Category: Art
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Tombstone Tuesday: Brandenburg cemetery, Bilthoven
The first time we visited Brandenburg cemetery I told you that the cemetery was a bit dull: Straightforward headstones aligned in neat rows. There were two grave monuments that really stood out, though: The tombstone of the sculptor Gerrit Patist and this statue of a woman. The names on this undated grave are Bep van […]
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Tombstone Tuesday: Gerrit Patist
The inscription reads Hier rust Gerrit Patist beeldend kunstenaar 23 8 1947 – 2005 2 8 (Here rests Gerrit Patist, visual artist, 23 August 1947 – 8 February 2005). On the Dutch wikipedia I read Patist was mostly a sculptor, but the wikipedia entry is very terse (you can read it here). I have been […]
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Goya’s black paintings
Francisco de Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) is one of the greatest Spanish artists of all times. His work includes portraits, history (especially war) scenes, religious subjects, and cartoons. Goya has been the official court portrait painter and painted the portraits of Spanish royalty and nobility, but at the same time painted […]
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Goya’s black paintings: Half-submerged dog
Artist Francisco Goya Title Half-submerged dog Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain This is the most enigmatic of all the black paintings. A dog, half submerged (quicksand? or is the dog just standing behind a rim?), gazing into emptiness, and nothing else. The whole painting emanates emptiness, […]
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Goya’s black paintings: Two women and a man
Artist Francisco Goya Title Two women and a man Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Two women and a man, also known as Two women or Two women laughing, seems to have formed a pair with The reading. Research has shown that in an earlier version of […]
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Goya’s black paintings: The fates
Artist Francisco Goya Title The fates Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain In classical mythology, the fates are three goddesses that control the thread of life. They are the personifications of destiny (or fate). The first, Clotho, spins the thread of life, the second, Lachesis, controls its […]
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Goya’s black paintings: Asmodea
Artist Francisco Goya Title Asmodea Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Asmodea is also known as Asmodeus, Sabbath, or Fantastic vision. It is a strange painting of two people flying through the air. It is unclear who they are, or why they are flying. They have been […]
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Goya’s black paintings: Pilgrimage to St. Isidore’s well
Artist Francisco Goya Title Pilgrimage to St. Isidore’s well Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain Pilgrimage to St. Isidore’s well is also known as The holy office. The holy office is another name for the inquisition, an institution that had been abolished in 1820, and re-instated in […]
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Goya’s black paintings: Heads in a landscape
Artist Francisco Goya Title Heads in a landscape Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Private collection Fourteen of Goya’s black paintings are on display in the Prado Museum. Many descriptions of the black paintings only include these fourteen paintings. They were painted on the walls of two large rooms of Goya’s house. […]
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Goya’s black paintings: The reading
Artist Francisco Goya Title The reading Year 1819-1823 Technique Mural (later converted to canvas) Current location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain The reading, also known as Politicians or Men reading, shows a group of men reading a book, or maybe a newspaper or magazine, that the man in the middle has on his lap. One of […]