Starry Night ~ Van Gogh

Location: Museum of Modern Art, New York
Year : 1889
where do you go when you're lonely
where do you go when you're blue
where do go when you're lonely I'll follow you
when the stars go blue....
for you, my dear Lonestar.
Another of the many asylum pictures, Starry Night surely ranks among Van Gogh's most famous works. Much of this recognition must go down to Don McLean's eponymous ballad : Vincent (Starry Starry Night) in which Vincent's mythic status as the archetypal tragic and misunderstood genius reached one of its more sickly apotheoses. No one would have been more suprised than Van Gogh himself, who considered the image to be one of his less sucessful renditions of nature. In his opinion, it was just not realistic enough. Nevertheles, its visionary quality is admired. In some ways, this painting points the way towards abstraction and certainly Expressionism.

Antibes, 1888 ~ Monet

I find peace in this painting just by looking at it, I like the colour of the blue sea....and as if I could feel the wind blowing through the leaves of the tree....In his youth, Monet had always been fascinated by the coast of nothern France and the sea. In 1888 he visited Antibes and the painting he created is the blue sea of Mediterranean that looks peaceful and calm. X rays of the canvas have revealed a layer of freely applied paint beneath the tighter, more precise flecks on the surface, suggestive of wind-ruffled water.

Poppy Field at Argenteuil ~ Monet

French Title : Coquelicots à Argenteuil
Location : Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Year : 1873 Oil on Canvas
In 1872 Monet settled at Argenteuil with his wife Camille and son Jean. Argenteuil provided him with plenty of idyllic subject matter and this painting, which was shown at the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, is his most famous work. The two figures in front view are Camille and Jean. Painted in an almost abstract style, the splashes of red draw the observer's eye at once, despite roughly half the canvas is given over to the sky. The red dots of poppies almost form an abstract pattern, reminiscent of the famous waterlilies that the would paint later. This painting shows the relationship between human figure and nature where the figures are almost incidental and nature dominates, indicating Monet's increasing work towards landscape painting. I saw it first in a catalog and I just love the red color of the poppies, I thought there were only two ppl walking in the front view but there were also two ppl at the rear view. I bought the poster along with the matching red frame and hung it on the wall of my bedroom along with The Kiss. For details, click here

The Girl With A Pearl Earring ~ Jan Vermeer

Location : Mauritshuis, The Hague, the Netherlands
Year: c.1660 - 1665 Oil on Canvas - 19" x 16" (47 x 40 cm)
I've liked this painting since I was a child, from my Cambridge English Book. I thought it was unique, the way the girl posed. And then, Tracy Chevalier made a fiction novel about it, I like the story and I like the painting more and more. They made the movie, but I think it's awful. The painting is a characteristic of Vermeer's later, more mature style. It is thought that the girl in the painting in Vermeer's youngest daughter, Maria. However, this is often disputed because the girl's age and the probable date of the painting do not match. The girl wears a piece of cloth over her head, which is assumed to be part of a Turkish costume that was found among Vermeer's possessions after his death. Beautiful and gentle, the young girl glances innocently over her shoulder to catch the eyes of the viewer. Her pearl earring beautifully reflects the light in the room.