I dropped this here because I wasn't sure where else to do so.
It's about artwork.
I've been to the Louvre. People told me I would need days there. I was in and out in less that three hours. Like a SEAL team. I was bored.
And, yeah, I ticked the Mona Lisa bucket list box. It's an alright painting. I'd take it off your hands for twenty bucks. Thirty if you haggle.
If I could nominate a painting that really excites me (and, no, I have never seen it live) it is Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. It's not just that it's iconic - which it is - it's just so evocative:
What about you? What artwork gets your pulse raising?
The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists inspire me the most. My favorite painting is Van Gogh's "Starry Night" -- yeah, I know, it's so familiar and pops up now in so many prints and on so many design items. But I've seen the original up close, at its home at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, and it blows me away - just the detail of the paint strokes, the way some of the canvas even shows through, it's like Van Gogh just threw the paint on there. I could feel the energy of that coming through... By the way, I've heard that the Louvre is overrated, that the best ones to visit in Paris are the d’Orsay or the Picasso. In NYC everyone goes to the Met, but MoMA is my favorite, hands-down. I can spend an afternoon there.
Dali. Vermeer. Giger. James Gleeson. Banksy.
Banksy! Yes!
VanGogh, usually his lesser known works. "The Sower," "Skull with Burning Cigarette," "Autumn Garden," and "A Pair of Shoes II" are favorites.
The Anolfini wedding is my favorite painting. It seems like the artist had so many secrets. What’s with the shoes? The dog? Milady’s bump... and of course the artists hidden self portrait.
Nice! I like that hint of mystery.
@ArtsyChick I like that commentary, thank you.
Well done @ArtsyChick ! My last art history class was ages ago, but this one always stuck with me
@ArtsyChick I hope you enjoy Paris. I found it meh, but millions would disagree with me.
I have a book of various artists. These are four:
The Tanning one sounds very interesting!
Salvadore Dali for me all the way. His view, insights, forward thinking with a foot in the history. 2nd would be H.R Giger and his works covering birth, inception and death. Facinating a person could grow up in the Alps and become a tinted (very) glass to look through.
And that moustache!
@Palindromeman a man dedicated to his smile. Predating Vincent Price's even
@BarkRuffalo People tend to forget that Vincent Price was a matinee idol earlier in his career.
I recently visited an art museum in Richmond, Virginia. They had a Warhol(Triple Elvis), a Pollock, and many more. I like the Impressionists, though, more than most modern painters.
My dream is to visit Florence and the Sistine Chapel(been to Rome but not enough time to get there). The ancient sculptures and artifacts in both Rome and Athens were most exciting. Also the Cairo museum.
I saw Warhol's Campbells Soup Cans at MoMA last year. It blew me away. We have Pollock's Blue Poles in Canberra - absolutely mesmerising. It switched me on to ab ex art.
I'm not that much into art, but I do like "Starry Night" by Van Gogh and "The Persistence of Memory" by Dali.
I did get a chance to see Van Gogh's "Irises" when it was first displayed at the Getty Museum in Malibu, many years ago. Bit I like the Getty more for the historical artwork, particularly Roman statues.
I was there for a whole day and didn't see nearly everything so you missed a LOT...unlike a "SEAL", I'm pretty sure you didn't see those terrorists hiding over there in the corners. lol. There is more than enough to see in De Louvre if you are taking your time. But as you said...if it bored you, it's not that you saw everything, you just weren't interested. I like art that has hidden messages in it. My brother, who is bipolar, creates this amazing type of art (usually very dark themes)...but he's only artistic when not taking his meds.
Once, I was one of those people who stopped at every painting and every installation to look at it in a gallery. It was an artist friend who taught me - look at what you like, and don't waste time I what you don't. Some people love the Louvre, and good luck to them. I actually got more enjoyment from watching the four man squad from the French military on security detail outside. Seriously, dude, they moved exactly as you would expect in Afghanistan. One guy was always watching their back. Entertaining and chilling, at the same time.