Wednesday, June 13, 2018

My 50 Favorite Paintings

I decided to put together a list of paintings that have most influenced me throughout my life. I thought it would be a very easy task but it proved extremely challenging. My top ten to fifteen paintings I knew instantaneously and listed them easily. However, the rest I did not know how to order let alone which ones to choose. I have seen so much art in my life and yet there is infinitely more that I have not yet discovered. Anyhow, here it is, my 50 most favorite paintings.

50. Strong Dream
Paul Klee - 1929
I went back and forth on adding this painting to the list. However, this painting's title is probably why it ultimately made it on the list. Most people have had a "strong" dream that is so impressive it stays with them for life. The individual in this painting seems to be just awakening from such a dream.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-klee/strong-dream-1929
Owner/Location: Private Collection
49. The Circus
Georges Seurat - 1890 - 1891
I saw this painting at the Orsay. It is so bright and jovial. You feel like you are in the audience watching a spectacular circus performance. This painting is part of a three-part series that Seurat did on night life entertainment. (Source: Musee d'Orsay)
Source: http://totallyhistory.com/the-circus/
Owner/Location: Musee d'Orsay (Paris, France)
48. The Can-Can
Georges Seurat - 1889 - 1890
The can-can, a scandalous dance of the 1800's. Seurat's painting is vibrant and full of colorful energy. I love Seurat's color palette and his subject matter. This is one of his three-part series on night life. I wish the three paintings could be together. (Source: Wikipedia)
Source: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/can-can-le-chahut-georges-seurat.html
Owner/Location: Kroller-Muller Museum (Otterlo, Netherlands)


47. Sky Above Clouds III
Georgia O'Keefe - 1963

I know Sky Above Clouds IV is located in the Art Institute of Chicago, but I'm not sure where III is located. O'Keefe painted this series in her seventies after her many views above the clouds on her airplane trips around the world. I don't know how large this painting is but IV is 24 feet wide. I love that her paintings are on such a large scale. The near identical shape, repetitiveness, and never-ending expanse of clouds give this painting an almost surreal feel to it.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/sky-above-clouds-iii
Owner/Location: ?

46. Shackled Shadow
Mira Dancy - 2015
I have relatively recently discovered contemporary artist Mira Dancy. So this painting has not technically stood the test of time for me yet but I have no doubt it will. Her art has very much inspired me and I am thrilled that color, like the fauves use of color, has made it's way back into contemporary painting. She also has a very bold expressionist style with her brush strokes. Her work usually depicts women. I particularly like this painting because she breaks up the canvas with segmented shades and intense color yet the woman herself is within a shadow of her own shadow.
Source: https://cm-sites.icompendium.com/accounts/miradancy.net/buried-images/frieze-london/463
Owner/Location?

45. Shara Hughes
Summer Rain - 2016
Another contemporary artist I have fallen for - Shara Hughes. A lot of her work is very colorful abstract landscapes. As you might already have guessed, I love color and artists influenced by the fauves. This particular painting I enjoy because of it's imaginative take on thunder clouds rolling across the landscape dumping rain. Who would've ever thought to paint washed out bright red and blue polka dots within the trees? To me it looks like the tops of the trees are so heavily saturated with rain that they are about to detach from the trunks and become rain clouds themselves.
Source: https://www.romeryounggallery.com/expochicago-2/
Owner/Location: ?

44. Midsummer Eve
Edward Robert Hughes - 1908
Midsummer Eve and Night With Her Train Of Stars are Hughes' most famous paintings and I can see why. This painting is so gorgeous! A mythical woman glowing from the fairies beneath her. The colors Hughes uses in this painting are otherworldly. I don't remember when I first came across this painting but it has stayed with me all these years.

