gonna post my most pretentious (but true) art opinions in this thread. if u follow me you may as well have some ammo for trying to impress art girls or something
mannerism (school of art that comes right after the renaissance) is actually cooler than the renaissance itself. its one thing to see artists successfully render realistic images, but the philosophical question of what to do once this is achieved is actually much more interesting
on this note most people have stylized + realistic imagery backwards: we tend to think of realism as more advanced but its actually a higher intellectual endeavor to render an exaggerated or simplified version of reality rather than machine style just copying whats right before u
so there is actually a case to be made that rather than progressing [towards] the ability of rendering realism, that is actually the point at which we began. many cave paintings are so realistic that we can tell exactly what animals the artists were rendering. [...]
there are also realistic paintings and images from ancient times. its only later once mankind developed a more advanced spiritual conception of our lives that we were able to create a visual world that exists as an elaboration on our direct sensory data (medieval art for example)
consider what would be more impressive: teaching a monkey to draw what it sees or teaching a monkey to ideate images.
moving on:
raphael was a better painter than da vinci. this isnt even up for discussion. he was a better painter than michelangelo as well.
moving on:
raphael was a better painter than da vinci. this isnt even up for discussion. he was a better painter than michelangelo as well.
renoir is easily one of the last great western painters. one of the last guys who could actually paint. like 20 years after he died pollock was showing art in big NYC museums. was a decline far faster than anyone could have ever imagined.
de chirico is the master surrealist. naturally the public prefers dali who made a few great works but rarely transcended his ‘painting on the side of a 1970s van’ style. orwell hated dali and called his paintings, essentially, fucking disgusting. was correct for the most part.
in their writings u can see why this is. de chirico was content to allow his paintings to embody a mystery and to stand outside of something enigmatic as an observer, to capture this mystique. dali attempts to pierce this mystery and collapses it, kills it by pinning it like a 🦋
his paintings are essentially psychedelic pornography. nothing is left to the imagination + the semiotic amps being turned up to 11 leave no room for anything. its like a flash photo totally white + completely illuminated, both literally and in the sense of its symbolic framework
in one of the most impressive predictions ever, de chirico also said that in the future art would be about the sensory impression it gives the viewer + not about the informational content. all art forms have followed this apparently iron law into modernity: music, art, everything
one of the only exceptions to abstract art not being total and complete trash is rothko. his paintings are, for the most part, good because they are born out of a spiritual struggle, they are essentially spiritual works. most other abstract paintings have little to no value.
artists like kandinsky show us that even if youre plunging hard into mans subconscious and spiritual life, unless you remember that art has to be beautiful, ur paintings are gonna suck. completely lost the plot. no one actually enjoys looking at this. pure intellectual exercise
malevich was correct when he said that white is the most pure embodiment of infinity
likewise renoir was correct when he said “i spent forty years learning that black is the queen of all colors”. badass quote btw
likewise renoir was correct when he said “i spent forty years learning that black is the queen of all colors”. badass quote btw
goethe said that the color spectrum is blue on one end, yellow on the other, with red between them. this is the way we experience the color spectrum day to day imo. u can see the yellow sunlight and blue shadows when u step outside. this is a more natural way to see the spectrum
acrylic paint should, for the most part, not exist. its fucking plastic. only very pricey paints (like golden) redeem this cursed medium. if u were my student and i saw u painting with cheap acrylic paint i would slap the shit out of you
acrylic paint is a new medium so no one has any idea if all those “masterpieces” in museums are actually going to last or what. it could be that one day millions of dollars worth of art will just fall apart. plastic sticking to a cotton canvas forever... maybe?... doubt it tbh.
pissarro basically single handedly started impressionism. no one knows who he is or cares because other people did it better later (mostly his students)... possible lesson here
its only pointillism if the image is entierly made of small dots. painters like seurat who put dots over fields of color are actually neo-impressionism or post impressionism
the futurists were wrong about some things but overall their view of what art can and should do was very wise. correctly saw the intersection of politics, spirit, and art. they have the best manifesto, easily, out of any artistic movement.
john singer sargent was one of the first fully realized american artists who fully articulated how a uniquely american vision would fit into classical painting. his portraits of women are insane + his images after he left the high society life behind are even better. true painter
