Artfully Said!

Winslow Homer, Northeaster, 1901, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Public Domain) Homer was not only a painter. He was also an editor of his paintings. According to the Met’s description, this version of Northeaster is different from when it first appeared in 1896. Its seems that the original painting included two human

Franz von Lenbach, Marion Lenbach, The Artist’s Daughter, 1900, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Public Domain) Imagine that you are a painter and the parent of Marion Lenbach. Is this the painting you would create of her for all the world to see? If so, what do you like about it? If

Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Public Domain) This is a wildly famous painting, one that I’ve see a lot in photographs over the years but, I must admit, have never looked very closely at before. The best way to see a painting like this (or

William Michael Harnett, Still Life with Violin, 1888, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Public Domain) This painting is a fine example of trompe l’oeil, a style of painting where meticulous detail creates a work that that fools the eye into thinking it’s the real thing. Its hyper-realism creates a three-dimensional scene in

Johannes Vermeer, Study of a Young Woman, 1665-1667, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (Public Domain) This painting, so typical of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, is titled a Study. So do that. Study this young woman’s image, her expression, her attitude. Make some judgments about the person you see. Then imagine her getting

John Russell, 1791. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. There is so much that I love about this painting. Mrs. Godschall’s kind eyes, the blue tint of her hair, the metallic edging on her ruffles, the bold strokes of paint that give movement and swishiness to the copious layers of fabric, the massive

Auguste Renoir, Two Young Girls at the Piano, 1892. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Renoir gives us lots of color and great detail in this painting. Take some time to look at these details. Enlarge the picture if you can and look not only at the girls–their expressions and their clothing–but past

Amedeo Modigliani, Girl in a Sailor’s Blouse, Oil on canvas–1918. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. This portrait is typical of the stylized work of Amedeo Modigliani. After looking carefully at this painting, you could probably identify other paintings by Modigliani when you come across them in books and museums. With that in

Paul Cezanne, Dish of Apples, ca. 1876-77. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Paul Cezanne painted a lot of fruit in his day. Sometimes they were arranged on a dish like this and sometimes they were just scattered about on a cloth or piled on a table. They were usually surrounded by common objects

Vincent Van Gogh, Shoes, 1888. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Van Gogh’s shoes are ordinary shoes. But his painting of them is vintage Van Gogh. His brush strokes, his color choices, his lighting, his approach–all work to take an every day object and elevate it into art–in singular Van Gogh style. What