Monday, November 14, 2011

Fine Art

You already know, Dear Readers, that I enjoy reading poetry. What you may not know is that I am also a lover of fine art. No, I'm not talking about this sort of "fine" art ...

I'm talking about the other sort of fine art ... art of the sort you might find done by Claude Monet, the impressionist painter whose birthday (in 1840) we celebrate today. If your idea of great paintings centers on making sure your dropcloth caught all the spills as you changed the color of your living room, or if you are a typical art aficionado of the digital age, you may want to go away and come back tomorrow...

If, however, you enjoy subtly beautiful impressionist images that use muted colors to express dreamy images, here are a few of Monet's works to introduce you to this amazing talent ...

A view of the river Thames at Westminster ...

The Rouen cathedral ...

And an image of water lilies and clouds ...

Of course, people like you and I can't collect these original paintings, because they cost far too much ... uh ... monet. But there are lots of good reproductions on the Internet, and you can see them in person at many major museums ... like the National Gallery of Art here in Washington. See them now, before Congress cuts all the funding so that corporate welfare can be maintained.

Have a good day. Enjoy art. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

9 comments:

eViL pOp TaRt said...

Claude Monet is a delight! There's some fine Monets in the museum in Chicago also. Wouldn't it be nice if paintings like that went on a traveling exhibition to other cities on a regular basis, as most of the country is far removed from the east coast metropolises.

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

Moneta is one of my favorites!! Of course I have reproductions because that is all I can afford.
One is on canvas and a dumb neighbor said to me, "wow how can you afford this?"
Please - if I could would I be living in a townhouse??? She didn't know the artist but assumed because it wasn't a poster it was real.
Okay she was blonde and not too bright.

Amanda said...

Art is something that I need to learn more about. It was Aaron that introduced me to some of the Monet paintings and we had a fascinating time reading about them and impressionism in general.

Banana Oil said...

Subsidizing the arts by Congress is all fine and good; but there's no trickle down into flyover country here. Therefore, high art is seen as a perk for living on the East Coast, as well as the usual lording over that they do.

But I guess Grand Forks is not an art capital.

Mike said...

Our art museum here in St. Louis is worth a visit. Lots of Masters work to see.

Wv: buticker - (Make up your own for this one.)

allenwoodhaven said...

I'm with you bilbo. Modern art makes me say "eh?" Impressionism is wonderful and Monet is among the best. Another favorite of mine is John Singer Sargeant. He's amazing. We go into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC once in a while and it's got a fantastic collection. I think we're due for another trip!

Anonymous said...

I really enjoy Monet but some of the modern paintings leave me quite unimpressed, in fact my grandsons did a quite lovely modern painting as toddlers which is much nicer than many I see in the museum.

Duckbutt said...

Some moderns, like Norman Lindsay and Stephen Huneck are very good.

KathyA said...

Love the Impressionists so much!
Remind me to tell you, when next we meet, about my three kids on the bridge over the famous lily pond at Giverny.