Let's start with a big one:
Mona Lisa:
She's pretty, she could be a man, but most importantly, she is world famous. Said to be "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world." But, why? Many of you probably wonder just as I did. Well, from my research, there seems to be no straight answer, so I'll do my best to summarize.First, this painting came from Leonardo da Vinci, and he is one of the most recognized symbols of the Renaissance. Thus, much of her allure comes from his fame and success. Second, nobody really knows who the painting is of. Rumor has it that this is a painting of wife of Francesco del Giocondo (her name in Italian is La Giocondo).
Furthermore, she marks the beginning of an "artistic revolution". Prior to Mona Lisa, paintings were full-body portraits, whereas she was painted from the waste up with her hands folded in her lap. This promoted a more intimate feeling with her viewers. At the time, it was one of the most vivid and life-like paintings.
Finally, my favorite reason, she is famous because she has been famous for nearly (possibly over) 500 years. And she will probably continue to be famous based on the number of people pushing and shoving to see her on a daily basis. Even when the painting was first completed, it is said that da Vinci would carry her around to show and say, "I painted this, so you should let me paint for you too."
So there you have it (kind of). A brief summary that doesn't really even skim the surface of the fame of this painting, but it does give you some kind of idea... I hope.
The Wedding at Cana:
This painting by Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese, is a representation of the scene in the New Testament of the Bible where Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding in Cana. Toward the end of the feast, the wine was running out. Jesus asked his disciples to fill the jugs with water and then miraculously changed it into wine. The wine is seen flowing from the jug in the bottom right corner of the painting.This painting is located directly facing the Mona Lisa inside the Louvre. Interestingly, both Mona Lisa and Jesus are said to have eyes that "follow you" wherever you go. Moral of the story: be careful what you do in this room.
Death of the Virgin:
This painting has controversy written all over it. Don't see it? Allow me to help you. This is a paining of the Virgin Mother of Jesus: Mary. Amerighi da Caravaggio was commissioned to paint this portrait for a chapel, and boy did he piss some people off; so much so that is was deemed unfit for the church.Caravaggio basically tossed out all of the requirements for painting a holy figure: he left her feet uncovered, showed her dying like a mere mortal rather than a glorious death, and he "supposedly" used the body of a prostitute as a model. They didn't like it.
He did, however, include the twelve apostles and Mary Magdalen whose faces are hidden to indicate that they are overcome with grief. The painting uses the difference of light and darkness to direct your attention first to the head of the Virgin Mother and then on to the hand of the nearby apostles until you realize what it is you are looking at.
The Coronation of Napoleon:
Jacques-Louis David, the official painter of Napoleon, painted The Coronation of Napoleon depicting Napoleon crowning his Empress, Josephine in the Notre Dame. This follows the famous incident of Napoleon taking the crown from Pope Pius VII and crowning himself, claiming that no other person was his equal, and thus, nobody deserved to crown him Emporer except for himself.David's initial sketch was of Napoleon crowning himself, but he chose this image as a nobler and less authoritarian view of the new Emperor.
Funny story: Napoleon's mother, Maria Letizia Ramolino refused to appear at his coronation to protest the bad tidings between Napoleon and his brothers, Louis and Joseph. However, in the painting, she is placed dead center and is somewhat of a focal point in the image. Many others in the painting were not actually present at the ceremony.
A replica of the painting, completed by David himself, is located in the Palace of Versailles, where the original was originally hung.
Winged Victory:
According to Cameron, this statue is located in the Thompson Library at The Ohio State University. The original is located in the Louvre and used to be displayed on the bow of an ancient warship to commemorate a naval victory.
Venus de Milo:
Venus de Milo is thought to be a sculpture of Aphrodite, however, cases have been made for many other goddesses, as well. Part of the mystery and excitement surrounding this sculpture is that who she is and what she was doing is unknown, but it is clear that she is very beautiful and remains to this day a magnificent sculpture, despite the missing pieces.
Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss:
Basically, what you need to know is that this scene is based on an old myth. The myth is below with some detail added by yours truly about the scene depicted in the sculpture!
Once upon a time there was a king with three
daughters. They were all beautiful, but by far the most beautiful was the
youngest, Psyche. She was so beautiful that people began to neglect the worship
of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Venus was very jealous, and asked her
son Cupid (the boy with the arrows) to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible
monster. When he saw how beautiful she was, Cupid dropped the arrow meant for
her and pricked himself, and fell in love with her.
Despite her great beauty no-one wanted
to marry Psyche. Her parents consulted an oracle, and were told that she was
destined to marry a monster, and they were to take her to the top of a mountain
and leave her there. The west wind took her and wafted her away to a palace,
where she was waited on by invisible servants. When night came her new husband
visited her, and told her that he would always visit her by night and she must
never try to see him.
