While admiring still lifes, we can hardly imagine what was depicted in the first paintings painted in this genre. And on them, in fact, decay products were painted: rotting fruits, withering flowers. Very often such works were decorated with a human skull. The artists once again wanted to remind that we are all just guests in this world...
The Massacre of the Innocents by Rubens is considered the most expensive painting in the world. The painting wanders from one rich man to another, and its price is steadily growing. The last time it was bought for more than 73 million euros. No wonder the buyer wished to remain anonymous...
The artist most offended by "grateful" fans can be called Henri Matisse. In 1961, the Museum of Modern Art, located in New York, presented his painting "The Boat" to the public. And only after almost a month and a half, a casual art connoisseur noticed that the masterpiece was not hanging as it should be for a masterpiece, but upside down. The confusion was terrible...
Even during the life of Ilya Repin, an attempt was made on his famous Ivan the Terrible, who had just killed his son. The insane icon painter, unable to bear the terrible look of the king, cut the canvas with a knife. Not only the best restorers were involved in the restoration, but also Repin himself. But the master did not want to return to the original Ivan the Terrible, who appeared 20 years ago, and painted the face of the king in a new way. As a result, it turned purple. Secretly from Repin, the restorers restored the face of Ivan IV to its former color. When the picture was shown to the artist, he did not pay attention to such "arbitrariness".
Can Christ and Judas have the same face? Maybe if it's the face of the sitter. The painting "The Last Supper" cost Leonardo da Vinci a titanic effort. The artist found the person who posed for him as "Christ" quite quickly - a church choir singer perfectly suited his role. But the search for "Judas" took three years. One day, walking down the street, the master saw a drunkard who could not get out of the cesspool. The lover of the green serpent was still young, but due to regular drinking, he looked much older than his years. Leonardo led him to the nearest drinking establishment, seated him at the table and began to draw. What was the astonishment of the artist when the sober drunkard said that he had already posed for him several years ago! It was the same singer...
Manet and Monet are confused not only by modern art lovers - they were also confused by contemporaries. Artists not only lived at the same time and had similar surnames, but also borrowed ideas from each other. After Manet presented the painting “Breakfast on the Grass” to the public, Monet, without thinking twice, wrote his own, and under the same name.
Many of Vasnetsov's "colleagues" disliked neither himself nor the paintings he painted. The battlefield strewn with corpses, which remained after the battle between Prince Igor and the Polovtsy, they called nothing more than "Dead". Another picture of the master - "Flying Carpet" - received an even more malicious name: "Carpet with Ears".
You can find a huge amount of information about famous artists - how they lived, how they created their immortal works. Many usually do not think about the features of the character and lifestyle of the artist. But some facts from the biography or the history of the creation of a particular picture are sometimes very entertaining and even defiant.
Pablo Picasso
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
When Pablo Picasso was born, the midwife thought he was stillborn. The child was saved by his uncle, who smoked cigars and saw the baby lying on the table, blew smoke in his face, after which Pablo roared. Thus, it can be said that smoking saved Picasso's life.
Apparently, Pablo was born an artist - his first word was PIZ, short for LAPIZ ("pencil" in Spanish).
In the early years of his life in Paris, Picasso was so poor that he was sometimes forced to heat with his paintings instead of firewood.
Picasso wore long clothes, and he also had long hair, which was unheard of at that time.
Picasso's full name consists of 23 words: Pablo-Diego-Jose-Francisco-de-Paula-Juan-Nepomuseno-Maria de los Remedios-Cypriano de la Santisima-Trinidad-Martir-Patricio-Clito-Ruiz- i-Picasso.
Vincent van Gogh
Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Many believe that they will become good if they do nothing wrong.
The abundance of yellow color and yellow spots of different shades in his paintings is believed to be caused by the large amount of medication for epilepsy, which developed from the excessive use of absinthe. "Starry Night", "Sunflowers".
