Flat Earth Paintings - Bee in Snow Globe

During the Christmas holidays, I dabbled in some painting after a long time and made the following snow globe painting based on the flat earth theory (or truth):

This artwork basically shows the flat horizon of the flat earth within a snow globe. The sun in the picture has clouds behind it. There is a honey bee to disprove gravity, and coconut palms appearing smaller due to perspective. Above the snow globe are the waters above and below it are the fires of hell. 

This image is free for commercial use. No attribution is required. 

Raphael’ ‘Head of An Apostle’ Sketch - World’s Most Expensive Drawing

Italian Renaissance painter Raphael’s drawing named the ‘Head of an Apostle’ sketch has become the most expensive sketch in the world, after it was sold for $48 million at an art auction. This art auction was the Sotheby’s sale of ‘Old Master and British Paintings’, which saw the sale of numerous other rare sketches and paintings.

Raphael's sketch 'Head of an Apostle'

Born as Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, Raphael became famous for his renaissance paintings and sketches in the 1500s. His artwork is admired by connoisseurs for its clarity of form and ease of composition, and for the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur, which it portrayed. Raphael had a large painting studio, and made many drawings and paintings during his short life span: he died in 1520, at the young age of 37. As everyone know, paintings and artwork become more valued upon the death of the artist...mainly because high demand and scarcity push the price up...and so did the price of Raphael's work.

Raphael’s ‘Head of an Apostle’ Sketch

The ‘Head of an Apostle’ sketch by Raphael is a study drawing, for his last painting which was called the ‘Transfiguration’. This painting is currently exhibited in the Vatican Museum in Rome. Raphael’s ‘Head of an Apostle’ sketch features one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, with his head slightly turned away, to shield the bright light emitted during the Transfiguration of Jesus.

Raphael's Transfiguration masterpiece painting

However, when I viewed Raphael's Transfiguration painting, I could not find the apostle with his head turned to one side, as shown in the sketch. Maybe Raphael modified the apostle's head later, so that it looks different. Artists do that all the time.

This 48 million dollar sketch measures around 15 inches by 11 inches, and is drawn in black chalk. It came from the majestic art collection at Chatsworth, the ancestral home of the 12th Duke of Devonshire. Proceeds from the sale are expected to be used to maintain the Duke’s estate, and his other paintings and art pieces.

Sotheby's staff moving the frame with the expensive drawing

Many renowned art collectors and billionaires were present at this art auction, and bid for this Raphael sketch. In the past, another sketch by Raphael, titled ‘Head of a Muse’ was sold for $47.9 million in 2009.

What do you think of Raphael's sketch? Would you pay $48 million to own a masterpiece sketch or painting like this one?

From: Independent

Jehangir Sabavala – Pilgrim and Wanderer Paintings

Jehangir Sabavala is an Indian artist, with a career that has spanned more than 60 years. His paintings sell for huge sums at international art auctions. He was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai, and grew up in different countries around the world, and finally became one of the most renowned artists in the post-colonial art history of India.

Jehangir Sabavala studied art at some of the most prestigious art schools in the world. During his early years, Sabavala experimented with the austere cubism of his teacher Andre Lhote, combining it with the opulence of India, to create beautiful paintings. During this period, his work mainly featured landscapes from India, including beach scenes and sea-scapes.

In the mid-1960’s Jahangir Sabavala returned to India, after a long stay in various foreign countries. While in India, he looked to develop a style that would reflect his diverse lineage, including the formal training in impressionism, cubism and expressionism, which he had received in the West. He wanted his art to be acceptable and understandable to Indians, and embody his cross-cultural origins.

If you view Jahangir Sabavala’s paintings that were created in the mid-60s, you will notice beautiful Indian landscapes, with masses of clouds, mist-covered mountains and seas. Later on, the artist’s style gradually began to shift away from cubism influences. After 1965, Sabavala’s paintings began displaying his strong focus on man’s relationship with the ageless cosmos. Most of the artist’s paintings from this period feature wanderers, such as pilgrims, monks, nuns, refugees, ascetics and questors.