Source: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/birmingham-museum-pre-raphaelite-exhibition-10256759
Owner/Location: Private Collection

43. The Waltz
Felix Vallotton - 1893
This painting is of couples iceskating but to me it looks like couples so entranced in their dancing that they are floating. The close up of the woman in the bottom right seems to be in ecstasy with her dance partner. The yellow color Vallotton uses in this painting is like a fairy tale and the ice that sprays up from the ground around the dancers looks like magic pixie dust. What a extraordinarily enchanting image. (Source: MuMa)
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/felix-vallotton/the-waltz-1893
Source/Location: Museum of modern art Andre Malraux (Le Havre, France)

42. Compliment
Frantisek Kupka - 1912
I first saw this painting at the Pompidou in Paris. I don't think I knew of Kupka before then. They had several of his paintings but this one I really enjoyed. It appears as if abstract forms are floating across a mysterious plane in slow motion. According to the Pompidou, Kupka was interested in movement in photography popular in the Victorian era called chronophotography.
Source: Pompidou
Owner/Location: Pompidou (Paris, France)


41. Bal Tabarin
Jan Sluyters - 1907
According to the HofmanDujardin, Bal Tabarin had large electric lights and this painting is certainly electric! There is so much energy and excitement contained in this painting that I feel like I'm there on that dance floor with all those people. I'd love to know where this painting is located so I might have the chance to see it in person some day.
Source: https://www.hofmandujardin.nl/bal-tabarin-jan-sluijters/
Owner/Location: ?

40. La primavera che perennemente si rinnova
Galileo Chini - 1914
Chini was a major player in the art nouveau movement. His work even had an influence on Gustav Klimt. I don't know where this particular painting is, but I do know of the palace of the Berzieri Thermal Baths in northern Italy. Inside, the baths are surrounded by Chini's frescoes. It would be amazing to visit that palace and "bathe" in Chini's beautiful art.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/galileo-chini/la-primavera-che-perennemente-si-rinnova-1914
Owner/Location: ?

39. The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli - 1485
I feel very fortunate to have seen this painting in person. I was so taken with everything about this painting. It depicts the birth of Greek Goddess, Venus on her classic scallop shell. The wind God, Zephyr is holding Goddess Aura, a lighter wind, and both are blowing Venus to the shore of Cythera. The Goddess of Spring awaits her with a cloak. I tend to agree with Lightbown's statement - "There is no more radiant picture in European art than this." The colors Botticelli uses for the Mediterranean landscape are perfect and his painting of the Gods is perfection as well, just as Gods should be.

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/sandro-botticelli/the-birth-of-venus-1485
Owner/Location: Uffizi Gallery (Florence, Italy)


38. Saint-Tropez, A Flowering Tree
Henri Manguin - 1905
After making my list I realized there were several paintings made in Saint Tropez. This is my first one on the list. The French Riviera must have gorgeous light and colors. I need to travel there someday for sure. Manguin is considered one of the founding fathers of the Fauves. He spent time with Paul Signac in Saint Tropez. I find the colors in this Manguin to be so vibrant. 
Source: http://bofransson.tumblr.com/post/61411923870/saint-tropez-a-flowering-tree-henri-manguin
Owner/Location: Private Collection
37. Landscape at L'Estaque
Georges Braque - 1906
Another southern France painting. This painting was done during Braque's Fauve period. He eventually went on to work with Picasso to develop Cubism. This landscape is painted with very intense, bright colors. Each object in the painting is something entirely of it's own and separated from the rest simply because of the color. Yet it all seems to work together as the same colors are carried throughout. I love all of Braque's Fauve paintings. 
Source: http://www.acquavellagalleries.com/exhibitions/georges-braque?view=slider#6
Owner/Location: Private Collection


36. Three Sphinxes Of Bikini

Salvador Dali - 1947

I really liked this painting in college. Most likely it was in my top ten favorite paintings back then. The real meaning of it is different than my interpretation. I choose my understanding of the painting when I view it. I think of it as a person becoming one with the infinite. The hair looks like clouds to me and of course the second "sphinx" is a tree.

Source:  https://www.dalipaintings.com/three-sphinxes-of-bikini.jsp
Owner/Location: ?

