Merry Christmas...and Happy New Year...

Colour your heart
with Chirstmas lights
draw a smile
and get rid of your sadness. . .

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Mary said to me that she loved this picture and she had it in her bedroom.

So I'm sending you some information about the author and the painting...

Why is he screaming?

Things that make us want to sream.(please, send your opinion)

Short biography:

He was born on December 12, 1863 in Loton, Norway. He was the son of an Army Medical Corps doctor, Christian Munch. His mother had the name of Laura Catherine. Edvard was the second of five children.

In 1864, their family moved to the city of Oslo. This is where he originated his art training.

In the early 1800's, Edvard Munch became influenced by two older comrades, Christian Krohg and Frits Thaulow. They were into the Norwegian art scene, and had painting based on French naturalism.

In May of 1885, a scholarship from Frits Thaulow, had Edvard Munch travel to Paris. Edvard Munch stayed there for three weeks, and then he spent the summer at Borre and returned to Oslo to begin three of his major works. That is the time when his work began to be widely known.

Sources of inspiration

Munch wrote, concerning the image:

"I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

A new:

In 2003, astronomers claimed to have identified the time that the painting depicted. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 caused unusually intense sunsets throughout Europe in the winter of 1883-4, which Munch captured in his picture.

A mummy:

In 1978, the renowned Munch scholar Robert Rosenblum suggested that the strange, sexless creature in the foreground of the painting was probably inspired by a Peruvian mummy which Munch could have seen at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This mummy, which was crouching in fetal position with its hands alongside its face, also struck the imagination of Munch's friend Paul Gauguin: it stood model for the central figure in his painting Human misery (Grape harvest at Arles) and for the old woman at the left in his painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?. More recently, an Italian anthropologist speculated that Munch might have seen a mummy in Florence's Museum of Natural History which bears an even more striking resemblance to the painting.

A curiosity:

On August 22, 2004 this version, executed in tempera on cardboard, was stolen from the Munch Museum, Oslo, at gunpoint.
Thieves taking paintings from the Munch Museum, August 2004On 12 February 1994 the National Gallery's Scream was stolen. Initially the theft was linked to various anti-abortion groups active in Norway, but this turned out to be false. After three months, the painting was offered back to the Norwegian government for a ransom of USD $1 million. The ransom was refused, but the painting was nevertheless recovered on 7 May, following a sting operation organised by the Norwegian police with assistance from the British Police and the Getty Museum.

Getting to Know Famous Paintings

Here we have some famous paintings. Look at them carefully and choose one. Afterwards, I¨ll send you the name of the painters and the title.

Information about painters and their work 6

If you have chosen this picture, it's by Vincent Van Gogh and it's titled "Starry night".

Vincent van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890) is generally considered the greatest Dutch painter after Rembrandt, though he had little success during his lifetime. Van Gogh produced all of his work (some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings) during a period of only 10 years before he succumbed to mental illness. His fame grew rapidly after his death especially following a showing of 71 of van Gogh's paintings in Paris on March 17, 1901 (11 years after his death).


Van Gogh's influence on expressionism, fauvism and early abstraction was enormous, and can be seen in many other aspects of 20th-century art. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is dedicated to Van Gogh's work and that of his contemporaries.

Several paintings by Van Gogh rank among the most expensive paintings in the world. On March 30, 1987 Van Gogh's painting Irises was sold for a record $53.9 million at Southeby's, New York. On May 15, 1990 his Portrait of Doctor Gachet was sold for $82.5 million at Christie's, thus establishing a new price record (see also List of most expensive paintings).

Information about painters and their work 5

If you have chosen this picture, it's by Pablo Picasso and it's titled "The Dream".

No other artist is more associated with the termModern Art than Pablo Picasso. He created thousands of paintings, prints, sculptures and ceramics during a time span of about 75 years. For many Picasso is the greatest art genius of the twentieth century. For others he is a gifted charlatan. Undisputed is the fact that he influenced and dominated the art of the twentieth century like no other modern artist.

Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain, as the son of an art and drawing teacher. He was a brilliant student. He passed the entrance examination for the Barcelona School of Fine Arts at the age of 14 in just one day and was allowed to skip the first two classes. According to one of many legends about the artist's life, his father, recognizing the extraordinary talent of his son, gave him his brushes and palette and vowed to paint never again in his life.

During his lifetime, the artist went through different periods of characteristic painting styles. The Blue Period of Picasso lasted from about 1900 to 1904. It is characterized by the use of different shades of blue underlining the melancholic style of his subjects - people from the grim side of life with thin, half-starved bodies. His painting style during these years is masterly and convinces even those who reject his later modern style.

During Picasso's Rose Period from about 1905 to 1906, his style moved away from the Blue Period to a friendly pink tone with subjects taken from the world of the circus.

Cubism

After several travels to Paris, the artist moved permanently to the "capital of arts" in 1904. There he met all the other famous artists like Henri Matisse, Joan Miro and George Braques. He became a great admirer of Henri Matisse and developed a life-long friendship with the master of French Fauvism.

Inspired by the works of Paul Cezanne, he developed together with George Braque and Juan Gris developed the Cubist style. In Cubism, subjects are reduced to basic geometrical shapes. In a later version of Cubism, called synthetic cubism, several views of an object or a person are shown simultaneously from a different perspective in one picture.