Vespers I – Painting By Jehangir Sabavala

In June 2012, a beautiful canvas painting by Jehangir Sabavala, named ‘Vesper’s I’, was sold for $391,021(£253,650) at Bonhams. Vespers I is the perfect representation of this transitory phase in Jahangir Sabavala’s oeuvre. It is considered to be one of the most notable works of Jehangir Sabavala, and was displayed for the first time at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, India.

The Vespers I painting shows a group of nuns praying in a room, which seems to be the interior of a chapel or abbey. Gathered together in prayer, the figures of the nuns can barely be separated. According to art critics, painting is an allegorical (symbolic) representation of the seclusion and renunciation, undertaken by the nuns. The word ‘vespers’ is actually a term which means evening prayer for different types of Christians, like Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans.

Vespers I by Jehangir Sabavala

This brilliant piece is dotted with allegories, and was the show stealer at the Bonham’s art auction, even resulting in a sales room struggle between two bidders. With its final sale price of $391,021, ‘Vespers I’ surpassed pre-sale estimates of £100,000-150,000.

Jehangir Sabavala was always fascinated with the monastic life led by nuns and monks. He often compared the hours he spent painting in his art studio, to the disciplined life led by monks, which was filled with prayers, studies and meditation. Sabavala once said that he found the draped and cowled figures of nuns/ monks very interesting from a technical point of view, as it provided volume and bulk elements to play with.

Paul Cezanne - Post Impressionist Artist

Paul Cézanne was an 18th century Post-Impressionist painter, who was often referred to as “the father of us all” by artists like Matisse and Picasso. Cézanne was born on January 19th 1839 in the town of Aix-en-Provence, in southern France. While his father Louis-Auguste was the co-founder of a prosperous banking firm, his mother Anne-Elisabeth was a vivacious romantic. He also had two younger sisters Marie and Rose.

The Blue Vase, 1885-87

Paul Cézanne began studying drawing from the age of ten, when he entered the Saint Joseph boarding-school in Aix. When he was 20 years old, he began to attend the Law School of the University of Aix, according to his father’s wishes. He later dropped out of the University, and went on to pursue his artistic ambitions. In this, he was strongly encouraged by Emile Zola, his childhood friend.

Cézanne later went to Paris, where he met other Impressionists, such as Camille Pissarro, with whom he developed a working relationship. He had a mistress named Marie-Hortense Fiquet, whom he married in 1886. They had a son Paul, who was born in 1872. Soon after his marriage, his father passed away leaving him a vast estate.

The Bay From L'Estaque - 1886

In his early career, Cezanne concentrated on painting pictures with large figures in the landscape. Later on, he developed a more light and airy style that had a great influence on other Impressionist painters. Cézanne was interested in simplifying naturally occurring forms to their geometric shapes, such as a cylinder, sphere or cone. Additionally, he began recording his observations of nature through binocular vision, enabling viewers to see two different views at the same time. He also painted many still-lifes and nudes.

Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier, 1893 - Sold for $60.5 million in 1999.

Paul Cézanne died of pneumonia on October 22nd 1906 at the age of 67 years, a few days after he was caught in a storm while working in a field. After his death, his paintings were exhibited in Paris in a large scale museum-like retrospective.

My Artwork - River, Trees, Mountains

Here are three paintings that I completed over the last few months.

Shiny Dream Mountains, October 2008

(painting - watercolor on paper)

Cycle Tree, September 2008
(sketch - pencil on paper)

Catapult, August 2008

(painting - watercolor on paper)

Salvador Dali - Eccentric Surrealist

Salvador Dali - Eccentric Surrealist Modern Artist

"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing." - Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali was born as Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol on May 11th, 1904 in the town of Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. Well known for his surrealist work, Salvador Dali was also a skilled draftsman, sculptor, writer, jewellery designer, fashion designer and photographer. An imaginative person, he became known for his eccentric ways which sometimes drew more attention than his paintings.

