Tag Archives: art

The Erotic Watery Dreamland of Henri Rousseau

“In 1910, the year of his death, Rousseau gave the world his last dream, his extraordinary painting Le Rȇve. In a moonlit jungle clearing, a naked woman lies on a brown velvet-covered couch. In attendance are she-lions, birds of paradise, … Continue reading

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Haunting Paintings: “Wind from the Sea” by Andrew Wyeth

I saw this painting today and became transfixed by it. The wind has brought the smell of the sea and the birds on the old and frail lace curtain have momentarily caught wind in their wings. I felt nostalgia, melancholia, … Continue reading

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Swann’s Dream

“Sometimes, too, just as Eve was created from a rib of Adam, so a woman would come into existence while I was sleeping, conceived from some strain in the position of my limbs. Formed by the appetite that I was … Continue reading

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The Art of Resurrection

Today my thoughts were directed to the phenomenon of Greek “abaton”: “Also called a mundus or earth-womb, the abaton was a real pit, standard equipment in a pagan temple. Those who entered it to ‘incubate,’ or to sleep overnight in … Continue reading

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The Flowers

Goddess Flora   “The Flowers” by Stéphane Mallarmé (translated by Henry Weinfield) “From golden showers of the ancient skies, On the first day, and the eternal snow of stars, You once unfastened giant calyxes For the young earth still innocent … Continue reading

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The Art of Sight

Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens, “Allegory of Sight” “We are all visionaries, and what we see is our soul in things,” wrote Henri Amiel in his journal. The psyche presents itself most directly through images. The world … Continue reading

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Famous Paintings: “Anatomy of the Heart” by Enrique Simonet y Lombardo

“The Spanish painter Enrique Simonet y Lombardo, in the last year of the nineteenth century, … produced an admirable canvas showing the anatomic exploration of a woman’s body. … an old man holds in his hand the heart he has … Continue reading

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Botticelli’s “Mystic Nativity”

Sandro Boticelli, Mystic Nativity This beautiful painting has been one of my favourites for many years. I was always touched by the beautiful twelve angels dancing in a circle at the top, the three angels gracing the roof and the … Continue reading

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The Five most important lessons my art teacher shared with me . . .

Originally posted on StoryDoors:
 My First Painting 8″x10″ Oil on canvas board, 1954 Heads up – this is a 2100 word posting (longer than my average). My editor suggested breaking it into five short postings, but I couldn’t figure how…

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Cartography of the Deep Human Psyche (2)

Concerning matter we have been all wrong. What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses. There is no matter. Albert Einstein This iconic painting by Monet shows very … Continue reading

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