971 at a New York auction for $320,000. Not a bad return…

Georgia Totto O’Keeffe, like most artists, had a life that was to say at the very least interesting.

Georgia O’Keeffe was a poor Midwest farm girl who became the first woman allowed to have one-woman art shows by major museums. When creating her works she liked to undress, get down on her knees and sketch onto sheets of paper that lay on the floor. She would then hang her work around the room to evaluate each one. Georgia tore up every page because she thought the work mimicked other artists. At a young age she would start over and over again hoping to find her own style of imagery

O’Keeffe worked as a commercial artist for 2 years helping her family through her father’s failed business before entering summer art classes where she excelled with natural talent. When she moved to Amarillo, Texas she became a drawing teacher for another 2 years wearing black tailored outfits and her hair pulled tightly back behind her. The townies found her odd from her clothes and the long walks she would take alone.

From Texas she moved to Columbia, South Carolina instructing art at a teachers college. Still struggling to find her personal style in abstract shapes O’Keeffe mailed these drawings to her friend Anita Pollitzer who showed them to Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz exhibited 10 of these drawings in his gallery without O’Keeffe’s permission who confronted him and demanded that the exhibition be closed. The event would not be shut down and the viewing public was shocked over her sexually charged forms. Georgia would forever deny intentionally creating the sexually charged visuals that people saw in her work.

Georgia, young enough to be Stieglitz’s daughter, became involved while he was still married to his wife. They married after his divorce became final and were together until his death. In addition to being together they would also see other people. Stieglitz would sleep around with other women and O’Keeffe would sleep around with both men and women. On one or more occasion Georgia and Alfred were lovers to the same woman.

Georgia found sexual comfort with same sex and mixed couples. One of her crushes was on Margery Latimer and Blanche Matthias. Matthias continuously asked Stieglitz to introduce O’Keeffe to his wife. The couples became great friends hanging out at all night parties.

Spite O’Keeffe’s extra curricular activities she wished to settle down in peace and quiet, not fond of traveling, art exhibitions or dealing with selling her art. She shunned the spotlight unlike other artists, but she did like that other people admired her work.

O’Keeffe would settle in New Mexico calling her home Ghost Ranch and enjoy the view of nature. O’Keeffe would continue to win many awards and show in galleries through the yeas that followed, but started to loose her eye site starting at age 84. This would not slow her creative speed however. She continued to work with the help of an assistant, Juan Hamilton, painting and working in clay.

Georgia received the Medal of Freedom from President Ford in 1977 and the National Medal of Arts from President Reagan in 1985. O’Keeffe died at age 98 leaving most of her estate to her assistant Juan causing a legal suit from her family. Hamilton eventually turned over more than 2/3 of his inheritance to the museums and institutions in her original will.

This ten minute clip is drawn from the famous 1950s game show, “What’s My Line?”

It’s so cool to see this beloved artist try and explain with yes and no answers what exactly does he do…

How would you describe Salvador Dali? An artist first and foremost, but also a performer, writer, designer, animator, architect, creator… a prolific artist that to this day touches us all.

I envy his genius and audacity in a time where “strange” was such a cruel word. We must encourage the Dali’s and Picasso’s of the world, without them progress would be boring…

Fernande, Eva, Olga, Marie-Therese, Dora, Francoise, Jacqueline. These were the women who shaped the life and art of Pablo Picasso.

Fernande Olivier was Picasso’s first love. Her presence showed a significant change in his female nude art. He was a jealous lover and often kept Fernande locked up when he went out alone.

Picasso left Fernande nine years later for another woman Eva Gouel. The affair with Eva, however, did not last long and shortly after their break up she died from tuberculosis. Eva was the first lover to never get over Picasso living in sadness until her death.

Olga Koklova was a Russian ballet dancer who became Picasso’s first wife. Her Russian bourgeois social connections changed Picasso’s life and social work. She gave birth to his son, Paulo and his life with Olga became very demanding. It was after this time that he lost his interest and their marriage fell apart. Picasso’s style became aggressive using colors that expressed his anxiety over Olga who was showing signs of madness. Picasso soon left Olga and she suffered a nervous breakdown with the ending of their marriage. She would stalk him and his mistresses in the following years hoping to regain his interest.

After Olga there was Marie-Therese Walter who played both lover and model for Picasso. It was Therese who gave birth to Picasso’s first daughter, Maya, but never became his wife, though she wanted to be. It would be several years later that Therese would be found with a rope around her neck in the garage of her home, an apparent suicide.

Dora Maar was next with the reputation of a successful photographer and the supposed reason for Picasso taking leave from Marie Therese. Dora became Picasso’s lover for seven years witnessing the step by step creation of the Guernica. Picasso’s use of his lovers in his art is unquestionable, therefore, it isn’t surprising to find Dora Maar’s features in this brilliant masterpiece.

