LIBERTY LEADING THE PEOPLE 1830
Lady Liberty spills from her wardrobe while exhorting
the common folk into heroic action. Delacroix was
popular. He painted human drama in vivid colors.
Rubens and Rembrandt were his North Star.
He helped bring painting back to life.
Thousands of people lost their heads for the crime
of being royalty. What follows is the Emperor Napoleon.
Ingres, the greatest Classicist of his age, was given
the honor of painting his majesty, Napoleon I.
Ingres found himself caught up in all the fabulous fabric
displayed in front of him. He was intoxicated with its many
sensuous creases and folds. Napoleon was reduced in size
to a tiny, stone-faced mask mounted atop this mountain
of adulation. You could just as easily have painted in
the face of most anyone. Groucho Marx, for instance.
Ingres loved winning awards and being given honors
by people high up on the power pyramid.
In the process, Ingres tried hard to be conventional.
But he couldn't suppress what felt right for him.
His talent always set him apart from those whose
own celebrated names are now forgotten.
Goya's official portrait of Spain's royal family
has the group standing uncomfortably about,
apparently realizing they came overdressed
for the occasion.
Goya painted what he saw despite the trappings
of monarchy.
Let the good times roll. Renoir and his Impressionist
friends just loved their bourgeoise lifestyle.
Of course, these artists were angry government art
salons refused their work, cutting them off from a
lucrative market of rich art collectors.
France's Seal of Approval made all the difference
in what you put on the dinner table at night.
He signed his name Vincent because everyone mangled
the name van Gogh. The last couple of years in his life
is where he appeared to put it all together. Finally, he
was able to express in paint most all that he wanted -
direct, vivid meaning. He burned holes in the canvas
crowding strokes of complementary colors next to one
another.
The Classicists of Ingres' time thought the works of
the ancient Greeks to be the epitome of beauty itself.
Any deviation from the Classic ideals would come from
artist's pushing their personal preferences into a realm
where individual expression only corrupts what has been
determined to be artistic perfection.
You don't hug Picasso women.
They have all the warmth of a spilled spreadsheet.
These were complicated women Picasso captured
in cubes, curves and wedges. His studio offered
no wind to blow their hair or a warm sun to
bronze their complexion.
They became like a still life with fruit,
in need of psychological counseling.
Art is personal.
It always involves psychology.
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OVER EASY
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