Although her invisible husband was kind
and gentle with her, and the invisible servants attended to her every desire,
Psyche grew homesick. She persuaded her husband to allow her sisters to visit
her. When they saw how she lived they became very jealous and talked Psyche
into peeking at her husband, saying that he was a monster who was fattening her
up to be eaten and that her only chance of safety was to kill him. Psyche took
a lamp and a knife, but when she saw her beautiful husband, Cupid, she was so
surprised she dripped some hot wax onto his shoulder, waking him. He took in
the situation at a glance and immediately left Psyche and the magnificent
palace she had been living in disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Psyche roamed about looking for her
husband, and eventually in desperation approached his mother, Venus. Still
angry, the goddess set various tasks for Psyche, all of which she passed, with
a bit of help from ants and river gods.
Her final task was to obtain a flask from the Underworld. She was
strictly forbidden to open the flask, but her curiosity won out. Upon smelling
the horrid fumes, she fell into a near-death state. Fortunately, Cupid found
her. In an effort to bring her back to life, he poked her with one of his
magical arrows and brought her back to life. Overwhelmed with happiness, he
lifts her in a loving embrace (the scene we see depicted in the sculpture).
At last Cupid found out what was going on, and he
persuaded Jupiter to order Venus to stop her persecution of Psyche. Then they
were married and lived happily ever after - and it really was ever after since
Psyche was made a goddess.
Interestingly and with great detail, the arrow and flask can be scene scattered across the ground behind the two lovers. The story is closely related to many of the modern Disney fairy tales!
Stigmata of St. Francis (of Assisi):
Painted by the Italian artist Giotto is a depiction of St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata of Christ (the wounds he suffered on the cross - nails through his hands, feet, and side). Nearing the end of a 40-day period of fasting and praying on Mount Alverno, he witnessed the six-winged, angellic representation of Jesus and fell to his knees, where he received the stigmata.
Impressionism
Many other phenomenal works of art exist in Paris outside of the Louvre. The Musee d'Orsay, for instance, is full of some of the most impressionist painters of all time from van Gogh to Monet to Degas and many more. By the way, you technically aren't supposed to photograph these pictures, so take that into account when you judge the quality :). Because I am by know means qualified to tell you what "impressionism" is, here is a brief description I found:
"Impressionism" is a term that was first used to describe visual art in the late 19th century that emphasized the conveyance of an overall impression of a particular scene, usually outdoors, using primary colors and short brushstrokes to represent the appearance of reflected light. The desired result of impressionism was to capture the artist's perception of the subject rather than the subject itself. Artists of this movement desired to portray images in the way that someone might see something if he or she merely caught a glimpse of it. Impressionist paintings contain very bright, bold colors and tend to have very little detail. The founders of this movement were Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. They were soon followed by such notable artists as Camille Pissarro, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Frederic Bazille, Edouard Manet and Mary Cassatt.
The Floor Planers:
A painting by Gustave Caillebotte, this was one of the first times the urban working class was depicted in a painting, and it was largely rejected because of this. He decided to draw people in the strenous scene without shirts showing their muscles and ribs protruding. This painting is said to portray the crude reality of the urban working class.
Self Portrait of the Artist:
As some of you may know, Vincent van Gogh painted a multitude of self portraits, but why? Despite the fact that he is very famous now, he did not have money or people asking him to paint for them throughout his life. He couldn't afford to pay people to serve as models, so he invested in a mirror and practiced his technique painting his own portrait over and over again. His self portraits even have their own Wikipedia page. True story.
Woman with a Parasol and Poppies Blooming:
These two paintings by Claude Monet are incredible. Woman with a Parasol depicts Monet's wife, Camille, holding her umbrella around sunset. Despite the absence of sharp attributes with the wide brushstrokes of Impressionist paintings, he is able to incorporate many details into the paintings. This particular painting is also hanging up in the bathroom at our Nana and Pop's house! It's pretty cool to get to see the actual painting seeing how I stare at it everytime I visit her.
Dance Rehearsal:
I'm not going to lie to you, I don't know the exact title of this painting, but they are all close to what I named it. Degas had some fascination with painting ballerinas, although it is said that he did not have any "loving" relations with any of the dancers. He was fascinated by music and the opera, thus he painted ballerinas. Through this, he could paint from many angles: backstage, the orchestra pit, practice studios, balconies, etc. Typically, Degas was known to be grumpy and somewhat of a misogynist (disliked women), but those close to him said that he found the young dancers (about age 14) delightful and laughed with them at everything they would say.