35. The Stars
Vittorio Zecchin - undated
Historians say that Zecchin was influenced by Gustav Klimt. He was also influenced by the symbolist, mystical, and art nouveau movements. I love that the two women in this painting are catching stars.
Source: http://www.cavetocanvas.com/post/24812323981/yama-bato-vittorio-zecchin-1878-1947-le
Owner/Location: Wolfonsian Museum (Miami, Florida)

34. le mille e una nott
Vittorio Zecchin - 1914
This painting is part of a series of twelve, 100 foot canvases entitled "One Thousand and One Nights". This series illustrates the procession of Aladdin and his entourage of princes and princesses as he goes to ask the Sultan for his daughter's hand. The Hotel Terminus in Venice (which is no longer in existence after it was bombed in WWII) commissioned the series. However, now the Ca'Pesaro, the Venetian museum of modern art, owns six of the twelve panels. The remaining six are owned by private collectors. This series is said to represent the pinnacle of Zecchin's work. (Sources: Koller, Palais Dorotheum). Within linear and circular shapes are brilliant colors and patterns. I would love to see the panels in Venice and I hope one day they can all be together as they were meant to be.
Source: https://theartstack.com/artist/vittorio-zecchin/mille-e-una-notte-1914
Owner/Location: Private Collection

33. Two acrobats (Harlequin and his companion)
Pablo Picasso - 1901
This painting was done during Picasso's blue period. His blue period lasted several years (1901-1904) during his depression. His work primarily dealt with the desolate, poor, outcast subjects that he painted in moody cool blue tones. At the time the public had no interest in this style but it is now his most popular work. (Source: Wikipedia) This painting to me depicts an everyday occurrence of two people sitting down at a cafe. They are people watching and nothing more. The blue tones make it feel very solemn and the individuals do not want to speak and are content not to speak. 
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/two-acrobats-harlequin-and-his-companion-1901
Owner/Location: ?
32. Landscape at Saint Tropez
Henri Manguin - 1905
Another painting made in Saint Tropez! Manguin was an important Fauve and dedicated his work to harmony, balance and color. I think this painting represents his vision. I love how all the colors seem to merge together. It would be amazing to visit the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. They own so many important and famous works of art.
Source: https://www.arthermitage.org/Henri-Charles-Manguin/Landscape-at-St-Tropez.html
Owner/Location: Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia)

31. The Olive Trees
Vincent van Gogh - 1889
I love so many of Van Gogh's paintings and they have definitely had an influence on me. It was hard for me not to fill up this list with a bunch of his paintings. But if I had to choose just one of his paintings I'd choose The Olive Trees. Van Gogh painted a series of olive trees during his voluntary time in the asylum at Saint-Remy in southern France. This daylight landscape was the "day" to the "night" of his famous The Starry Night also painted at this time. Everything in this painting is moving and rolling and filled with life. Even the mountains are moving. I can feel the Mediterranean heat whirling and twirling through the sky, the clouds, across the mountains, the olive trees and hitting the viewer with it's intensity. Van Gogh's olive tree paintings are considered some of his finest work. (Sources: Wikipedia, MoMA) By the way, I've never been to MoMA, where this painting, The Starry Night, and several other paintings on my list are located. I've always wanted to go!!

Source:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Trees_(Van_Gogh_series)
Owner/Location: Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York)


30. Girl Before a Mirror

Pablo Picasso - 1932

Another painting located at MoMA. Such a bright, bold, modern painting. But what does the girl in this painting see in the mirror? It's her but not quite. Is it her true self, her insecurities, her future self? All of the above? What do you see when you look in the mirror?
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/girl-in-front-of-mirror-1932
Owner/Location: Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York)


29. The Absinthe Drinker

Pablo Picasso - 1901

A woman drinking in a cafe alone. This woman feels lonely, isolated, and she most likely is considered an outcast whom which Picasso liked to paint. This painting is located at the Hermitage as well.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/pablo-picasso/the-absinthe-drinker-1901
Owner/Location: Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg, Russia)

28. Moonlight 
Felix Vallotton - 1894-1895
I love night and moonlit paintings. This one has a wonderful reflection of the moon in the meandering stream below. The little clouds are aglow from the moon in the sky.

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/felix-vallotton/moonlight-1895
Owner/Location: Musee d'Orsay (Paris, France)

27. Clair de Lune
Charles Victor Guilloux - 1895
Another night painting. This one only shows the full moon in the stream. What beautiful greens and blues!

Source: https://theartstack.com/artist/charles-victor-guilloux/clair-de-lune-1895-1
Owner/Location: ?

26. Full Moon on the Water
Jan Sluyters - 1912
Another Jan Sluyters painting. You can see how he was influenced by Fauvism in this painting. The whole scene seems to be drenched in beautiful moonlit colors. I love the tree trunks outlined in blue and the green foliage completely takes over the upper portion of the painting. The moon is peeking through the trees. 

