Reading paintings in painting. Susan Woodford's Ways of Perceiving Pictures: How to Understand Painting. "Night Watch" or "Day Watch"

Some believe that 90% of people do not understand anything about painting, because they are not able to distinguish good picture from the bad one. The latter say that everyone understands art, while still others radically note that there is no need to “understand” it at all, because the paintings are intended only to give us pleasure.

the site offers an alternative point of view - understanding art can and even should be learned! 6 simple tips will help you with this.

1. Learn more about painting

The first thing to do is to gain some understanding of painting different eras. After all, no matter how much we want it, with a wave magic wand we can hardly distinguish Raphael from Rubens, or Titian from Rembrandt. For this purpose, a theoretical basis is needed. Therefore, it is worth reading about directions in fine arts, great masters and outstanding works of every era.

Similar information today can be found both in numerous books about art and on the Internet. Any manuals will do - detailed or amazingly brief, for example, biographical reference books about masters of painting. Choose literature depending on how much time you can spend studying art history, as well as how deeply you want to dive into the issue.

10.06.2015

How to learn to understand pictures?

Sometimes you can hear: “I don’t understand this picture!” What is it like to understand pictures? Why do some see the painting as a masterpiece, while others see it as an incomprehensible daub, unworthy even of a kindergartener? Maybe the former know something unknown to the latter? Or are those who believe that art does not need to be understood, but rather felt, right? Who is right is an open question, but you can improve your understanding of painting. This is exactly what is discussed below.

Learn more about painting.

A theoretical basis is necessary in any business, and painting is no exception. Without preparation, no one will be able to distinguish Rubens from Rembrandt or Titian from Raphael. Pay attention to styles and trends in fine art, to the biographies of artists (this sometimes helps to understand the master), to the analysis of outstanding paintings. Until the 20th century, everything was quite simple: antiquity, Renaissance, Baroque, classicism and romanticism, then realism and impressionism. This is where the clear ordering ends and various “-isms” of styles appear one after another, one from the other, so that not every specialist can understand it. By the way, all the necessary information to obtain the “scenic minimum” is presented on our website.

Learn to see painting.

As you know, “theory without practice is dead,” so it’s worth stocking up on art gallery catalogs or albums with reproductions of various artists. When opening a random painting, you need to try to independently determine its style, genre, movement, era, and, if possible, the artist. This exercise can be done every day, but you should not get carried away and make guessing an end in itself.

Train your sense of beauty.

The next stage is to move on to real canvases. Every city has a museum or Art Gallery. Visit it at least once a month and see with your own eyes “living” works of art, which should already become a little clearer to you.

Try to distinguish good paintings from bad ones.

Of course, the feeling of beauty is a very subjective concept, but throughout the history of mankind, masterpieces have been created whose beauty no one doubts. It is comparison with these standards that can help you. True, one should not approach such a comparison mechanically. Pay attention to three elements: line, color and volume. What dominates the picture? What attracts more attention? Answering these questions will help you understand the picture more deeply. Creates big problems for understanding abstract paintings. The beauty of such creations very often causes a lot of controversy. The difficulty in perceiving abstraction lies, first of all, in the lack of a clear plot. But such paintings encourage the viewer to turn off logic and look inside themselves. As was already said at the beginning, painting does not need to be understood, it needs to be felt, because any painting is, first of all, emotions.

Firstly, when you look at a painting by a great master - say, Bruegel or Rembrandt, Petrov-Vodkin or Velazquez - you must proceed from the assumption that the master was no stupider than you. And quite possibly smarter.

For example, when you speak, you try to speak without mistakes, put words in the correct case and verbs in the appropriate tense - even if we're talking about about a trifle.
Imagine being very smart and talented person he handles the details and fragments of the whole plan with equal care.

If Bruegel has a figure drawn somewhere, this is not accidental. Think about why it is drawn there. If Rembrandt has the face of one character in the light and the other in shadow, then this was done on purpose. Think about why he did this.