As a child, he was made to believe that he was a reincarnation of an elder brother who had passed away nine months before he was born. Later on Salvador Dali attended drawing school. He held his first public exhibition of drawings at the Muncipal Theatre of his home town when he was only around 15 years old.

Two years later he lost his mother to cancer and moved to Madrid, the capital of Spain. Here he enrolled at the Academia de San Fernando or School of Fine Arts where he began his career with a number of Cubist works. In 1926, before his final examinations could begin, Salvador Dali was expelled from the Academia when he said that no one on the faculty was competent enough to examine him. He later went to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso and was greatly influenced by his style of painting.

The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1936-37

Salvador Dali joined the Surrealists who were popular at that time. Surrealism is a style of art that uses visual imagery from the subconscious mind in paintings and defy logic. It was also an anti war philosophy that came out during the two world wars.

Salvador Dali dabbled a bit in scriptwriting for films. When he was 25 years of age, he met his muse Gala and fell in love. Gala, was a Russian immigrant named Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, who was eleven years older than him. She was also married to the surrealist poet Paul Éluard. Gala was the stabilizing factor in his life. She became his manager and organized many art exhibitions for him. They lived together before getting married in a civil ceremony in 1934. When Gala's ex-husband died twenty four years later, they remarried in a Catholic ceremony.

Swans Reflecting Elephants, 1937

In 1934, Salvador Dalí visited America for the first time and became a shocking sensation because of the outfits he turned up wearing at different parties. At the 'Dali Ball' he wore a glass case on his chest that contained a brassiere. Two years later, he went to a lecture in London wearing a deep-sea diving suit. He also visited a masquerade party in Chicago with his wife dressed as the Lindbergh baby and the kidnapper.

During the Second World War, Salvador Dali fell out of favour with other Surrealists because of his support to the Franco Regime in Spain and was expelled from their group. During this period, he took to writing a novel, his autobiography and other works. He moved to the USA briefly in 1940 before returning to Catalonia after the war ended in 1949.

Butterfly Landscape - 1957

Some of the techniques incorporated in Salvador Dali's later works are holography, optical illusions, geometry, science and religion. Some of the recurring themes in his paintings are melting clocks, elephants, burning giraffes, the horns of the rhinoceros, DNA, hypercube, eggs, snails and the nuclear blasts in Hiroshima. He later did other things like creating a huge metal sculpture for a Song Contest in Madrid and appearing in a television advertisement for chocolates.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador - 1970

In 1980, Salvador Dali was hospitalized with a damaged nervous system after his 85 year old wife Gala, mistakenly gave him a dose of wrong medicines. Two years later, Gala died, leaving Salvador lonely and depressed. He tried to allegedly commit suicide twice - once by dehydrating himself and once by setting fire to his bedroom. He died on December 5th, 1988, after suffering from heart failure and is buried in his home town of Figueres.

Arthur Sarnoff – Modern Master

“Dogs are really people with short legs in fur coats” – Author Unknown

Arthur Sarnoff is an American illustrator who is popular for his paintings of dogs playing pool. He was born in 1912 in Brooklyn, New York and studied at the Industrial School and the Grand Central School of Art in New York City. He died in 2000.

The Hustler

Most of the artwork of Arthur Sarnoff includes commercial illustrations and covers for magazines such as ‘The American Weekly’, ‘Cosmopolitan’ and ‘Women’s Home Companion’. His art also appeared in advertising campaigns of the time such as that of Lucky Strike, Coors, Camay, Listerine and Vicks Vapo Rub. Here are some of Arthur Sarnoff’s illustrations.