During his hectic life, Van Gogh visited more than one psychiatric hospital with diagnoses ranging from schizophrenia to manic-depressive psychosis. His most famous painting, Starry Night, was painted in 1889 in a hospital in the town of San Remy.
Committed suicide. He shot himself in the stomach while hiding in the farm yard behind a pile of dung. He was 37 years old.
Throughout his life, Van Gogh suffered from low self-esteem. He sold only one of his works during his lifetime - Red Vineyard at Arles. And fame came to him only after his death. If only Van Gogh knew how popular his work would become.
Van Gogh did not cut off his whole ear, but only a piece of his earlobe, which is practically not painful. However, the legend is still widespread that the artist amputated his entire ear. This legend was even reflected in the characteristics of the behavior of a patient who operates on himself, or insists on a certain operation - he was called Van Gogh's syndrome.
Leonardo da Vinci
Those who live in fear die of fear.
Leonardo was the first to explain why the sky is blue. In the book "On Painting" he wrote: "The blue of the sky is due to the thickness of the illuminated particles of air, which is located between the Earth and the blackness above"
Leonardo was ambidexterous - he was equally good at right and left hands. It is even said that he could simultaneously write different texts with different hands. However, he wrote most of his works with his left hand from right to left.
He masterfully played the lyre. When Leonardo's case was considered in the court of Milan, he appeared there precisely as a musician, and not as an artist or inventor.
Leonardo was the first painter to dismember corpses in order to understand the location and structure of muscles.
Leonardo da Vinci was a strict vegetarian and never drank cow's milk, as he considered it theft.
Salvador Dali
If I didn't have enemies, I wouldn't be who I am. But, thank God, there were enough enemies.
Arriving in New York in 1934, he carried a 2-meter-long loaf of bread in his hands as an accessory, and while visiting an exhibition of surrealist art in London, he dressed in a diving suit.
The canvas “The Persistence of Memory” (“Soft Clock”) Dali wrote under the impression of Einstein's theory of relativity. The idea in El Salvador's head took shape when he looked at a piece of Camembert cheese one hot August day.
Salvador Dali often resorted to sleep with a key in his hand. Sitting on a chair, he fell asleep with a heavy key between his fingers. Gradually, the grip weakened, the key fell and hit a plate lying on the floor. The thoughts that arose during the nap could be new ideas or solutions to complex problems.
The great artist, during his lifetime, bequeathed to bury him so that people could walk on the grave, so his body was immured in the wall in the Dali Museum in Figueres. Flash photography is not allowed in this room.
Salvador Dali's nickname was "Avida Dollars", which means "passionately loving dollars."
The Chupa Chups logo was designed by Salvador Dali. In a slightly modified form, it has survived to this day.
Almost every one of Dali's works has either a portrait or a silhouette of him.
Henri Matisse
Flowers bloom everywhere for everyone who just wants to see them.
In 1961, Henri Matisse's Le Bateau, exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art, hung upside down for forty-seven days. The picture was hung in the gallery on October 17, and only on December 3 someone saw the error.
Henri Matisse suffered from depression and insomnia, sometimes sobbing in his sleep and waking up screaming. One day, without any reason, he suddenly had a fear of going blind. And he even learned to play the violin so he could earn his living as a busker when he lost his sight.
For many years Matisse lived in poverty. He was about forty when he was finally able to provide for his family on his own.
Henri Matisse never painted rocks, clear crystal houses, cultivated fields.
During the last 10 years of his life, he was diagnosed with duodenal cancer and had to remain in a wheelchair.
Edvard Munch
In my art I have tried to explain life and its meaning to myself, I have also tried to help others to explain their lives.
Munch was only five years old when his mother died of tuberculosis, and then he lost his older sister. Since then, the theme of death has repeatedly appeared in his work, and the artist's life path from the very first steps declared itself to be a life drama.
His painting The Scream is the most expensive piece of art ever sold at a public auction.