Composition, color, perspective, number of characters, angle - the artist considers all this at least as carefully as you would your order in a restaurant. You don't take fish instead of meat, do you? So why do you think that Velazquez accidentally made the dwarf so big? He did it deliberately - well, try, concentrate? Why in Velazquez's painting "The Spinner" - elite depicted on a tapestry woven by female workers. Velasquez was not drunk when he wrote this. He was extremely man of sense. With a high degree of probability - smarter than you and me.

Recently I received a critical letter from a reader, the reader expressed doubts about my interpretation of Petrov-Vodkin’s paintings. I .

And so the reader rejected my interpretation. According to the reader, everything is simpler, I made it up. In fact (the reader says) the painting “Alarm” is called “Alarm 1919”, which means it is about the events of the Civil War. And in the painting Housewarming there is no such detail as an icon torn out of the frame (I am writing about this detail) - and therefore, this just a household sketch. And in the film, the death of the commissioner depicts an episode of the Civil War. That's all - no need to make it up.

Generally speaking, everyone has the right to look at a picture as they please - freedom in democratic regime allows you to look even upside down.

However, if you set out to look at what the artist has drawn, then you need to make an effort. At least minimal.

And the first assumption is to admit that the artist is an intelligent person.

1) Petrov-Vodkin was not just an intelligent and attentive artist - he was a symbolist. A symbolist is one who turns an everyday scene into a symbol. How they do it on an icon. Petrov-Vodkin traveled around Italy for a long time, he followed the principles of Italian icon painting, the traditions of the Trecento, this can be seen from his early works. For Petrov-Vodkin, easel painting is a return to the iconographic system.
For him, there are no accidents in principle. Known to many people (and to my readers too) popular painting"Bathing the Red Horse" Everyone understands that this is a symbol. Please also understand that all subsequent paintings by this artist are symbolic.

Say this to yourself and keep this point of reasoning in your memory. He is a symbolist, his paintings are symbols.

2) Petrov-Vodkin was a painfully caring person and an artist who reacted instantly. During the First World War, he painted the painting “On the Line of Fire” (1916), in which he depicted an attack by Russian infantry; during the Petrograd events of 1918, he painted the Petrograd Madonna (finished in the 20th); during the Tashkent earthquake, he painted the Tashkent earthquake. And so on, I can continue the list. But an attentive viewer can continue the list himself. The pictures and chronology are known.

Now ask yourself: why would an artist who is so chronologically accurate paint a scene of anxious waiting at the window in 1934 - and call this painting “Anxiety 1919”. Why depict in 1934 what happened fifteen years ago? What special meaning does this have? And why indicate the date in the picture - so scrupulously? Is the date important for a symbolist? This is a symbol of anxiety and trouble that awaits. But in order for such a picture to exist, a date is assigned to it, explaining the origin of the anxiety. It's not hard to understand. Here, a family is looking in horror for something through the night window: well, what can they be looking for? In the foreground is a crumpled newspaper and the inscription "Enemy". What kind of enemy is meant in 1934 - and who and what do they look out for at night in a dark window, if not a crater? It’s so simple that almost all art critics have already thought of it.

“The Death of a Commissar” was written in 1927, when no military action was taking place, except perhaps on Far East, and not literally. Civil War passed - and, mind you, during the war Petrov-Vodkin reacted instantly.

Why, seven years after the end of the war, is he painting a large canvas - and such a canvas?

To say that he, an attentive and great man, was not shocked by the death of Lenin and the change in the country is unrealistic. She shocked him just like his great contemporaries - Mayakovsky, Filonov - and, like them, Petrov-Vodkin responded with this picture.

The painting “Housewarming Party” was painted in 1937, during the period of widespread arrests and new owners moving into vacated apartments. Do you think Petrov-Vodkin, the author of hundreds of significant canvases with universal themes, suddenly decided to move away from symbolism, to master the everyday scene without any intention? Well, really, pay attention to the genius.