Arthur Sarnoff painted a few paintings too. One of his paintings showing dogs playing pool known as ‘The Hustler’ was one of the best-selling prints in the 1950’s. Another popular painting created by Arthur Sarnoff is “Jack the Ripper”. This painting shows dogs playing pocket billiards and is one of his most recognised paintings.

Hey! One Leg On The Floor

I like Arthur Sarnoff’s paintings because of the expressions on the dog’s faces and the way he has selected each breed to represent a certain type of person. Plus, the dogs are cute!! An earlier artist who created paintings about dogs is C.W. Coolidge. I’ll have more about him in my next post.

Francisco De Goya - The Last of the Old Masters

“The sleep of reason produces monsters" - Francisco De Goya

This Spanish modern realist painter was basically a court artist who was responsible for painting portraits of the ruling royal family. Other than his official work, he created a diverse range of paintings and other artwork on historic events, wars and other scenes of violence of his time. Francisco De Goya believed that the ‘artist’s vision is more important than tradition’ and is often called "the first of the moderns."

The Parasol - 1777

Francisco De Goya was born Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes in the city of Fuendetodos in Spain on March 30th 1746. He worked as an apprentice to a local painter Jose Lusan at the age of 14 and later travelled to Italy for a higher education in art. On his return to Spain in 1771, he painted frescoes for the local cathedral in the town of Sargossa or Zaragoza. Two years later, he married Josefa Bayeu, the sister of one of his artist friends in Sargossa.

At the age of 46, Fransisco De Goya suffered from a serious illness that resulted in him losing his sense of hearing completely. This permanent deafness and resulting isolation lead him to experiment with his sense of imagination which resulted in the creation of a bold, free caricature style of painting. During the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain, Francisco De Goya painted for the French. When the monarchy in Spain was restored, he was pardoned but was not liked by the new king.

St. Isidro's Meadow – 1789

In his later years he published drawings on bullfighting, which he termed as ‘The Tauromaquia’. He lived in seclusion most of his life and towards the end produced scary paintings of madness and fantasy that came to his mind. This series is known as the ‘Black Paintings’. As most of these paintings are really frightening to look at, I will not be posting them on my blog.

Tired with the political situation in Spain, Francisco De Goya went into exile in Bordeaux, France where he continued to paint till his death in 1828 at the age of 82.

Recently, I downloaded a .pdf book about drawing and painting through itorrent. I will be posting some artwork of my own as soon as I create a few good ones.

All paintings of Francisco De Goya

Albert Bierstadt - Wild Wild West

Albert Bierstadt - Hudson River School

"The magnificent beauty of the natural world is a manifestation of the mysterious natural laws that will be forever obscured from us." - Albert Bierstadt.

Albert Bierstadt is an artist best known for his naturalistic paintings of waterfalls, mountains, lakes and other landscapes of the American West. He was born in January 7, 1830 in the town of Solingen, Germany. Around two years later, he emigrated to America with his parents and brothers. They settled in the town of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he became very interested in painting and photography.

Buffalo Trail (The Impending Storm) - 1869

He went back to Germany from 1853 to 1857 to study painting with the members of the Düsseldorf Art Academy in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was a painting teacher for a while before he became a full-fledged artist.

In The Mountains - 1867

On his return to New Bedford, he held an exhibition of paintings and garnered national attention as an artist. He made more money than his contemporaries and became famous in a short while. Albert Bierstadt’s paintings can be classified as the Luminist style of the Hudson River School. This style consists of detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting aka luminism.

Mountain Lake

In 1859, Albert Bierstadt travelled westward in the company of a Land Surveyor for the U.S. government. Along the way, he made small sketches of landscapes that he passed. When he returned back to New England, he made large paintings of his sketches, sometimes spanning a full room. Most were around six feet by ten feet in size. He went on two more trips to the West and later married Rosalie, the wife of one the people he travelled with – a writer called Mr. Fitz Hugh Ludlow.