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/jan-sluyters/full-moon-on-the-water-1912
Owner/Location: ?

25. At the Theater
Sigrid Hjertén - 1915
Sigrid was born in Sundsvall, Sweden in 1885. She graduated with a degree in teaching drawing, however, this did not satisfy her. She went on to study under Matisse in Paris. Sigrid is a key leader in Sweden's modernism. Her use of color and line to show emotion influenced expressionists. Her use of color is subdued later in her career in conjunction with her mental health struggles. She eventually is diagnosed with schizophrenia and dies in 1948 of complications from a botched lobotomy in an attempt to treat the illness. (Sources: Wikipedia, Moderna Museet, SchrinMag)
Source: https://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2015/01/Sigrid-Hjerten.html
Owner/Location: Private Collection
24. Spring Sale at Bendel's
Florine Stettheimer - 1921
Florine Stettheimer was born to a wealthy family of highly educated and independent women. Her father left the family before the children had grown. Stettheimer's art education was as extensive as her male contemporaries. Discouraged after one of her first public exhibitions did not produce any sales she thereafter exhibited only privately. Stettheimer's work is overtly feminine reflecting her ideals. Her feminine style is unique and the subjects she paints are usually of women from a female perspective. She is the first woman to paint herself entirely nude. I love Spring Sale at Bendel's because of the colors, especially the red that dominates the painting. The subject is of women frantically shopping at a high-end department store, throwing themselves and fighting over the clothing on sale. I definitely recommend reading a very interesting Hyperallergic article about her. (Sources: Hyperallergic, The New York Times, Wikipedia)
Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/florine-stettheimer-spring-sale-at-bendels
Owner/Location: Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)



23. The Terrace, St. Tropez
Henri Matisse - 1904
I would love to see this painting in person and take in the true colors of Matisse's The Terrace. The colors of this painting always appear slightly different when viewing online. I love the sun's light and the turquoise shade that Matisse's wife relaxes in. This was painted just before his Fauvist period. Paul Signac convinced Matisse to travel to St. Tropez. The light there must be amazing!
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-matisse/the-terrace-st-tropez-1904
Owner/Location: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Fenway Court, Boston, Massachusetts)
22. Forest
Paul Cezanne - 1890
Cezanne was a post-impressionist artist who was the bridge between impressionism and fauvism, cubism, expressionism, to abstract art and therefore considered the father of modern art. This painting is so vibrant and you can see how Cezanne broke up color geometrically. Sources: Biography, Wikipedia, LA Times)

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-cezanne/forest
Owner/Location: White House (Washington, D.C.)



21. Radiator Building – Night, New York
Georgia O'Keeffe - 1927
O'Keeffe painted Radiator Building three years after it was built. The city at night with it's beaming lights and the art deco Radiator Building look marvelous and dazzling. O'Keeffe paints from the perspective of a viewer looking up at the giant skyscraper. She really captures the feeling people must have had when first viewing the architectural feats of the skyscrapers. I'm in awe just looking at this painting.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/georgia-o-keeffe/radiator-building
Owner/Location: ?

20. Expectation
Gustav Klimt - 1905 -1909
This painting was part of a series of three mosaics commissioned by Adolphe and Suzanne Stocklet for the dining room of their palace in Belgium. Expectation runs along one longitudinal wall and corresponds to Fulfillment on the opposite wall depicting a man and woman embracing. Both paintings include the tree of life. At the end of the dining hall is the Golden Knight. Klimt later revisits his concept in Fulfillment with his painting of The Kiss. (Source: Klimt Foundation) I love the Egyptian style of this painting and the jewelry the woman is wearing. The triangles against the swirling tree of life is an interesting effect. I also like the Egyptian style eyes within the tree branches.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/gustav-klimt/expectation-1909
Owner/Location: Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna, Austria)