3) Exists figurative language paintings. Respect the language. It is no accident that the artist did this (as happens with many others). It's drawn this way on purpose. The artist tried. He drew it that way on purpose. I could have done it differently, but I drew it like this.

Petrov-Vodkin, unlike many charlatans and avant-garde hacks, was an artist of the Renaissance scale. He created the world. He came up with, no less than, his own spherical perspective - that is, not backward, and not forward, but as if looking at the earth from above, a perspective that embraced the entire roundness of the ball. (The late Bruegel has something similar.) This perspective transferred the event to a universal scale - the incident turned into an event of world, planetary significance. And the artist called this case of death on the road a planetary event. So let's think together, what kind of death midway, what kind of commissar could he consider an event on a planetary scale? Here the commissar is dying - so look at the sketches of his face, at the agony of death, ask yourself the question: why did the artist draw the dying leader of the detachment in 1927? Well, why? Look at the first sketches of the painting - where the commissar is still front-on: this is an absolutely accurate portrait of Lenin, in detail. And why did the master paint orphaned, leaving soldiers, losing their balance, losing their footing and falling over the horizon?

Do you really think that the soldiers tilted and seemed to fall - by accident? Do you think Petrov-Vodkin could not draw differently? Really, he knew how to draw - as he wanted. Pay close attention to what the artist has drawn.

It is no coincidence that he painted the new owner of the apartment (in the film “Housewarming Party”) similar to Stalin and Lenin. There is a portrait of Lenin painted by Petrov-Vodkin in 1934, and the owner is practically a copy of this portrait, even the pose is the same, even the face is similar. New part- a hand with a pipe - drawn in sketches and sketches, the artist crossed two leaders. I have almost no doubt that Kuzma Ivanovich himself said to himself the word “Boss,” which was already in use then. This picture is as symbolic as his other things - it is the result of the revolution. This is the story of what happened after the death of the commissioner and after the worried family was arrested. Petrov-Vodkin is a master of detail: look at the orphaned frame with a lamp - the icon has been torn out (it’s above the old man’s head in the right corner), look at the portraits of the previous residents of the apartment - they hang on the walls, look at the broken glass - in the very center of the composition. And - please - proceed from the fact that the artist is no more stupid than you, he says what he wants to say, you just listen carefully.

The volume of articles here, and the time I feel sorry for, do not allow me to write about color symbolism. It is very important - try it yourself. Don't forget about the first three points, repeat them to yourself.

I will limit myself to saying once again: do not consider yourself smarter than a great artist, do not think that you know art. Most likely, this is not the case at all - but just try to look very carefully and learn to understand. We are all a little corrupted by the empty creativity of our time: so many ignorant people exclaimed “I see it that way” that the idea is discredited. But such sloppiness was not always the case. Petrov-Vodkin really depicted history Soviet power- read this story carefully.

Neither Leonardo, nor Bruegel, nor Michelangelo, nor Botticelli, nor Petrov-Vodkin worked by chance. Their paintings must be viewed respectfully and carefully - otherwise these paintings will simply turn away from you, and the only loser will be you.

The paintings will do just fine without you, they will just wait for an intelligent viewer.

Respect the culture please.

In almost every significant work art is a mystery, a “double bottom” or secret history, which I want to reveal.

Music on the buttocks

Hieronymus Bosch, "The Garden" earthly pleasures", 1500-1510.

Fragment of part of a triptych

Disputes about meanings and hidden meanings most famous work Dutch artist have not subsided since its appearance. The right wing of the triptych called “Musical Hell” depicts sinners who are tortured in the underworld with the help of musical instruments. One of them has music notes stamped on his buttocks. Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick, who studied the painting, translated the 16th-century notation into a modern twist and recorded “a 500-year-old butt song from hell.”