The Shore of the Turquoise Sea - 1878

His paintings emphasized atmospheric elements like fog, clouds and mist. Sometimes Albert Bierstadt changed details in the landscape to make it more interesting. He also used different colors to make things look better. For example, water was painted ultramarine while grass was always lush green.

Nassau Harbour - 1877

In his later years, his popularity fell because he refused to make paintings according to newly emerging art trends such as French Impressionism. He moved to the Bahamas where his sick wife was hospitalized. Later on, his mansion burned down, he wife passed away and he ran up a large debt coz of his extravagant lifestyle. Albert Bierstadt painted more than a thousand paintings in his lifetime that sold for a fortune. However, he died a poor man on February 18, 1902, forgotten by the art world. As an honour to him, a mountain in Colorado - Mount Bierstadt was named after him.

These are photographs of some of the artists paintings which I particularly like. To view a list of all artworks of Albert Bierstadt, click here.

Piet Mondrian - Neo Plasticism

Piet Mondrian - "Curves are so Emotional"

Piet Mondrian was born in the city of Amersfoort, Netherlands as Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan. He was originally a teacher who also dabbled in painting. Most of his paintings are oil on canvas.

Row of Eleven Poplars in Red, Yellow, Blue and Green, 1908

In his early years (around 1895 -1908) Piet Mondrian painted naturalistic landscapes or impressionistic still life. Naturalistic paintings are paintings of realistic objects in a natural setting while impressionist paintings consist of short broken brushstrokes not smoothly blended together.

Avond (Evening) The Red Tree, 1908-10, Luminist Modernist

Sometime during 1908, Mondriaan was attracted to spiritual studies, especially the ‘Theosophical Movement’. He blended his newfound spiritualism with his paintings in an abstract Luminist style. Luminist works are paintings of landscapes with lighting effects and hidden brushstrokes.

DuinLandschap (Dune Landscape), 1910-11, Cubist

During 1911, he became influenced by Cubism, which was a leading art trend made popular by artists of the time such as Picasso and Braque. The next year, he moved to Paris and dropped an ‘a’ from his surname, changing it to Mondrian. He gave up representational art and signed all his later works as ‘Mondrian’.

Composition, around 1914-15

When he visited his home in the Netherlands in 1914, the First World War broke out which postponed his departure. Here he was taken up by the use of the three primary colours – red, blue and yellow and formed a new artistic theory called Neo Plasticism. This form of art consisted of horizontal and vertical lines with a few spaces in between filled with primary colors. When he returned to France, after the war ended in 1919, he began creating his ‘grid’ paintings. This form of pure abstraction continued throughout his life.

Lozenge Composition with Yellow, Black, Blue, Red, and Gray, 1921

Another penchant of Mondrian was to create ‘lozenge’ paintings. These lozenges were square canvases tilted at an angle so that they hung in a diamond shape.

Broadway Boogie-Woogie, 1942 - 43

At the start of the Second World War, Piet Mondrian left Paris for London and later New York. Here he began a new form of painting which was a complex lattice of interlacing red, blue and yellow lines. ‘Broadway Boogie-Woogie’ is one such abstract geometric painting that seems to be inspired by the cheery music of the time. Piet Mondrian died of pneumonia in New York City in 1944. Mondrian’s ‘Neoplastic’ style continues to be used in the advertising, design, graphics, fashion and art fields today.

List of some more Mondrian paintings.

Hieronymus Bosch - God is Watching

Hieronymus Bosch - Late Gothic Artist

Hieronymus Bosch is another painter whose paintings I find interesting. Here is a short introduction about him and details about some of his work which I particularly like.

Hieronymus Bosch was a 15th century artist whose work is characterized as Late Gothic. He is also known as a medieval surrealist. Coming from a family of artists, this Early Netherlandish painter was born in around 1450 in the town of Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (Holland). He was originally named Jheronimus (or Jeroen) van Aken but changed it later to Bosch (pronounced Boss) to reflect his hometown. At the age of around 30, he married Aleyt Goyaerts van den Meerveen, a wealthy woman who was a few years older than him. Around 8 years later, he joined a conservative religious group known as the Brotherhood of Our Lady. Most of his paintings are religious in nature.

