Meaningful Art

[Wyote]

Post an art piece (famous or not) and why it is meaningful to you personally.

Piss Christ by Serrano Andres is what really transcended my understanding of art. When I discovered it, a lot of ideas about art in my mind began to fit together. Art is experiential. Seeing this piece for the first time. Understanding it. It was a true experience for me. Still is.

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh is a painting that my parents have had in their home my entire life, and there was also a coffee shop that was designed with a Starry Night theme that I used to frequent. I gave my gf a promise ring at this cafe, so that adds another dimension. It's calming to me and feels like a piece of me.

The Houses of Parliament by Claude Monet was such a surprisingly inspiring piece to me (I saw two of the series). It looks like garbage to me online or in a book, but in person I was completely transfixed. It was a journey from my approach, to carefully exploring all the details I could gather, and finally having to leave it behind.

 

[Free]

I have so many art pieces in the collection of my mind that are meaningful in different ways for me. I'll start with these.

Venusian Man, da Vinci 1490



We're all familiar with this one. I first saw it as a child and was so intrigued with it that I asked for a poster size of it for my room. The Renaissance period was a perfect melding of old and new, art and science. It was the first time I realized that both the rational and irrational could exist in perfect harmony.


Madonna, Edvard Munch 1894



18 years old and questioning everything I knew (and didn't know) about religion, the meaning of life, the universe. A copy of this painting hung in my first apartment, marking my transition into adulthood and a massive shift in my spirituality and beliefs about all things existential. I still have it hanging in my bedroom and laugh with glee as Mr. Free calls it "creepy af".


Dreams of Unity, Cameron Gray 2015



I'm a huge fan of this digital artist and absolutely everything he's created. His art is meaningful in ways I cannot describe. Words just aren't good enough. I could lose myself staring into his images, the emotions they evoke, the thoughts they provoke. My favorite modern artist.



All We Want To Be Are Dreamers,
Cameron Gray 2014

 

[Pin]

Napoleon as a young officer.

 

[Gaze]

Although this is clearly not the original painting, I grew up with pics of the Last Supper all around. I used to see the pics on different household objects, and it made you wonder about the Life of Jesus. I loved reading the Bible as a child, and would think about the stories of Jesus and his disciples. I think this picture was always interesting because you could imagine the conversations he would have with them and the ones they were having with him. Also, it was the main event before the betrayal, so just the thought that Judas was there, and Jesus knew was pretty remarkable. He knew he was going to be condemned, yet he chose to eat with his disciplines. I think it makes Him interesting. Seems you could write so many stories about this scene alone.

 

[Ren]

Meaningful art! Beautiful topic.

I've shared this painting before, but I'll share again. To me, The Sea of Ice by Caspar David Friedrich has always meant eternity:

... While Van Gogh's At Eternity's Gate has always meant depression (sorry for being so chirpy):

And Rembrandt's Head of Christ, benevolence:

I think about these paintings (and other ones) often, depending on my mood.

Art is experiential.

Hehe, sounds like something I could have said

Madonna, Edvard Munch 1894

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18 years old and questioning everything I knew (and didn't know) about religion, the meaning of life, the universe. A copy of this painting hung in my first apartment, marking my transition into adulthood and a massive shift in my spirituality and beliefs about all things existential. I still have it hanging in my bedroom and laugh with glee as Mr. Free calls it "creepy af".

Love Edvard Munch Here's Melancholy:

 

[Irish]

I like photograph because the balance of simplicity and detail. This picture of a couple on their wedding day....the passion in their faces so great it's like they are lost in moment of eternity with nothing else but eachother. It's amazing.

 

[invisible]

Francis Bacon's fabulous Triptych August 1972, like most great art doesn't capture the experience of viewing in person, you just can't see the colour in the same way. I see this as a sublime, transcendent depiction of a soul realised and immortalised in paint.

 

[Wyote]

Really great stuff posted by everyone! Love it!

 

[James]

View attachment 40638

I love Lowry. He just painted what was in front of him. My favourite story about him was that when he was older, and famous, a man came to call with a painting, supposedly by him.

The man was distraught, saying he didn't realise the painting was unsigned. Lowry signed it. After the man left Lowry's friend said to him that it didn't look like one of his paintings. Lowry apparently replied, "it doesn't matter, he bought it in good faith."

 

[invisible]

I love Lowry. He just painted what was in front of him. My favourite story about him was that when he was older, and famous, a man came to call with a painting, supposedly by him.

The man was distraught, saying he didn't realise the painting was unsigned. Lowry signed it. After the man left Lowry's friend said to him that it didn't look like one of his paintings. Lowry apparently replied, "it doesn't matter, he bought it in good faith."

Awesome story. I think his paintings have a real medievalist art look to them.

 

[Wyote]

Great story @James and a bit of a cheeky commentary on art as well who really owns art, ya know

 

[James]

Great story @James and a bit of a cheeky commentary on art as well who really owns art, ya know

I truly meant no joke. He lived in modest obscurity for most of his life. He was famously kind, whilst others painted kings and queens, he painted what he saw in his community.

 

[invisible]

Great story @James and a bit of a cheeky commentary on art as well who really owns art, ya know

Agree, he legitimised it as a Lowry collaboration just by signing it.

 

[Wyote]

I truly meant no joke. He lived in modest obscurity for most of his life. He was famously kind, whilst others painted kings and queens, he painted what he saw in his community.

Oh yea, I understand that. I just personally found it humorous in that way. I don't mean to devalue the significance of his act in the circumstance or anything.

 

[Wyote]

Agree, he legitimised it as a Lowry collaboration just by signing it.

Yea, you get me

 

[Wyote]

@James I was looking through Lowry's work and found a painting that made me quite happy. Spotted a person in a wheelchair Also I am pretty comfortable in this sort of environment. I think for some this picture may make them have a bit of anxiety, but I feel right at home.

Ancoats Hospital Outpatients' Hall 1952

 

[James]

@James I was looking through Lowry's work and found a painting that made me quite happy. Spotted a person in a wheelchair Also I am pretty comfortable in this sort of environment. I think for some this picture may make them have a bit of anxiety, but I feel right at home.

Ancoats Hospital Outpatients' Hall 1952

That's brilliant. There's something about his paintings that is like stepping into a Tardis, if that doesn't sound too nuts.

 

[Wyote]

if that doesn't sound too nuts.

Not at all!

 

[Littlelissa]

Garry Brander
Enchanted Isle



I like this painting. It's meaningful to be because it captures the light and magic of Scotland. I also like the bright colours and dramatic sky.

 

[Littlelissa]

Stephen Shore,
American (Fine Art) Photographer
I like him for the sense of space (this image below) and how he captures the aesthetic in the everyday. I posted a few because I think they're all great.