Usually portrayed as a weeping woman by Picasso Dora suffered mental health problems after their break up and is considered the tragic muse of Picasso.

Francoise Gilot was another tragic lover of Picasso. They met when she was only 23 and Picasso was in his mid 60’s, Francoise thought she was entering a world of exciting possibilities in her personal life and artistic career. They stayed together for ten years where she put up with his posturing and unfaithfulness. Francoise had a son and a daughter with Picasso, and after he left her, she appeared to be the only woman to move forward with her life and forget him.

Picasso met his final muse, Jacqueline Roque, while cheating on Francoise. She lived with him becoming not only his lover and muse, but secretary as well. She dedicated herself to Picasso and his work for 20 years until his death in 1973. After he died Jacqueline shot herself, another tragic end to a muse from Picasso’s list.

Diego Rivera was born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1886; his twin brother died a little over a year old and Rivera fell sick. On the advice of a doctor, the boy was sent to the mountains with his nanny, later boasting that she was the first of his many conquests. He established himself as a talented artist first drawing at age three. His father, wishing to spare the house walls decorated a room covered in paper for the child to paint on. Rivera would later say these were his first murals.

Rivera enrolled in an art school years later. He claimed that while a student, he and some friends decided to try cannibalism having heard that it would make them healthy and strong. The boys supposedly bought and ate cadavers making them strong and healthy. At that time Rivera started having affairs with women many years his senior. How these two subjects related in his mind are beyond me.

Though exenterated these stories are part of the legend Rivera built around himself. And it is true that, though he was an unattractive man with a frog-like face, he had considerable success with women throughout his life. Who needs looks when you have talent?

A large man of huge appetites, eating and drinking, he also indulged his craving for womanizing. In Spain he began living with Russian painter Angelina Beloff and had a son who died as a child. When Rivera left for Mexico he told Beloff he would send for her, but never did. Instead he moved to Paris and met another Russian, Marevna Vorobieva, who bore him a daughter. In addition to his womanizing ways he was also known for his volatile temper engaging in many fights with those who ridiculed his work when cubism came under attack. Unable to sell his art, he returned to Mexico, broke in 1921 their he met a special lady named Frida Kahlo.

Synesthesis is an ancient Greek term meaning “with sensation.” It is a neurologically based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory. An example of this is when a person can hear blue or taste a square. It is this cross wiring in the brain that makes the sound of a trumpet look blue or the shape of a square taste sour for a synaesthete.

It is thought that as many as 1 in 23 people, more women then men, have some version of Synesthesis. Including the Russian born artist Wassily Kandinsky. In his case, colors and paint strokes created sounds or musical notes and vise versa. Kandinsky is credited with making some of the first truly abstract paintings, but the paintings were more than just visual creations. He wanted to evoke sound through sight and create the equivalent of a symphony that would stimulate not just the eyes but the ears as well.

There are other artists, poets, writers, and musicians who have been known or thought to have had Synesthesis. Van Gogh and Rockmoninoff just to list a couple.

Who else might have this condition and what greatness might they accomplish next?

Van Gogh’s famous oil painting, “The Harvest” was created in 1888. Inspired by an earlier drawing of the same name, this painting was finished in one sitting. Van Gogh was so pleased with his work that he gave it the French title “La Moisson”. It was quite rare giving his painting a title. Most of Van Gogh’s works were given titles by dealers, critics and art historians. “The Harvest” was also one of the first panoramas created by Van Gogh as he was unable to attempt such a view before. Why? Previously, living in Holland, he found the flat landscape to be uninspiring unlike this new agricultural French countryside with all its activities.

This week we celebrated Earth Day, and for sometime now everyone has been jumping on the “green wagon” in their efforts to be good “citizens of this world…”

In the art world, similar efforts are being made in order to take advantage of eco-friendly and sustainable products and projects. As artists become more conscious of environmental issues, more and more artistic endeavors will contain green references and themes. So getting the word out about the availability of green alternatives is especially fitting for this time of year.

One recent eco-friendly initiative has been undertaken by OverstockArt.com, which has started incorporating all-recycled frames in their framing selection to go along with their artworks. The frames are made from recycled moulding scraps and sawdust. They come in a variety of colors and shapes and are the perfect complement to a nature-setting landscape.

“It just makes the art we sell even more of a conversation piece…” said Dawn Kail, Assistant Manager at OverstockArt.com, “Now people can enjoy the beauty of nature on their wall and know that they took part in the important collective efforts of preventing deforestation.”

We all have a personal and shared responsibility to make this world a better place. As artists, we can take part in this movement by using recycled products in our art and project the green theme in our creations. Together we can all make a difference.