The Mona Lisa is one of the worlds most famous and intriguing

pictures. The Mona Lisa is a portrait of a wife of a Florentine noble. For several days she came to
Leonardo and sat for her portrait to be painted. However she refused to smile, Leonardo even tried
hiring musicians but to no avail. One day just for a fleeting second she gave a faint smile and Leonardo
was able to capture it.
Cafe Terrace at Night 1888 ( Krller-Mller Museum) When I
have a terrible need of shall I say the word religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.-
Vincent Van Gogh In Arles, he had a brief, if unsuccessful, period of time with the artist
Gauguin. Van Goghs intensity and mental imbalance made him difficult to live with. At the end
of the two weeks, Van Gogh approached Gauguin with a razor blade. Gauguin fled back to Paris,
and Van Gogh later cut off the lower part of his ear with the blade.This action was symptomatic
of his increasing mental imbalance. He was later committed to a lunatic asylum where he would
spend time on and off until his death in 1890. At the best of times, Van Gogh had an emotional
intensity that flipped between madness and genius. He himself wrote:
Vase with 12 sunflowers 1888 It was during these
last two years of his life, that Van Gogh was at his most productive as a painter. He developed a
style of painting that was quick and rapid leaving no time for contemplation and thought. He
painted with quick movements of the brush and drew increasingly avant garde styles shapes
foreshadowing modern art and its abstract style. He felt an overwhelming need and desire to
paint.
ca. 1667 Portrait of a couple as figures from
the Old Testament, known as The Jewish bride. After a few years, Rembrandt began a
relationship with Hendrickje Stoffels, his former maid. They had one daughter, but never married
as Rembrandt didnt want to miss out on his wifes legacy (which depended on him not
marrying)
At the height of his fame and wealth, Rembrandt bought an impressively large and expensive
house in the Jewish quarter. He bought this on a mortgage of 13,000 Guilders. Unfortunately,
Rembrandt was not good with money. He would spend his income very freely; often on other
works of art and props for his paintings.
Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee
(Matthew 8:23-25) 1633
In particular Rembrandt used this technique to give great depth and emotion to the faces he
painted. Rembrandt had the ability to give an impression of a thinking mind behind the face.
In a letter to Huyghens, Rembrandt explained in his art he sought to give the greatest and most
natural movement, movement can also mean emotion and motive.
The Creation of Adam from Sistine Chapel
This was a huge undertaking. Initially the Pope suggested scenes from the New Testament, but,
Michelangelo chose the Old Testament with its great variety of characters and dramatic scenes.
The project took four years to complete and involved Michelangelo working in awkward
positions painting through great neck pain.
david. In 1505, Pope Julius II summoned
Michelangelo to Rome and commissioned him in a number of projects. The first was to create a
magnificent tomb. However, this ran into problems as the Pope later diverted funds to the
ambitious scheme to rebuild St Peters. Michelangelo was quick to anger it did not matter even
if it was the Pope. But, the Pope deflected Michelangelos anger and through a combination of
persuasion, threat and flattery, later offered Michelangelo a new commission to paint the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.
Michelangelos Pieta His next most famous
sculpture was his huge undertaking of a life size David. This was hewn from a huge block of marble
dragged down from a nearby Florentine mine. Michelangelo created a masterpiece a perfection of
the human form and most agreed, Michelangelo had surpassed the classic predecessors. David was
put pride of place in front of the seat of Florentine government.
women in the garden
Monet would later say that he may have become a painter due to the inspiration of flowers. He
would also say that his greatest masterpiece was his garden.
water lilies. At the turn of the century, Monet became
increasingly famous and popular as an artist. This enabled him to earn a good living. He used
these funds to develop a formal garden at his property in Giverny. This proved an ideal setting
for many series of paintings, such as his water lilies and bridge over a pond. For Monet, nature
was a significant influence, and he spent hours absorbed in nature especially at his garden in
Giverny.

Another key painting of Picasso was his simple bird drawing
a symbol of peace. Picasso donated it the Soviet backed World Peace Congress of 1949. It was
rather sad that the Stalinist ideology of Communism betrayed the aspirations of peace loving
Socialists like Picasso.