Nude Mona Lisa

The famous "La Gioconda" exists in two versions: the nude version is called "Monna Vanna", it was written by little-known artist Salai, who was a student and model of the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many art historians are sure that it was he who was the model for Leonardo’s paintings “John the Baptist” and “Bacchus”. There are also versions that Salai, dressed in a woman’s dress, served as the image of the Mona Lisa herself.

Old Fisherman

In 1902 Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari painted the painting “ Old Fisherman" It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar put into it a subtext that was never revealed during the artist’s lifetime.

Few people thought of placing a mirror in the middle of the picture. In each person there can be both God (the Old Man's right shoulder is duplicated) and the Devil (the Old Man's left shoulder is duplicated).

Was there a whale?

Hendrik van Antonissen, Shore Scene.

It would seem like an ordinary landscape. Boats, people on the shore and a deserted sea. And only an X-ray study showed that people gathered on the shore for a reason - in the original they were looking at the carcass of a whale washed ashore.

However, the artist decided that no one would want to look at a dead whale, and rewrote the painting.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

Edouard Manet, "Luncheon on the Grass", 1863.

Claude Monet, "Luncheon on the Grass", 1865.

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Monet even borrowed the title of one of Manet’s most famous paintings, “Luncheon on the Grass,” and wrote his own “Luncheon on the Grass.”

Doubles at the Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci, "The Last Supper", 1495-1498.

When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he attached particular importance to two figures: Christ and Judas. He spent a very long time looking for models for them. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among the young singers. Leonardo was unable to find a model for Judas for three years. But one day he came across a drunkard on the street who was lying in a gutter. He was a young man who had been aged by heavy drinking. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to paint Judas from him. When the drunkard came to his senses, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was several years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo painted Christ from him.

"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?

Rembrandt, "Night Watch", 1642.

One of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, “The Performance of the Rifle Company of Captain Frans Banning Cock and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburg,” hung in different rooms for about two hundred years and was discovered by art historians only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to appear against a dark background, it was called “Night Watch,” and under this name it entered the treasury of world art.

And only during the restoration carried out in 1947, it was discovered that in the hall the painting had managed to become covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene represented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from Captain Kok's left hand shows that the duration of action is no more than 14 hours.

overturned boat

Henri Matisse, "The Boat", 1937.

At the New York Museum contemporary art in 1961, Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason; the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water.
In order not to make a mistake in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting's sail should be toward the top right corner.

Deception in self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh, "Self-Portrait with a Pipe", 1889.

There are legends that Van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is that van Gogh damaged his ear in a small brawl involving another artist, Paul Gauguin.

The self-portrait is interesting because it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with his right ear bandaged because he used a mirror when working. In fact, it was the left ear that was affected.

Alien bears

Ivan Shishkin, "Morning in Pine forest", 1889.

The famous painting belongs not only to Shishkin. Many artists who were friends with each other often resorted to “the help of a friend,” and Ivan Ivanovich, who painted landscapes all his life, was afraid that his touching bears would not turn out the way he wanted. Therefore, Shishkin turned to his friend, the animal artist Konstantin Savitsky.

Savitsky drew perhaps the best bears in history Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered his name to be washed off the canvas, since everything in the painting “from the concept to the execution, everything speaks about the manner of painting, about creative method, characteristic of Shishkin."

The innocent story of "Gothic"

Grant Wood, " American Gothic", 1930.

Grant Wood's work is considered one of the strangest and most depressing in history. American painting. The picture with the gloomy father and daughter is filled with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrograde nature of the people depicted.
In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in gothic style and decided to portray those people who, in his opinion, would be ideal as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized as the characters Iowans were so offended by.