In 1937 the artist created his landmark painting Guernica, a protest against the barbaric air raid against a Basque village during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso's Guernica is a huge mural on canvas in black, white and grey which was created for the Spanish Pavilion of the Paris World's Fair in 1937. InGuernica, Picasso used symbolic forms - that are repeatedly found in his works following Guernica - like a dying horse or a weeping woman.

Guernica was exhibited at the museum of Modern Art in New York until 1981. It was transferred to the Prado Museum in Madrid/Spain in 1981 and was later moved to the Queen Sofia Center of Art, Madrid in 1992.

"Guernica" by Pablo Picasso (1937)

Information about painters and their work 4

If you have chosen this picture, it's by Marc Chagall and it's titled "The kiss"

Marc Chagall was born in 1887 to a poor Jewish family in Russia. He was the eldest of nine children. Chagall began to display his artistic talent while studying at a secular Russian school, and despite his father’s disapproval, in 1907 he began studying art with Leon Bakst in St. Petersburg. It was at this time that his distinct style that we recognize today began to emerge. As his paintings began to center on images from his childhood, the focus that would guide his artistic motivation for the rest of his life came to fruition.

In 1910, Chagall, moved to Paris for four years. It was during this period that he painted some of his most famous paintings of the Jewish village, and developed the features that became recognizable trademarks of his art. Strong and bright colors began to portray the world in a dreamlike state. Fantasy, nostalgia, and religion began to fuse together to create otherworldly images.

In 1914, before the outbreak of World War I, Chagall held a one-man show in Berlin, exhibiting work dominated by Jewish images. During the war, he resided in Russia, and in 1917, endorsing the revolution, he was appointed Commissar for Fine Arts in Vitebsk and then director of the newly established Free Academy of Art. In 1922, Chagall left Russia, settling in France one year later. He lived there permanently except for the years 1941 - 1948 when, fleeing France during World War II, he resided in the United States. Chagall's horror over the Nazi rise to power is expressed in works depicting Jewish martyrs and refugees.

In addition to images of the Jewish world, Chagall's paintings are inspired by themes from the Bible. His fascination with the Bible culminated in a series of over 100 etchings illustrating the Bible, many of which incorporate elements from folklore and from religious life in Russia.

Israel, which Chagall first visited in 1931 for the opening of the Tel Aviv Art Museum, is likewise endowed with some of Chagall's work, most notably the twelve stained glass windows at Hadassah Hospital and wall decorations at the Knesset.

Chagall received many prizes and much recognition for his work. He was also one of very few artists to exhibit work at the Louvre in their lifetime.

Information about painters and their work 3

If you have chosen this picture, it's by Paul Cezanne and it's titled "Pommes et biscuit"

Visionary ahead of his time, Cezanne's innovative style, use of perspective, composition and color profoundly influenced 20th century art. Picasso developed Cezanne's planar compositions into cubism, and Matisse greatly admired his use of color. He used color with passion and creativity, giving his brush strokes structure, solidity, durability. Pablo Picasso said the following of the artist "My one and only master . . . Cezanne was like the father of us all". Cezanne is therefore often described as the "father of modern art". Unfortunately, Cezanne was the ultimate outsider and misunderstood during most of his life. Success came little and late, although young promising painters came to visit him during his last years.

Information about painters and their work 2

If you have chosen this picture, it's by Claude Monet and it's titled "Poppy field"

Claude Monet(1840-1926), grew up in Le Havre and studied in Paris. During the 1860s he met many of the great artists of the time and began to develop his distinctive style. In 1874 he exhibited a painting called An impression" in Paris and the term Impressionism was coined. In later life he became increasingly fascinated with the changing effects of light and painted series such as "Hay stacks" and "Water-lilies", which inspired the Abstract Expressionists."

Information about painters and their work 1

If you have chosen this picture, it's by PAUL KLEEand it's titled "Visual Music".


This rich quilt of pattern and color is a 1922 painting by the German-Swiss artist Paul Klee, a master of the playful and inventive, an artist who sometimes used materials in unconventional ways. He is best known for compositions that appeal to the eye with a light-hearted use of color and line - one of his most delightful is 'The Twittering Machine' at the NY Museum of Modern Art where a line of birds seem to 'twitter' as the handle of a humorously drawn machine is turned. Klee was a talented violinist, married to a pianist, and like his contemporary Kandinsky, created work that evokes the harmonies of music through color, line, and form. It is a sad comment on the times he lived through that even his work, innocent as it appears, was given the label of 'degenerate' by the Nazis. He taught at the celebrated Bauhaus school in Germany until he was forced into exile. As you would expect, his late work is darker and can contain a deeper sense of the malevolent.

"The twittering machine" by Paul Klee.

Did you know that many common words and expressions come from art terms?

to point at

a point of view
the point of no return

skyline

deadline
to cross the line

meeting point
match point

gunpoint

to be obtuse
to be square
social circle
ice cream cone

to go straight to the point

to be green with envy

yellow journalism
to be blue
to be yellow-bellied
to be caught red-handed
to turn red
a grey area
to be kept in the dark

If you remember some more words or expressions, please, send them to me to add to the blog...

Do you know the shapes of the world?

If you study nature you can find a variety of shapes to use for your artwork.

All of us can learn to draw

The first step of drawing is a dot...
The second step of drawing is a line...

The third step of drawing is a plane...

The fourth step of drawing is a 3D shape...

...and with all these, you will be able to draw everything...