Hieronymus Bosch is known for making several triptychs or works with three paintings on wooden panels that are attached to each other. Technically, he painted in a style known as ‘alla prima’, a painting technique in which pigments are laid on in one application with little or no underpainting. Most of his works include images of demons, half-human animals and machines which depict sin, evil and human moral failings. Many accept that the paintings of Bosch were created to teach specific moral and spiritual truths and that each image has an exact meaning.

The Garden of Earthly Delights.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch is an oil painting on wood panels. This triptych depicts paradise and creation of man on the left panel, earth in the middle and hell on the right panel. It was painted in around 1504.

The Last Judgement

This is another triptych or three panelled painting by Hieronymus Bosch. The outside of the shutters is Grisaille on panel, while the inside shutters and centre are oil on panel. The painting depicts ‘Judgement Day’ as mentioned in the Bible – a day when God will descend to the earth.

The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things

This painting of oil on wood panels is in the form of a tabletop. The four small circles show pictures of death, judgement, hell and glory. The seven deadly sins are depicted in the central circle starting clockwise from wrath at the bottom to envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, lust and pride. The writing at the bottom is Latin for ‘Beware, Beware, God is Watching’.

Hieronymus Bosch died in 1516. As Bosch never dated any of his paintings and signed only seven of them, there is considerable speculation on the amount of works painted by him. Today, art scholars have definitively ascribed only around 25 paintings to him.

Do you have any favourite artist or any artwork you happen to admire?

Apples - Painting By Cyberkitty

'Apples' - Painting By Cyberkitty

I heard that painting is a good relaxation technique, so I thought I'd try my hand at something I used to win prizes at years ago. I took out my ancient box of Camel watercolours, a few unused makeup brushes and an A4 sheet of paper from my printer and got to work. Here is the result -

'Apples' - 2007

“We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as a tree bears apples.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. (American poet and writer)

Its been almost ten years since I last put paint to paper. I did feel calm and peaceful while working with the brush and hope to try it again next weekend too.

Do you have a weekend hobby ?

Alix Beaujour - An Artist With Cool Paintings

Alix Beaujour - Amazing Paintings

Alix Beaujour is an artist who lives in Dallas, Texas. He was born in Port Au Prince on the island country of Haiti in the Carribean. Alix Beaujour practiced painting at his private studio in Haiti and later moved to Paris, France for a short time. In 1978, he camed to the United States of America and made it his base.

'Alpha' - Alex Beaujour

Alix Beaujour uses different mediums like oils and pastels to make his paintings. He usually draws African women and Christian religious themes like Moses, Jesus on the Cross and the Last Supper.

'Cotton Fields' - Alix Baeujour

I like Alix Beaujour's paintings because of the bright colours and the expression in the face of the people he has painted. Here is a nice picture of negro girls picking cotton in the fields. Reminds me of that book I'd written about earlier - 'A Painted House' by John Grisham.

'Dancers' - Alix Beaujour

I like the blues and reds in this painting called 'Dancers'. The geometrical designs in the background are very attractive. I've never seen any black people doing ballet though....even on television!

Tim Ashkar - African American Art Paintings

Tim Ashkar - African American Art Paintings

Thought I'd write a bit about Tim Ashkar, an artist whose paintings I like. He is not very old or dead like the other artists I write about. Tim Ashkar was born in 1956 and must be around 51 years old. He usually draws paintings of women especially african women, christian religious themes and gardens.

Tim Ashkar - Garden With Swans And Gazebo

Tim Ashkar - Garden With Peacock And Fountain

As a child Tim Ashkar always loved art and decided to pursue art as a career at the age of 18. He studied oil painting and drawing for five years under Judith Serbaroli, the daughter of a famous Italian artist. Ashkar's work is strongly influenced by religion and mythology.