Salvador Dali's Revenge

The painting "Figure at a Window" was painted in 1925, when Dali was 21 years old. At that time, Gala had not yet entered the artist’s life, and his muse was his sister Ana Maria. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote in one of the paintings “sometimes I spit on the portrait of my own mother, and this gives me pleasure.” Ana Maria could not forgive such shocking behavior.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali Through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting “A Young Virgin Indulging in the Sin of Sodomy with the Help of the Horns of Her Own Chastity” appeared. The woman’s pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the painting clearly echo “Figure at the Window.” There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.

Two-faced Danae

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, "Danae", 1636 - 1647.

Many secrets of one of Rembrandt's most famous paintings were revealed only in the 60s of the twentieth century, when the canvas was illuminated with X-rays. For example, filming showed that in an early version the face of the princess who entered into love affair with Zeus, it was similar to the face of Saskia, the painter’s wife, who died in 1642. In the final version of the painting, it began to resemble the face of Gertje Dirks, Rembrandt’s mistress, with whom the artist lived after the death of his wife.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent van Gogh, "Bedroom in Arles", 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small studio in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent sets up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint “Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles.” For the artist, the color and comfort of the room were very important: everything had to evoke thoughts of relaxation. At the same time, the picture is designed in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: all surrounding reality It is painted in green-yellow tones.

Toothless perfection

Leonardo da Vinci, "Portrait of Lady Lisa del Giocondo", 1503 - 1519.

The generally accepted opinion is that the Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by her facial expression, the heroine has lost many teeth. While studying enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also discovered scars around her mouth. “She “smiles” like that precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert believes. “Her facial expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth.”

Major on face control

Pavel Fedotov, "Major's Matchmaking", 1848.

The public, who first saw the painting “Major's Matchmaking,” laughed heartily: the artist Fedotov filled it with ironic details that were understandable to the audience of that time. For example, the major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette: he showed up without the required bouquets for the bride and her mother. And the bride herself was discharged by her merchant parents in the evening ball gown, although it is daytime (all the lamps in the room are extinguished). The girl obviously tried on a low-cut dress for the first time, is embarrassed and tries to run away to her room.

Why is Liberty naked?

Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, "Freedom on the Barricades", 1830.

According to art critic Etienne Julie, Delacroix based the woman's face on the famous Parisian revolutionary - the laundress Anne-Charlotte, who went to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guardsmen. The artist depicted her with her breasts bare. According to his plan, this is a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy: the naked breast shows that Liberty, as a commoner, does not wear a corset.

Non-square square

Kazimir Malevich, "Black Suprematist Square", 1915.

In fact, “Black Square” is not black at all and not square at all: none of the sides of the quadrangle are parallel to any of its other sides, and to none of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing different colors, among which there was no black one. It is believed that this was not the author’s negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.

Specialists Tretyakov Gallery discovered the author's inscription on famous painting Malevich. The inscription reads: “The battle of the blacks in the dark cave.” This phrase refers to the title of the humorous painting by the French journalist, writer and artist Alphonse Allais, “The Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave.” late at night", which was a completely black rectangle.

Melodrama of the Austrian Mona Lisa

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

One of Klimt's most significant paintings depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All of Vienna was discussing whirlwind romance Adele and famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose very unusual way: he decided to order a portrait of Adele from Klimt and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist began to vomit from her.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, so that the sitter could see how Klimt's feelings were fading. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of the deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long since cooled off to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never knew that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

The painting that brought Gauguin back to life

Paul Gauguin, "Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?", 1897-1898.

The most famous painting Gauguin has one peculiarity: it is “read” not from left to right, but from right to left, like the Kabbalistic texts in which the artist was interested. It is in this order that the allegory of human spiritual and physical life unfolds: from the birth of the soul (a sleeping child in the lower right corner) to the inevitability of the hour of death (a bird with a lizard in its claws in the lower left corner).

The painting was painted by Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist escaped from civilization several times. But this time life on the island did not work out: total poverty led him to depression. Having finished the canvas, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to die. However, he did not calculate the dose, and the suicide failed. The next morning, he swayed to his hut and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he felt a forgotten thirst for life. And in 1898, his business began to improve, and a brighter period began in his work.