He was obsessed with work and he himself spoke about it like this: “Writing for me is a disease and intoxication. A sickness that I don't want to get rid of, and an intoxication that I want to be in."
Paul Gauguin
Art is an abstraction, extract it from nature, fantasize on its basis, and think more about the process of creation than about the result.
The artist was born in Paris, but spent his childhood in Peru. Hence his love for the exotic and tropical countries.
Gauguin easily changed techniques and material. He was also fond of woodcarving. Often experiencing financial difficulties, he was unable to buy paint. Then he took up the knife and wood. He decorated the doors of his house in the Marquesas with carved panels.
Paul Gauguin worked as a laborer on the Panama Canal.
The artist wrote still lifes mostly without resorting to a model.
In 1889, having thoroughly studied the Bible, he painted four canvases, on which he depicted himself in the image of Christ.
Frequent and promiscuity with girls led to the fact that Gauguin fell ill with syphilis.
Renoir Pierre Auguste
At forty, I discovered that the king of all colors is black.
Around 1880, Renoir breaks his right arm for the first time. Instead of being upset and grieving about this, he takes the brush to the left, and after a while no one doubts that he will be able to write masterpieces with both hands.
Managed to paint about 6,000 paintings in 60 years.
Renoir was so in love with painting that he did not stop working even in old age, suffering from various forms of arthritis, and painted with a brush tied to his sleeve. One day his close friend Matisse asked: “Auguste, why don’t you leave painting, you are suffering so much?” Renoir limited himself to only the answer: “La douleur passe, la beauté reste” (Pain passes, but beauty remains).
Paintings by contemporary artists for sale
Interesting facts about painting
Some famous paintings have a very interesting, and sometimes even funny history of creation. The facts will tell you what you may not have known about famous artists and their masterpieces.
1 Leonardo da Vinci for a long time could not find a sitter for the image of Judas in The Last Supper.
For many historians and art historians, Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper is the greatest work of world art. In The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown focuses readers' attention on some of the symbolic elements of the painting when Sophie Neveu, while at Lee Teabing's house, learns that Leonardo may have encoded some great secret in his masterpiece.
The Last Supper is a fresco on the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. Even in the era of Leonardo himself, she was considered his best and most famous work. The fresco was created between 1495 and 1497, but already during the first twenty years of its existence, as is clear from the written evidence of those years, it began to deteriorate. Its dimensions are approximately 15 by 29 feet. The fresco was painted with a thick layer of egg tempera on dry plaster. Beneath the main coat of paint is a rough compositional sketch, a study, inscribed in red in a manner predating the usual use of cardboard. It's kind of a preparatory tool.
It is known that the customer of the painting was the Duke of Milan Lodovico Sforza, at whose court Leonardo gained fame as a great painter, and not at all the monks of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie.
The theme of the picture is the moment when Jesus Christ announces to his disciples that one of them will betray him. Pacioli writes about this in the third chapter of his book Divine Proportion. It was this moment - when Christ announces the betrayal - that Leonardo da Vinci captured. To achieve accuracy and lifelikeness, he studied the postures and facial expressions of many of his contemporaries, whom he later depicted in the picture. The identity of the apostles has repeatedly been the subject of controversy, however, judging by the inscriptions on the copy of the picture stored in Lugano, these are (from left to right): Bartholomew, James the Younger, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Thomas, James the Elder, Philip, Matthew, Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot.
Many art historians believe that this composition should be taken as an iconographic interpretation of the Eucharist - communion, since Jesus Christ points with both hands at the table with wine and bread.
Almost all scholars of Leonardo's work agree that the ideal place to look at the painting is from a height of about 13-15 feet above the floor and at a distance of 26-33 feet from it. There is an opinion - now disputed - that the composition and the system of its perspective are based on the musical canon of proportion.
