Thread by @JamesLucasIT

Thread of surreal painting details 🧵

1. Light reflection in the eye

2. Napoleon Bonaparte studying at the military academy.

Notice how this lithograph by Jacques de Bréville depicts the young French emperor devouring books, while the shadow of his future self looms over Europe, blending seamlessly with the city's silhouette outside the window.

3. This is one of the most extraordinary details in art history.

The mirror in Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait is just 5.5 centimeters wide, yet still manages to reflect the entire room: the couple, seen from behind, and two other figures, one of whom may be the painter himself.

4. This detail from Diego Velázquez's "Las Meninas" highlights a man in the painting's background, alongside an intriguing artistic nuance: a delicate brushstroke that captures the viewer's attention by infusing the scene with luminosity and depth.

5. "The most beautiful lips in art history"

Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio's legendary painting.

6. At first glance, this 1533 painting by Hans Holbein looks like a regular portrait. Yet, upon closer inspection, the unremarkable grey mark at the bottom transforms into a skull when viewed from the right angle.

7. Why do the fingers not touch in Michelangelo's masterpiece?

God's finger is fully extended whilst Adam's is not, reflecting our human hesitation. God's hand symbolizes eternal presence, accessible only through our conscious choice—a poignant reminder of our free will.

8. This painting shows human aging as you walk by it.

Sergi Cadenas' art is a testament to precision and detail: he uses kinetic optics, painting vertical strips of paint paste on a canvas. Once the paste has dried, he paints the two sides differently.

9. Lucifer after being expelled from Heaven. A single tear falls from his eyes, embodying his burning wrath and resolute defiance.

The Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel (1847)

10. Luciano Ventrone was an Italian artist (born in 1942) known as the "Caravaggio of the 20th century".

Notice the remarkable level of detail in this hyper-realistic depiction of a pomegranate.

11. "Medusa" by Caravaggio.

This is actually painted on a convex wooden shield. We are meant to see Medusa as Perseus would have seen her, in his shield's mirror.

Caravaggio replaced Medusa's face with his own, allowing him to position himself as being immune to her fatal gaze.

12. "Dante and Virgil in Hell" by the French academic painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.

13. Vincent van Gogh's Blues

14. A detail from the Primavera (spring) by the Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli.

15. In the Renaissance, women were typically portrayed looking downward and rarely smiling. Leonardo Da Vinci broke this tradition with the Mona Lisa, depicting her with a direct gaze and a daring smile—one of the most enigmatic smiles of all time.

16. The look of anguish and remorse on Ivan the Terrible's face, after he accidentally killed his son in a fit of anger.

17. It seems like the boy is actually climbing out of the picture frame to step into the world outside.

"Escaping Criticism" is an extraordinary example of the art technique called "trompe-l'œil," where the painter creates the illusion of three-dimensionality on a flat surface.

18. "The Knight of the Flowers" by Georges Rochegrosse (1894)

19. Only Rembrandt could depict hands with such precision. This detail is from the painting "Young Scholar and his Tutor" (1629-30).

20. The eyes say it all.

"Fidelity" by Briton Rivière (1840–1920)

21. Claude Monet's Blues

22. Two Laughing Girls by Pere Borrell del Caso (1880)

23. Everyone in this painting is judging you, even the cat.

In a Roman Osteria (1866) by the Danish painter Carl Bloch.

24. "Breathe" by David Ambarzumjan

25. Bubble wrap painting by Darian Rodriguez Mederos

26. In "The creation of Adam" (1508-1512) by Michelangelo, the section where God is placed has a great resemblance to a human brain.

In 1990, Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger observed in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the background figures and shapes portrayed behind the figure of God appeared to be an anatomically accurate picture of the human brain.

Detailed analysis revealed correlations with brain structures including major sulci, the cerebrum, brain stem, frontal lobe, basilar artery, pituitary gland, and optic chiasm.

There have been numerous interpretations of this theory over the years, ranging from the idea of God not only granting Adam life but also intelligence, to a sneaky jab at the Vatican by Michelangelo. What is your interpretation?

27. Vincent Van Gogh’s brush strokes

28. A stunning detail by Sandro Botticelli

"The Birth of Venus" has always been regarded as the quintessential representation of female beauty in art, much like how Michelangelo's David is seen as the epitome of male beauty.

Thank you for reading this thread! If you enjoyed it please share the first post and follow me for more art content: @JamesLucasIT

I just got hit with a "search suggestion ban" due to nudity being flagged in a painting I posted in this thread (now deleted). If you see this, a repost would be greatly appreciated 🙏

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