Iconic masterpieces for Valentines

13/02/2019

For Valentine’s day Rosemont Art Advisory highlights a few iconic masterpieces which will inspire you to take your date to a museum or to an art gallery to fall in love with art:

“The Swing” oil painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard in the Wallace Collection in London

The Swing (French: L'Escarpolette), also known as The Happy Accidents of the Swing (French: Les Hasards heureux de l'escarpolette, the original title), is an 18th-century, It is considered to be one of the masterpieces of the rococo era, and is Fragonard's best known work.

This joyful piece of rococo art shows an older man in the shadows pushing a girl in frothy pink on a swing, with her lover looking at her from below as her slipper flies off and her little dog barks. Look at the statue of Cupid, with his finger to his lips. It’s erotic, of course, but it’s innocent and coquettish and mischievous too. An enchanted world in which we can all take refuge.

The Kiss (Lovers), by Gustav Klimt, in German Liebespaar, is an oil painting, with added silver and gold leaf by the Austrian Symbolist, and was painted between 1907 and 1908 during the height of Klimt's "Golden Period".

The painting depicts a couple embracing one another, their bodies entwined in elaborate beautiful robes decorated in a style influenced by the contemporary Art Nouveau style and the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement. The painting hangs in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere palace, Vienna, and is widely considered a masterpiece of the early modern period. It is an icon of the Jugendstil—Viennese Art Nouveau—and is considered Klimt's most popular work

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Klimt_-_Der_Kuss.jpeg

Jim Dine, “Two Big Black Hearts”, Cincinnati, OH, born artist divides his time between Washington State and Paris, France

The artist has created a diverse body of work that ranges from vibrant, large-scale paintings to bronze sculptures and assemblages of found objects. He is well known for his pioneering role in the Pop Art movement and Conceptual Art “Happenings” during the 1960s.

We love how Dine leaves his personal mark on Two Big Black Hearts both symbolically, by the choice of objects, and physically, by his hand imprints on the sculpture’s surface. Cast from the same mold, these 3,200-pound sculptures serve as nearly identical versions of the same heart, differentiated only by subtle details that resulted from the casting process. The sculpture is visible at the Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum just outside of Boston.
https://decordova.org/

Paul Gauguin's “Nevermore”, has been voted 2010 Britain's most romantic work of art.

The painting of a Tahitian girl reclining on a bed, against a background of a raven on a ledge and two figures in conversation, won a poll conducted by The Art Fund charity.
A shortlist of five paintings from British collections by artists including Jan van Eyck, Nicolas Poussin and Titian, were selected by celebrities including the broadcaster Kirsty Young and the Turner prize winning artist Grayson Perry. More than 2,900 people voted in the poll, which saw Nevermore, chosen by the artist and broadcaster Matthew Collings, beat Samuel John Peploe's Roses into second place. Nevermore, which was first owned by Frederick Delius, the English composer, now hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London. Gauguin creates a profound sense of yearning and intensity which the public have responded to.

https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-gauguin/nevermore-1897

Christopher Wool, “Untitled”, (born 1955) is an American artist. Since the 1980s, Wool's art has incorporated issues surrounding post-conceptual ideas. He lives and works in New York City and Marfa, Texas, together with his wife and fellow painter Charline von Heyl

Wool refers to the idea that the viewer, completes the artist’s art by being there to experience the art work. Without this completion, the art is mere matter. His art lives in you and me and in other viewers.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wool-untitled-t12905