The unique character of The Last Supper is given by the fact that, unlike other paintings of this kind, it shows the amazing variety and richness of the emotions of the characters caused by the words of Jesus that one of the disciples will betray him. No other painting based on the Last Supper can even come close to the unique composition and attention to detail in Leonardo's masterpiece.
So what secrets could the great artist encrypt in his creation? In The Discovery of the Templars, Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett argue that several elements of The Last Supper's structure are indicative of the symbols encoded within it.
First, they believe that the figure on the right hand of Jesus (for the viewer it is on the left) is not John, but a certain woman. She is wearing a robe, the color of which contrasts with the clothes of Christ, she is tilted in the opposite direction from Jesus, who is sitting in the center. The space between this female figure and Jesus is V-shaped, and the figures themselves form the letter M.
Secondly, in the picture, in their opinion, a certain hand is visible next to Peter, squeezing a knife. Prince and Picknett argue that this hand does not belong to any of the characters in the picture.
Thirdly, sitting directly to the left of Jesus (on the right - for the audience), Thomas, turning to Christ, raised his finger. According to the authors, this is a typical gesture of John the Baptist.
And finally, there is a hypothesis that the Apostle Thaddeus, sitting with his back to Christ, is actually a self-portrait of Leonardo himself.
The Golden Ratio by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo's most famous work, the famous "Last Supper" in the Dominican monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, was executed between 1495 and 1497.
The brush of Leonardo captured the last joint meal (dinner) of Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles on the eve of the day (Good Friday) of the death of Christ on the cross.
Leonardo prepared carefully and for a long time for the Milanese painting. He completed many sketches in which he studied the postures and gestures of individual figures. The Last Supper attracted him not with its dogmatic content, but with the opportunity to unfold a great human drama in front of the viewer, show various characters, reveal the spiritual world of a person and accurately and clearly describe his experiences. He took The Last Supper as a scene of betrayal and set himself the goal of introducing into this traditional image that dramatic beginning, thanks to which it would acquire a completely new emotional sound.
Thinking over the idea of The Last Supper, Leonardo not only made sketches, but also wrote down his thoughts about the actions of individual participants in this scene: looks at his companion, the other shows the palms of his hands, raises his shoulders to his ears and expresses surprise with his mouth ... "The record does not indicate the names of the apostles, but Leonardo, apparently, clearly imagined the actions of each of them and the place that each was called take in the overall composition. Specifying poses and gestures in the drawings, he was looking for such forms of expression that would involve all the figures in a single whirlpool of passions. He wanted to capture living people in the images of the apostles, each of whom responds to the event in his own way.
The Last Supper is Leonardo's most mature and complete work.
There are several legends that tell about the great Master and his painting.
So according to one of them, when creating the fresco "The Last Supper", Leonardo da Vinci faced a huge difficulty: he had to depict Good, embodied in the image of Jesus, and Evil - in the image of Judas, who decided to betray him at this meal. Leonardo interrupted work in the middle and resumed it only after he found the ideal models.
Once, when the artist was present at a performance by the choir, he saw in one of the young choristers the perfect image of Christ and, inviting him to his studio, made several sketches and sketches from him.
Three years have passed. The Last Supper was nearly completed, but Leonardo had yet to find a suitable sitter for Judas. The cardinal, who was in charge of painting the cathedral, hurried him, demanding that the fresco be completed as soon as possible.
And after many days of searching, the artist saw a man lying in the gutter - young, but prematurely decrepit, dirty, drunk and ragged. There was no time left for studies, and Leonardo ordered his assistants to deliver him directly to the cathedral, which they did.
With great difficulty they dragged him there and put him on his feet. He did not really understand what was happening, and Leonardo captured on the canvas the sinfulness, selfishness, wickedness that his face breathed.
When he had finished the work, the beggar, who by this time had already sobered up a little, opened his eyes, saw the canvas in front of him and cried out in fright and anguish:
- I've seen this picture before!
- When? asked Leonardo in bewilderment.
