Many times I’ve lied – Many times I’ve listened
Many times I’ve wondered how much there is to know.
Over The Hills And Far Away
Tag: painting
My travels in the past 2 weeks have taken me to Brussles, Belgium for some great beer and to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for a dose of the Bavarian Alps. If you want to see a quintessential, southern German town, free from tourist trinkets, then Partenkirchen is your place.
Gasthof Frauendorfer. I recommend staying at, or at least eating at, Gasthof Fraundorfer. Warning, you will need reservations after 6-7pm.
Dinner
Shopping, a typical male bonding activity
View from the golf course
The Definitive Top 10 Paintings of All Time
There aren’t any.
In yesterday’s post, my unscientific analysis concluded that there is not a clear top #1, #2, or #3 painting, nor is there an agreed-upon most-popular artist.
My conclusion today: Top Ten lists are actually someone’s list of their favorite paintings. Nothing wrong with that, but I think the titles should be changed. A more accurate title might be “My Favorite 10 Paintings”.
Everyone can agree on the Top Ten paintings of all time, right?
I naively assumed that Top 10 Lists would agree, maybe not on all paintings, but at least on the top three. But they do not, even a little.
What’s the value of Top 10 lists if they do not agree, even a little bit?
I Googled “Top 10 Paintings” – a fairly generic search. As usual, 5% of the results were worth looking at. I am not picking out Google. I have a low opinion of all search software these days.
I picked out 6 lists and compred them. To be fair, most of the list creators did not claim that their lists were definitive or based on extensive research. Still, I we all can agree on the top three paintings, right? Sadly, no.
What were the three top paintings? Only 2 out of 6 ranked Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci as #1. Another 2 out of the 6 ranked Universal Judgement by Michelangelo as #2. None of the lists (0 out of 6) agreed on positions #3 – #10.
Who was the most popular artist? I depends on how one defines popular. One way is the number of paintings by an artist. Another way is the number of different lists inwhich the artist appeared.
Who had the most paintings; combining all 6 lists? Klimt. He had 4 different paintings. The next most popular was Leonardo da Vinci, with 3 paintings. Most of the rest of the Top Ten artists had 2 paintings.
Who was mentioned on the most Top Ten lists? Michelangelo was on the most lists, with 4. The next most popular were Botticelli and Jan Van Eyck, with their names on 3 lists.
Conclusion: There is not a clear #1, #2, or #3, nor is there a consensus most-popular artist.
Cafe scene in Brussels
Have you done it? I did and I’ll do it again.
Can painters cover paintings like musicians cover songs? I have done it before (Van Gogh in Arles). I did it in Paris. And I’ll do it again.
A contemporary of many French impressionist artists, Albert Marquet walked the line between fauvism and impressionism. While I was in Paris last week I painted the same bridge that he painted (many times). I did it on purpose. I meant to do it. I don’t regret it and I will do it again.
Albert was an impressionist who used vivid colors now and then (with all due repect to Renior’s Bal du moulin de la Galette). Having said that, here are two rather dull, of his many paintings of Pont Neuf in Paris. My watercolor sketch of Pont Neuf is from a similar vantage point. Maybe next time I am in Paris, and my French is better, I will try to get to the same vantage point. Lest you do not think to highly of his work, the dark painting at the bottom sold for about $330,000 at a Christie’s auction in 2011.
Here is one of his more colorful paintings.
New Work: Sketches from Paris
They are online! Yeah! All of the drawings were completed on location. They are my usual travel size, 12x17cm (5×7″).
Some of them took a couple of visits, like the Cafe scene on Rue Lombarde, which always seemed to entail more beer and wine with each visit. I had to finish the view of the Seine more quickly than intended. Either that or toss the homeless guy who decided to sit next to me into the the river. He endlessly played the same 5 notes on his accordian. I decided to spare him and I moved along.
My view of Notre Dame was from near Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. Someone had placed one of the store’s chairs quite far from the store. However, the chair was almost perfectly placed for my drawing. I only had to move it “slightly” – – I did put it back. Pont Alexandre III epitomizes Paris. Unfortunately there isn’t any place to sit and enjoy it’s splendor. It’s surrounded by busy roads and is a fair walk from most tourist sites. Pont Neuf is my sentimental favorite. It was painted many times by Albert Marquet, an impressionist era painter whose work I like. My sketch is an homage to him. As near as I can figure, he either lived in, or knew someone, on the second floor of the building along Quai des Orfèvres that overlooks this span. The Left Bank is on the far side.
Enjoy.
Paris in pictures
I promise that I will have drawings from my Paris trip up soon. Unfortunately, the Fall semester at the university begins on Monday so I am busily prepaing for that as well.
In the meantime, I will say that I had a relaxing time in Paris, mostly without any agenda. In an attempt to describe Paris in one word, I thought that it was charming. Imagine my surprise this morning when I read an article in der Spiegel about the Eurozone crisis. The author described France as “… a deeply nostalgic and narcissistic country which is also, precisely for those reasons, very charming.” The psychologist in me could not have said it better.