V. Van Gogh “Starry Night”
V. Van Gogh “Starry Night” (1889)
The painting “Starry Night” is another masterpiece, the author of which, the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), considered his failure. The work was recognized as a cult work after a while. The work even became an “icon” for the Expressionists. Expressionist artists did not strive to reproduce the world around them, but to convey to the viewer their own emotional state using form and color.
Van Gogh painted “Starry Night” while he was in a mental hospital in the south of France. Patients were forbidden to go outside, so the artist created it in the bedroom, looking out the window. The stars evoked special sensations in Van Gogh. He wrote to his brother: “Looking at the stars always makes me dream.”
The artist created the picture in a state of heightened perception of reality. This, according to art historians, as well as the power of imagination allowed him to see the night sky as no one had seen it before.
But the picture seems implausible only at first glance.
The vortex flows in the night sky, which Van Gogh depicted, according to researchers, are nothing more than turbulence, and the largest star with a white halo in the picture is Venus. This planet could be observed in the south of France just in May 1889. Assignment for the child:
Ask your child: what does he see in the picture? What surprises him when he looks at the work? What colors can he name?
V. Polenov “Moscow courtyard”
V. Polenov “Moscow courtyard” (1873)
This is one of the most famous paintings by the Russian landscape painter and master of genre painting Vasily Polenov (1844-1927). With this work the artist made his debut at the 6th exhibition of the Association of Itinerants.
It is interesting that Polenov painted the picture in a hurry and was not entirely happy with it. However, "Moscow Yard" was a huge critical success. The work, in their opinion, stood out from the background of other works with some special poetry and elegiac Turgenev mood.
After “Moscow Courtyard,” Polenov was dubbed the master of “intimate” landscape, which means “deeply personal, sincere, intimate.” In general, the very concept of “intimate landscape” suits any painting in which one can feel the emotional state of its author.
The picture became iconic for the history of Moscow.
Thanks to it, you can look into the past and imagine what the city was like in the 1870s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the main urban planning unit of the city was not streets and squares, but the house and courtyard. At that time, mansions sometimes occupied entire blocks and were surrounded by gardens and courtyard buildings. By the way, the Church of the Savior in Peski near Arbat, depicted in the picture, has been preserved in almost the same form in the capital to this day. Task for the child:
Ask your child: what does he see in the picture? What are the children and the woman doing? What time of year is shown? What animals and birds does he see?
M. Caravaggio “Fruit Basket”
M. Caravaggio “Fruit Basket” (1597)
The Italian artist Michelangelo de Caravaggio (1571-1610) is considered a reformer of European painting in the 17th century, the founder of realism and one of the greatest masters of Baroque painting.
“Fruit Basket” was painted by a 22-year-old artist more than 400 years ago and is considered the first still life painting in the history of painting. The young master forever went down in history as the founder of this genre, innovative for that time.
What kind of genre is still life?
This is an image of objects and things that relate to everyday life and everyday life of people. Still lifes, as a rule, do not contain any plot, except for the composition itself, assembled from two or more objects. The artist's task is to capture objects as they are. In this case, Caravaggio tried to depict the fruit as naturally as possible. Some of them look like they were just picked and carelessly thrown into a basket. In some places the image even resembles a photograph. Task for the child:
Ask your child: what does he see in the picture? What fruits are shown on it? What color are they?
J. Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
J. Vermeer “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665)
The portrait “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by the iconic Dutch artist Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) is one of the most mysterious paintings of the millennium. And the painter himself is recognized as one of the greatest masters of painting of the Golden Age of Holland.
The painting was made in the “troni” genre, popular in the 17th century, translated from Dutch as “head, face”. These are small portraits in which the model was depicted in some unusual costume.
Fans and art critics are amazed by how realistic Vermeer’s portrait of the girl was, her turn of the head and gaze... The uniqueness of the painting is also in the fact that the characters in the artist’s other canvases rarely look at each other and almost never at the viewer, but not the girl with a pearl earring .
Researchers still do not know for sure who is depicted in the painting. Just like the fact that the earring is a pearl. In 2022, specialists from the Dutch museum illuminated the painting with X-rays and analyzed the paint. It turned out that earlier the highlights on the earring looked different and the artist actually depicted it in the form of a flat silver or enamel pendant. But, despite this fact, the painting is still referred to as “Girl with a Pearl Earring.”
To create his works, Vermeer used the best pigments available to artists in the 17th century, which gave the paintings luminosity.
In particular, natural ultramarine and what is now called “yellow of the old masters”. These two colors are exactly represented in the painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” Task for the child:
Ask your child: who does he see in the picture? Let him describe the girl, how old could she be? What colors and shades does he see?
I. Aivazovsky “Rainbow”
I. Aivazovsky “Rainbow” (1873)
The painting “Rainbow” is one of 4,000 works that the outstanding 19th century marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) dedicated to the water element. On his canvases he depicted more than a dozen seas on different continents. In total, during his life the artist created about 6,000 thousand paintings.
Aivazovsky was born in Crimea and fell in love with the sea from early childhood. He could sit on the shore for hours, peer into every detail and admire the beauty of the seascape. In the future, this allowed him to very realistically depict the various states of sea water.
All the artist’s work is colored with the features of romanticism.
Therefore, the water element in Aivazovsky’s canvases is most often stormy and restless, just like in the painting “Rainbow”. This is the story of one crash with a happy ending. The small ship, unable to withstand the blows of the elements, tilted treacherously and was about to sink. People, in the hope of salvation, moved into tiny boats and continue to withstand the menacing storm. In a doomed situation, the painter gives hope for the best: he depicts a small seagull, which seems to show people the path to salvation. And the rainbow is a favorite motif of romantics and a biblical symbol of the end of the flood. Task for the child:
Let the child look carefully at the picture and find the seagull and the rainbow. What's happening at sea? What colors is the work done in?
V. Vasnetsov “The Sleeping Princess”
V. Vasnetsov “The Sleeping Princess” (1900-1926)
The famous Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926) painted this painting, “The Sleeping Princess,” which is familiar to us from childhood, for almost 40 years, but never finished it. The general public saw the work after the author’s death, at an exhibition in 1927. The film was a huge success and was recognized as one of Vasnetsov’s best works.
“The Sleeping Princess” is part of the “Poem of Seven Tales” cycle, and the plot is based on “The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights” by Alexander Pushkin and “The Sleeping Beauty” by Charles Perrault. The artist chose the episode when the young princess pricked herself with a spindle and fell into a long hundred-year sleep, and her entire kingdom fell asleep with her.
Vasnetsov is considered one of the first master painters who brought to life on his canvases the magical world of Russian fairy tales and epics. The artist's interest in ancient Russian culture arose while studying at a theological school and then at a seminary, where he studied the lives of saints, chronographs, chronicles, parables and folklore. Vasnetsov wrote about himself: “I am a storyteller, a writer of epics, a guslar of painting.”
In all the artist’s paintings, contemporaries noted the highest decorative skill of the artist, the variety of colors, ornaments and patterns in the traditions of Russian architecture.
It should be noted that during his life, Viktor Vasnetsov made contributions to a wide variety of areas of art - theatrical scenery and costumes, architecture and applied arts.
He created illustrations for the works of Pushkin and Lermontov, and devoted over ten years of his creative life to working on the paintings of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv. He also created sketches of the main facade of the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane in Moscow. Task for the child:
Ask your child: who and what does he see in the picture? Let him remember the fairy tale? What colors did the artist use to paint the picture?