19. Red Studio
Henri Matisse - 1911
I love that this room is almost totally red. It's a very unique painting in that regard. You can see his other works throughout the room.
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-matisse/red-studio-1911
Owner/Location: The Museum of Modern Art (New York, New York)
18. July Sunlight Pouring Down
Charles E. Burchfield - 1952
Burchfield primarily painted with watercolor. He spent a lot of his childhood outdoors and this is seen in his work. I really love his nature paintings particularly because they are so dreamlike and magical. It was hard for me to choose just one of his many gorgeous paintings. But this one might be my favorite of his because it shows the sun literally "pouring down". I love the title as well. His titles are always so perfect. He grew up in Ohio and he really captures what summer feels like in the midwest. (Source: DC Moore Gallery)

Source: https://www.burchfieldpenney.org/collection/object:v2013-0704-001-july-sunlight-pouring-down/
Owner/Location: Burchfield Penney Art Center (Buffalo, New York)

17. Les Baigneuses
Othon Friesz - ?
Friesz was a leading figure among the Fauves. I just love his painterly strokes and the flow and sway of the trees, hills, and clouds in this painting. Even the grass in the foreground is in motion. 

Source:  http://www.deutscherandhackett.com/auction/6-fine-art-auction/lot/les-baigneuses
Owner/Location: Private Collection

16. Untitled (Seated Man, Multiple Images)
Pavel Tchelitchew - 1927
Tchelitchew was considered a surrealist. Gertrude Stein became one of his collectors after seeing Basket of Strawberries (1925).  Besides being a painter, Tchelitchew was a famous costume and stage designer. This seated man painting is amazing because the person is shown simultaneously at three different positions. A single image as seen from different angles Tchelitchew termed "laconic" composition. The laconic composition of the man gives the painting a very psychological feel to it that I enjoy. (Source: MoMA)

Source: http://toutpetitlaplanete.tumblr.com/post/37486209486/pavel-tchelitchew-untitled-seated-man-multiple
Owner/Location: ?

15. Separation
Edvard Munch - 1896
Munch's Separation is in my top 20 because it makes me feel his gut wrenching pain and despair at the loss of a loved one. This painting seems technically simple but it is so emotionally powerful.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_Separation_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Owner/Location: Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway)

14. Kiss by the Window

Edvard Munch - 1892

Kiss by the Window is one of three variants of Munch's "kiss". Munch painted a series on the evolution of love. In this painting the couple has become one enraptured in their kiss. The entire painting is immersed in evening blue. He painted these "kiss" paintings during his time on the Mediterranean coast in Nice. (Sources: Wikipedia, The Eclectic Light Company)
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edvard_Munch_-_Kiss_by_the_window_(1892).jpg
Owner/Location: National Gallery of Norway (Oslo, Norway)

13. Starry Night
Edvard Munch - 1922-1924
Munch painted several starry nights. Paintings of night scenes are so romantic. I think I need to travel to Oslo, Norway and see all of Munch's paintings.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_paintings_by_Edvard_Munch
Owner/Location: Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway)

12. The Sun
Edvard Munch - 1909
Munch won a commission to paint Oslo University's Assembly Hall. The Sun is at the center surrounded by his other paintings. The sun dominates the painting with it's striking rays touching everything in its path. It even seems to be pouring into the water. The painting is booming yet very romantic. (Sources: EdvardMunch, Visit Oslo)

Source: https://www.edvardmunch.org/the-sun.jsp#prettyPhoto
Owner/Location: Assembly Hall. Oslo University (Oslo, Norway)

11. Naked Figures and Sun
Edvard Munch - 1924-1925
This is the last Munch I promise. I didn't realize I liked so many of his paintings until I put together this list. But I've really only gotten into to his work relatively recently. I probably only knew of The Scream in college which I didn't like and still really don't. But this painting is so colorful. The tiny little sun just a dot in the sky is shooting out multicolored beams of light across the naked figures, reflecting off their bodies. The figures all seem to be connected and merged together. 

Source: http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/detail.php?ID=91830
Owner/Location: Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway)

10. Eaters
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner - 1930
Kirchner was a German expressionist. I like his paintings from the twenties and thirties. He breaks up the canvas with flat, unmixed colors. In Eaters he has merged the two people at the head. It's like they are the same person in the way they eat, dress, look, and even think.

Source: http://topcat77.tumblr.com/post/147014631851/eaters-1930-ernst-ludwig-kirchner
Owner/Location: ?


