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Vincent van Gogh wrote about his painting The Potato Eaters, to his brother Theo
After moving to Nuenen in the Brabant region in 1883, Vincent van Gogh was inspired to create a portrait of the working class. On 30 April 1885, he wrote to his brother Theo:
"You see, I really have wanted to make it so people get the idea that these folk, who are eating their potatoes by the light of their little lamp, have tilled the earth themselves with these hands they are putting in the dish, and so it speaks of manual labor and - that they have thus honestly earned their food. I wanted it to give the idea of a wholly different way of life from ours - civilized people. So I certainly don't want everyone just to admire it or approve of it without knowing why."
The Potato Eaters by Vincent van Gogh glorifies the ordinary worker and his daily hard work
Vincent van Gogh had planned out the painting of The Potato Eaters far in advance and had the inspiration to create a multiple-figure painting in 1883. After completing various sketches and trial paintings of the piece, he created three surviving studies of The Potato Eaters and also printed a lithograph of the work, which he sent to his brother Theo in Paris. Upon completion of The Potato Eaters in 1885, he thought it was his best work to date. But, it was not successful in his lifetime, nor was it displayed at the Salon as he had requested. Today it is considered by many to be Van Gogh's first true masterpiece and can be seen at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
The Man with a Hoe by Jean-François Millet is a symbol of the working class
One of the founders of the Barbizon School, the French painter Jean-François Mile is known for his peasant scenes. First exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1863, the painting The Man with a Hoe caused a storm of controversial interpretations at the time because of its depiction of the brutal life to which peasants were subjected. The man in the picture was considered brutish and frightening by the public and critics and the painting itself was a social protest on behalf of peasants. Millet seemed to foresee the response to his work, when he wrote, "The Man with the Hoe will get me into hot water with many people who don't like to be asked to contemplate a different world." The painting is now housed in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Inspiration for The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet
Gustave Courbet described his inspiration for The Stone Breakers in a November 1849 letter to Francis and Marie Wey:
"I had taken our carriage to go to the Château of Saint-Denis to paint a landscape. Near Maisières I stopped to consider two men breaking stones on the road. One rarely encounters the most complete expression of poverty, so right there on the spot, I got an idea for a painting. I made a date to meet them in my studio the following morning, and since then I have painted my picture."
The Stone Breakers by Gustave Courbet is an expression of poverty
The Stone Breakers by the French painter Gustave Courbet was produced in 1849 and is considered to be one of the famous artworks of the Realism movement. The theme is a scene of everyday life in rural areas. The painting was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1850. Confronted with the unvarnished realism of imagery, critics derided the ugliness of his figures and dismissed them as "peasants in their Sunday best". The painting was destroyed during World War II, along with 154 other pictures, when a transport vehicle moving the pictures to the castle of Königstein, near Dresden, was bombed by Allied forces in February 1945. Similar work can be viewed at Gemaldegalerie, Dresden.
Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix is a symbol of the French Republic
Eugène Delacroix, the greatest French Romantic painter painted the monumental canvas Liberty Leading the People during the July Revolution of 1830. in Paris that removed Charles X, the restored Bourbon king, from the throne after the fall of Napoleon. This painting is seen as a marker to the end of the Age of Enlightenment and the start of the Romantic Era. The work was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1831 under the title Scènes de Barricades. It was quickly bought for three thousand francs by Louis-Philippe and exhibited in the Musée de Luxembourg. Seven years after the death of Eugène Delacroix in 1874, it was given to the Louvre, where it has stayed ever since.
Huan Miro - Pas laje na mesec
Slika Pas laje na mesec iz 1926. godine je jedno od najpoznatijih dela Huana Miroa. Zasnovana je na njegovoj studijskoj skici katalonske narodne priče koja prikazuje psa kako laje na mesec dok mesec gleda dole govoreći: "Znaš, nije me briga". Na njoj je Miro stvorio misteriozno lebdeći svet gde njegov standardni leksikon simbola, ovde merdevina koja simbolizuje ne samo individualnost i bekstvo, već i beskorisnost i izlaz u prazninu smrti, postaje moćan. Danas se ova slika nalazi u Muzeju umetnosti u Filadelfiji.
Džozef Košut - Jedna i tri stolice
Jedan od osnivača konceptualnog umetničkog pokreta u Njujorku 1960-ih godina Džozef Košut poznat je po radovima zasnovanim na post-strukturalističkoj filozofiji i lingvistici, odnosno odnosu jezika i njegovog značenja. U njegove najreprezentativnije radove spada instalacija Jedna i tri stolice iz 1965 godine. Ona je direktno istraživanje umetničke instalacije kao tautološkog sistema, u okviru kojeg elementi predstavljaju isključivo ono što jesu. Danas se ova instalacija nalazi u Muzeju moderne umetnosti u Njujorku.
Vinsent van Gog - Autoportret sa zavijenim uvom
Večito preispitivanje sebe i nedostatak finansijskih sredstava kojima bi platio modele rezultovali su velikim brojem autoportreta Vinsenta van Goga, od kojih je jedan od najpoznatijih Autoportret sa zavijenim uvom. Ovu sliku je naslikao u januaru 1889. godine nakon što je odsekao deo desne ušne školjke tokom manične epizode dok je bio u Arlu, i oporavljao se i razmišljao o svojoj bolesti. Danas se slika nalazi u galeriji Kortald u Londonu.
Edvard Munk - Autoportret u paklu
Tokom svoje umetničke karijere Edvard Munk je načinio više od sedamdeset autoportreta. Od 1902. godine, postojala je i jasna interakcija između slikanja i fotografija, koje se mogu shvatiti kao pripremne skice. Munk je fotografije koristio kao predložak i polaznu tačku za autoportrete. Jedan od najboljih primera je Autoportret u paklu, nastao 1903. godine na osnovu fotografije iz Asgardstranda u Norveškoj nagog Munka ispred tamne pozadine od drveća i grmlja. Ova slika nastala u vreme dok je živeo u Berlinu i radio seriju slika pod nazivom Friz života, danas se nalazi u muzeju Munk u Oslu.
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