112 proverbs in one picture

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, "Dutch Proverbs", 1559

Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicted a land inhabited by literal images of Dutch proverbs of those days. The painting contains approximately 112 recognizable idioms. Some of them are still used today, for example, such as: “swim against the current”, “banging your head against the wall”, “armed to the teeth” and “big fish eat little fish”.

Other proverbs reflect human stupidity.

Subjectivity of art

Paul Gauguin, "Breton Village in the Snow", 1894

Gauguin's painting "Breton Village in the Snow" was sold after the author's death for only seven francs and, moreover, under the name "Niagara Falls." The man holding the auction accidentally hung the painting upside down because he saw a waterfall in it.

Hidden picture

Pablo Picasso, "Blue Room", 1901

In 2008 infrared radiation revealed that hidden beneath the Blue Room was another image - a portrait of a man dressed in a suit with a bow tie and resting his head on his hand. “As soon as Picasso had new idea, he took up the brush and embodied it. But he didn’t have the opportunity to buy a new canvas every time a muse visited him,” explains possible reason this art critic Patricia Favero.

Unavailable Moroccans

Zinaida Serebryakova, “Naked”, 1928

One day Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go to creative journey to depict nude figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. Zinaida's translator came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and fiancee to her. No one before or since has been able to capture closed oriental women naked.

Spontaneous insight

Valentin Serov, “Portrait of Nicholas II in a jacket,” 1900

For a long time, Serov could not paint a portrait of the Tsar. When the artist completely gave up, he apologized to Nikolai. Nikolai was a little upset, sat down at the table, stretching out his hands in front of him... And then it dawned on the artist - here is the image! A simple military man in an officer's jacket with clear and sad eyes. This portrait is considered best image the last emperor.

Another deuce

© Fedor Reshetnikov

The famous painting “Deuce Again” is only the second part of an artistic trilogy.

The first part is “Arrived on vacation.” Obviously a wealthy family, winter holidays, a joyful excellent student.

The second part is “A deuce again.” A poor family from the working-class outskirts, the height of school year, the dejected stunner, who again grabbed the deuce. In the left top corner the painting “Arrived for Vacation” is visible.

The third part is “Re-examination”. A rural house, summer, everyone is walking, one malicious ignoramus, who failed the annual exam, is forced to sit within four walls and cram. In the upper left corner you can see the painting “Deuce Again.”

How masterpieces are born

Joseph Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844

In 1842, Mrs. Simon traveled by train in England. Suddenly a heavy downpour began. The elderly gentleman sitting opposite her stood up, opened the window, stuck his head out and stared for about ten minutes. Unable to contain her curiosity, the woman also opened the window and began to look ahead. A year later, she discovered the painting “Rain, Steam and Speed” at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and was able to recognize in it the same episode on the train.

Anatomy lesson from Michelangelo

Michelangelo, "The Creation of Adam", 1511

A pair of American neuroanatomy experts believe that Michelangelo actually left some anatomical illustrations in one of his most famous works. They believe that the right side of the painting depicts a huge brain. Surprisingly, even complex components can be found, such as the cerebellum, optic nerves and pituitary gland. And the eye-catching green ribbon perfectly matches the location of the vertebral artery.

"The Last Supper" by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, " Night terrace cafe", 1888

Researcher Jared Baxter believes that Van Gogh’s painting “Cafe Terrace at Night” contains an encrypted dedication to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper.” In the center of the picture stands a waiter with long hair and in a white tunic reminiscent of the clothes of Christ, and around him there are exactly 12 cafe visitors. Baxter also draws attention to the cross located directly behind the waiter in white.

Dali's image of memory

Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory", 1931

It is no secret that the thoughts that visited Dali during the creation of his masterpieces were always in the form of very realistic images, which the artist then transferred to canvas. Thus, according to the author himself, the painting “The Persistence of Memory” was painted as a result of associations that arose from the sight of processed cheese.

