Beautiful Paintings

I always loved going to an art museum. I love the hushed atmosphere, the knots of people murmuring (or not) and the guards in the doorways - and presiding over it all is the art - some beautiful, some ugly, some beautifully ugly. 

Here are some of my favorite pieces:

Paul Klee, Twittering Machine

I love Klee's work, especially the subtle colors and concept of this one.

Walter Sickert, an English artist, produced darker impressionist pieces. Interestingly, this one has two titles, How Shall We Do For the Rent? and The Camden Town Murder:

The light over their bodies is amazing.

Brueghel is so earthly, so fleshy - his subjects have fat calves and homely occupations. His painting of the fall of Icarus is satisfying because the actual event occurs in a back corner of the canvas, while farming and life goes on. Only a slight splash shows what just happened.

I'm not a huge Andrew Wyeth fan, but I do love Christina's World - his portrait of the woman who had to pull herself along on the ground to get from place to place.

*****

To my mind, there is no better program to introduce or deepen one's understanding than the Sister Wendy series. Sister Wendy herself, with her huge buck teeth and her lovely voice, sees into paintings beyond the paint and canvas, finding hidden layers of meaning that always take me by surprise; plus, it's always funny to hear a nun talk about bottoms and breasts, which Sister Wendy does without any embarrassment whatsoever. 

Look at how cool she is:

I love her.

And you can find her book on 1000 Masterpieces at any library, or on Amazon. I highly recommend that, as well as her television series.