enjoying arts

8/11/2019 Enjoying Arts

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UNIT 8


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Every year millions of dollars are spent by artcollectors eager to own the worlds most soughtafter paintings. However, the most expensivepaintings are not necessarily the most famouspaintings. The most famous ones are generallyowned by museums, which very rarely sell them,and as such, they are quite literally priceless. Anoverview of the most famous paintings of all

time, found in museums around the world. Retrieved from: http://www.touropia.com/most-famous-paintings/

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT ARE THE MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS IN

THE WORLD?


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The most famous painting of all time,the Mona Lisa was painted byLeonardo da Vinci during theRenaissance in Florence. He beganpainting the Mona Lisa in 1503 or 1504and finished it shortly before he died in

1519. The painting is named for Lisadel Giocondo, a member of a wealthyfamily of Florence. In 1911, the MonaLisa was stolen by Louvre employeeVincenzo Peruggia, an Italian patriotwho believed the Mona Lisa should bereturned to Italy. After having kept the

painting in his apartment for two years,Peruggia was finally caught when heattempted to sell it to the directors ofthe Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Today,the Mona Lisa hangs again in theLouvre in Paris where 6 million peoplesee the painting each year


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The Starry Night was paintedby Dutch artist Vincent vanGogh. Although Van Gogh soldonly one painting in his life, theaftermath of his work isenormous. Starry Night is one

of his most famous paintingsand has become one of themost well known images inmodern culture. The paintingshows the village of Saint-Rmy under a swirling sky, in aview from the asylum towardsnorth. The cypress tree to theleft was added into thecomposition. Since 1941 it hasbeen in the permanentcollection of the Museum ofModern Art in New York.


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The Last Supper is a 15th centurymural painting in Milan created byLeonardo da Vinci and covers theback wall of the dining hall at themonastery of Santa Maria delleGrazie in Milan. It represents thescene of The Last Supper whenJesus announces that one of hisTwelve Apostles would betray him.Leonardo began work on The LastSupper in 1495 and completed it in1498 though he did not work on thepainting continuously. Some writerspropose that the person in thepainting seated to the left of Jesusis Mary Magdalene rather than John

the Apostle, as most art historiansidentify that person. This populartheory was the topic of the book TheTemplar Revelation (1997), andplays a central role in Dan Brownsnovel The Da Vinci Code (2003)


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The Sistine Chapel ceiling,painted by Michelangelobetween 1508 and 1512, at thecommission of Pope Julius II, isone of the most renownedartworks of the High

Renaissance. The ceiling isthat of the large Chapel builtwithin the Vatican in Rome.Central to the ceiling decorationare nine scenes from the Bookof Genesis. Among the last tobe completed was the Creationof Adam in which God theFather breathes life into Adam,the first man. The Creation of

Adam is one of the famouspaintings of all time and hasbeen the subject of countless of

references and parodies


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Guernica is one of PabloPicasso most famous paintings,showing the tragedies of warand the suffering it inflicts uponindividuals, particularlyinnocent civilians. Picassos

purpose in painting it was tobring the worlds attention tothe bombing of the Basquetown of Guernica by Germanbombers, who were supportingthe Nationalist forces ofGeneral Franco during theSpanish Civil War. Picassocompleted the painting by mid-June 1937. The painting can beseen in the Museo Reina Sofain Madrid


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Sometimes referred to as theDutch Mona Lisa, the Girl witha Pearl Earring was painted byJohannes Vermeer. Very little isknown about Vermeer and hisworks and this painting is no

exception. It isnt dated and it isunclear whether this work wascommissioned, and if so, bywhom. In any case, it isprobably not meant as aconventional portrait. TracyChevalier wrote a historicalnovel fictionalizing thecircumstances of the paintingscreation. The novel inspired a2003 film with ScarlettJohansson as JohannesVermeers assistant wearing

the pearl earring


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The Scream is a series ofexpressionist paintings and printsby Norwegian artist Edvard Munch,showing an agonized figureagainst a blood red sky. Thelandscape in the background isOslofjord, viewed from the hill ofEkeberg, in Oslo. Edvard Munchcreated several versions of TheScream in various media. The oneshown above was painted in 1893and is on display in The NationalGallery of Norway. It was stolen in1994 in a high-profile art theft and

recovered several months later. In2004 another version of TheScream was stolen from theMunch Museum, only to berecovered in 2006.


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Completed in 1642, at the peakof the Dutch Golden Age, TheNight Watch is one of the mostfamous paintings by Dutchpainter Rembrandt van Rijn. Itdepicts a city guard moving out,

led by Captain Frans BanningCocq and his lieutenant, Willemvan Ruytenburch. For much ofits existence, the painting wascoated with a dark varnishwhich gave the incorrectimpression that it depicted anight scene, leading to thename Night Watch. Thisvarnish was removed only inthe 1940s. The painting is ondisplay in the Rijksmuseum in

Amsterdam


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Water Lilies (orNympheas) is a series ofapproximately 250 oilpaintings by FrenchImpressionist Claude

Monet. The paintingsdepict Monets own flowergarden at Giverny andwere the main focus of hisartistic production during

the last thirty years of hislife. The paintings are ondisplay at museums allover the world. The oneshow above is displayedat the Metropolitan

Museum of Art in NewYork.


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The Birth of Venus is a paintingby Sandro Botticelli createdaround 148587. It depicts thegoddess Venus (or Aphroditeas she is known in Greekmythology) emerging from the

sea upon a shell in accordancewith the myth that explains herbirth. The original location ofthe painting and itscommissioner remainuncertain. Some expertsattribute its commission toLorenzo de Medici and theVilla of Castello as the site towhich the work was originallydestined. Today, the painting isheld in the Uffizi Gallery inFlorence


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