What is Munch screaming about?

Edvard Munch, "The Scream", 1893.

Munch talked about how he came up with the idea of ​​one of the most mysterious paintings in world painting: “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 against the fence - I looked at the blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends moved on, and I stood, trembling with excitement, feeling an endless cry piercing nature." But what kind of sunset could frighten the artist so much?

There is a version that the idea of ​​​​"The Scream" was born to Munch in 1883, when several powerful eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano occurred - so powerful that they changed the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere by one degree. Copious amounts of dust and ash spread throughout to the globe, even reaching Norway. For several evenings in a row, the sunsets looked as if the apocalypse was about to come - one of them became a source of inspiration for the artist.

A writer among the people

Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ to the People", 1837-1857.

Dozens of sitters posed for Alexander Ivanov for his main picture. One of them is known no less than the artist himself. In the background, among travelers and Roman horsemen who have not yet heard the sermon of John the Baptist, you can see a character in a robe tunic. Ivanov wrote it from Nikolai Gogol. The writer communicated closely with the artist in Italy, in particular on religious issues, and gave him advice during the painting process. Gogol believed that Ivanov “has long since died for the whole world, except for his work.”

Michelangelo's Gout

Rafael Santi, " Athens school", 1511.

Creating famous fresco"The School of Athens", Raphael immortalized his friends and acquaintances in the images of ancient Greek philosophers. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarotti “in the role” of Heraclitus. For several centuries, the fresco kept the secrets of Michelangelo's personal life, and modern researchers have suggested that the artist's strangely angular knee indicates that he had a joint disease.

This is quite likely, given the peculiarities of the lifestyle and working conditions of Renaissance artists and Michelangelo’s chronic workaholism.

Mirror of the Arnolfini couple

Jan van Eyck, "Portrait of the Arnolfini couple", 1434

In the mirror behind the Arnolfini couple you can see the reflection of two more people in the room. Most likely, these are witnesses present at the conclusion of the contract. One of them is van Eyck, as evidenced by the Latin inscription placed, contrary to tradition, above the mirror in the center of the composition: “Jan van Eyck was here.” This is how contracts were usually sealed.

How a disadvantage turned into a talent

Rembrandt Harmens van Rijn, Self-Portrait at the Age of 63, 1669.

Researcher Margaret Livingston studied all of Rembrandt's self-portraits and discovered that the artist suffered from strabismus: in the images, his eyes look straight ahead. different sides, which is not observed in the portraits of other people by the master. The illness resulted in the artist being able to perceive reality in two dimensions better than people with normal vision. This phenomenon is called "stereo blindness" - the inability to see the world in 3D. But since the painter has to work with a two-dimensional image, this very flaw of Rembrandt could be one of the explanations for his phenomenal talent.

Sinless Venus

Sandro Botticelli, "Birth of Venus", 1482-1486.

Before the appearance of the "Birth of Venus" the image of a naked female body in painting it symbolized only the idea of ​​original sin. Sandro Botticelli was the first of the European painters to find nothing sinful in him. Moreover, art historians are sure that the pagan goddess of love symbolizes on the fresco Christian image: her appearance is an allegory of the rebirth of a soul that has undergone the rite of baptism.

Lute player or lute player?

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, "The Lute Player", 1596.

For a long time the painting was exhibited in the Hermitage under the title “The Lute Player”. Only at the beginning of the 20th century did art historians agree that the painting depicts a young man (probably Caravaggio’s acquaintance, the artist Mario Minniti, posed for him): on the notes in front of the musician one can see a recording of the bass line of Jacob Arkadelt’s madrigal “You know that I love you” . A woman could hardly make such a choice - it’s just hard on the throat. In addition, the lute, like the violin at the very edge of the picture, was considered a male instrument in Caravaggio’s era.