9. The Shelton with Sunspots, N.Y.

Georgia O'Keeffe - 1926

Another O'Keeffe cityscape painting. This one is of the Shelton, where she actually resided with her husband. I have always enjoyed taking pictures with the sun taking a bite out of something. O'Keeffe does a wonderful job depicting this occurrence on the Shelton. I also love the sunspots and the rippling smoke and steam. O'Keeffe is known for her flowers but I love her cityscapes. (Source: Art Institute Chicago)

Source:  http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/104031
Owner/Location: Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)

8. La Barque
Odilon Redon - 1900
Redon's paintings are so dreamlike and magical. Part of it is because of the colors he creates. His "mystical blues" and his "golden yellows" as can be seen in La Barque. Redon painted a series of boat paintings. I really enjoy these because the riders seem to be in deep contemplation as they float across an infinite plane of sky and water merged. (Source: Odilon Redon, Catalogue to the 2014 Exhibition. Fondation Beyeler)

Source: http://www.stedelijkmuseum.nl/en/artwork/17899-la-barque
Owner/Location: Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

7. Bather
Pierre Bonnard - 1935

Bonnard painted mostly scenes of daily life and his wife, Marthe de Meligny (actually, Maria Boursin, but that's another story). Bonnard painted a series of his wife in the bath. I love this Bonnard painting because of the light soaked walls and tub. This particular yellow I call Bonnard's yellow. His warm bright yellow is contrasted by the cool blues in the bath water and the floor tile. This painting is intimate and really just glows. I wold love to own a book with his complete artworks. (Source: Phillips)

6. Bathers
Paul Cezanne - 1905Cezanne did a number of nude bathers scenes trying to reinterpret the classical nude bather paintings. I like this painting because the landscape seems to all meld together but at the same time you can see blocks of unmixed cerulean blue, hunter green, etc. This painting is so colorfully natural. (Source: The National Gallery

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-cezanne/bathers-1905
Owner/Location: Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)

5. My Portrait (Self-Portrait in the Green Bugatti)
Tamara de Lempicka - 1929
This painting was commissioned for the front cover of Die Dame, to celebrate the modern independent woman. Lempicka definitely captures this in her most famous painting.The woman is actually gazing into the viewers eyes instead of diverting them. She's not smiling, but rather has a look of aloof confidence while driving her sleek green Bugatti sports car dressed in fine driving attire. This painting is overflowing in art deco style. (Sources: Wikipedia, The Art Story)

Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/tamara-de-lempicka/portrait-in-the-green-bugatti-1925
Owner/Location: Private Collection (Switzerland)

4. The Poet with the Birds
Marc Chagall - 1911
The man appears to be daydreaming (one of my favorite pastimes) in a beautiful field surrounded by gorgeously lush painted trees underneath a cloudy blue day. This painting makes me want to be there underneath those clouds and trees, daydreaming and listening to the birds. 
Source: https://theartstack.com/artist/marc-chagall/poet-birds
Owner/Location: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

3. The End of the Greeks, Ostrogoths and Visigoths
Friedensreich Hundertwasser - 1964
I came across Hundertwasser during college. I was working at the University Museum and a few of his pieces were temporarily exhibited there. I was instantly taken with his work. This piece is my favorite of his, but really all of his art is highly imaginative and simply amazing. Just glancing at this painting makes me feel like he's taken me on some sort of psychedelic trip.

Source: https://austrianartblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/
Owner/Location: ?


2. The Garden of Earthly Delights
Hieronymus Bosch - 1510-1515
I first came across this triptych painting while looking through my mother's art history books. I have loved it ever since. I cannot grow tired of looking at it. There is just so much going on and it is so bizarre. Bosch is truly the father of fantasy art.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_of_Earthly_Delights
Owner/Location: Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain)


1. The Joy of Life
Henri Matisse - 1905-1906

And now for my number one most favorite painting... The Joy of Life!!! So I obviously must dedicate a journey to Lower Merion, Pennsylvania's Barnes Foundation to view this gorgeous piece in person. This painting is huge at 6 ' x 8 ' - the better to take in it's brilliant colors. This painting is considered one of the "pillars of early modernism". (Sources: Wikipedia, henrimatisse)
Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/henri-matisse/the-joy-of-life-1906
Owner/Location: Barnes Foundation (Lower Merion, Pennsylvania)