Tim Ashkar - Madonna And Child

Tim Ashkar has also created scenery for tv shows and films. Some of his paintings can be viewed in Washington DC and the Pickfair Mansion. I hope that one day I can afford to actually go to foreign museums and see them for real.

Wassily Kandinsky - Color and Shapes

Wassily Kandinsky - Simply Love His Works

"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammer, the soul is the piano with the strings" Wassily Kandinsky

Wassily Kandinsky - Composition 6, 1913

Wassily Kandinsky is another artist whose paintings I simply admire. He was born in Moscow, Russia on 4th December, 1866. Wassily Kandinsky started learning how to paint quite late - after he turned thirty. His early paintings involved Russian folk art and the use of bright colors on a black background. At the turn of the century, he painted landscapes and towns of which very few paintings remain today.

Wassily Kandinsky - Yellow Red Blue, 1925

He later drew abstract geometric paintings which were not very popular at that time. He is most famous for his 10 compositions - a series of 10 abstract art paintings in vibrant colors and geometric shapes. A common theme of Wassily Kandinsky's first seven Compositions is Apocalypse or the end of the world. He also created paintings on biblical mythology like Noah's Ark and Jesus' resurrection.

Wassily Kandinsky - Balancement

Wassily Kandinsky learnt to play the piano at an early age. He later became a professor of law and economics before going off to study painting. Later on Wassily Kandinsky started teaching classes for beginners and advanced students at the Bauhaus an innovative architecture and art school of his time. He later became an art theorist and was famous for his avant garde abstract paintings.

Wassily Kandinsky - Composition 10, 1939 - His Last Painting

Wassily Kadinsky lived in different cities like Moscow, Odessa, Dorpat, Munich and France. He never stopped painting and died at the age of 78 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

Vincent Van Gogh - Sadness and Beauty

My Favourite Vincent Van Gogh Paintings

"I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream." Vincent Van Gogh, the pioneer of Expressionism.

I most probably will never be able to afford a Vincent Van Gogh, but I have always admired his paintings which I've used as the wallpapers on my windows desktop. I love his colours and shapes, and here are five of my favourites with a bit about Van Gogh's insane personal life.

Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night, 1889

Vincent Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853 and is classified as a post impressionist painter. He started out working for an art dealer, later on teaching at a boarding school in England before working in a bookshop where he used to doodle on pieces of paper. He once worked as a Christian missionary during which he chose to sleep on a bed of straw in a small hut like the poor. He ate very little and preferred not to eat meat.

Vincent Van Gogh's - Red Vineyard, 1888

In 1880 he finally took up art on the advice of his brother Theo. He produced all of his work, some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings, during the last ten years of his life. In the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.

Vincent Van Gogh - Pink and White Roses

Angry at his poverty filled lifestyle, his father once tried to get him admitted to a lunatic asylum. Vincent ran away from home to a city called Cuesmes. Later on when a woman he proposed to refused to marry him, he held his left hand in depression to the flame of a lamp, saying, "Let me see her for as long as I can keep my hand in the flame". In December 1888, after an argument with fellow artist Gaugin, Van Gogh cut off the lower part of his left ear with razor, wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to a prostitute, asking her to "keep this object carefully".

Vincent Van Gogh - Vase with 12 Sunflowers, 1888

Around six months later he admitted himself to the mental hospital at St.Remy a former monastery where he drew swirly paintings. He too to smoing and started drinking heavily. After leaving the monastry, Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into a field and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Not realising that he was fatally wounded, he returned home to his bed and died two days later. He never married nor did he have any children.

Vincent Van Gogh's - Starry Night over the Rhone, 1888

A highly emotional person with low self confidence and a few failed romances, Vincent Van Gogh managed to sell only one painting before his death - Red Vineyard.

Tags - Vincent Van Gogh Paintings Art Starry Night