“Three years ago, before I lost everything. At that time, when I sang in the choir and my life was full of dreams, some artist painted Christ from me.
According to another legend, dissatisfied with the slowness of Leonardo, the prior of the monastery insistently demanded that he finish his work as soon as possible. “It seemed strange to him to see that Leonardo was immersed in thought for the whole half of the day. He wanted the artist not to let go of the brushes, like they do not stop working in the garden. Not limited to this, he complained to the duke and began to pester him so much that he was forced to send for Leonardo and in a delicate form ask him to take up the work, making it clear in every possible way that he was doing all this at the insistence of the prior. Having started a conversation with the duke on general artistic topics, Leonardo then pointed out to him that he was close to finishing the painting and that he had only two heads left to paint - Christ and the traitor Judas. “He would like to look for this last head, but in the end, if he does not find anything better, he is ready to use the head of this very prior, so intrusive and indiscreet. This remark greatly amused the duke, who told him that he was a thousand times right. In this way, the poor embarrassed prior continued to push the work in the garden and left Leonardo alone, who finished the head of Judas, which turned out to be the true embodiment of betrayal and inhumanity.
2 It turns out that the term "miniature" has nothing to do with small sizes. This word comes from the Latin "minium" - the name of the red lead paint, which had the color of red cinnabar. The initial letters of texts were written with such paint and small illustrations were drawn in ancient and medieval books.
3 Marcelino Sanz de Sautola, whose daughter was the first to find the cave paintings in the cave of Altamira, was accused of having forged the images. Allegedly, primitive people could not create a masterpiece with such a complex composition.
4 Researchers, after examining dozens of paintings by great artists painted between 1000 and 1800, concluded that the amount of food depicted increased by 69% during that period.
This conclusion was made by scientists who analyzed the dynamics of changes in portions of food depicted on the canvases of...
Modern man eats twice as much as his ancestor who lived a thousand years ago. This conclusion was made by American scientists who analyzed the dynamics of changes in portions of food depicted on the canvases of masters of different eras.
Experts studied 52 paintings from the Last Supper series, which were painted from 1000 to 2000. The researchers compared the sizes of the plates depicted on the canvases and the volumes of servings of food. For a constant indicator, on the basis of which the comparison was made, the sizes of the heads of the disciples of Christ were taken.
It turned out that from century to century, the volume of food depicted in the paintings increased. In particular, over the past thousand years, the portion of the main dish has increased by 69%, the piece of bread has become 25% larger, and the size of the plates has increased by 66%.
Modern man gets fat not only because he eats more. Most modern products have a high calorie content and low nutritional value. In addition to the fact that modern people do not receive enough nutrients, kidney and liver cells can cope with preservatives, dyes and baking powder, which are rich in today's products. Therefore, the load on these organs increases and the metabolism is disturbed.
Recently, the so-called cave diet is gaining popularity. Its adherents believe that if you refuse modern food, in 3-4 months you can lose from 7 to 18 kg of excess weight and at the same time cleanse the body of harmful substances.
The amount of food in the paintings that depict the last supper of Christ and the apostles has increased significantly over the past 1000 years. As a study of 52 masterpieces of world art has shown, this trend is in line with the development of a consumer society that tends to eat more and more.
Two brother professors - nutritional psychologist and theologian - Brian and Craig Wansinky, together analyzed the amount of food depicted in 52 of the most famous paintings of the biblical story of the Last Supper. It was then that Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." In addition, it was the last meal of Christ that became the prototype of the rite of communion, where the bread personifies the body of the Lord, and the wine is his blood.
Scientists have studied paintings created in the last thousand years. She measured the size of the food depicted and correlated it with the average size of the apostle's head in each painting to arrive at a specific size independent of the size of the canvas. A curious thing turned out: the size of portions, the size of plates and the size of pieces of bread from the time of the 11th century to the present day has constantly increased. Thus, the size of the main dish increased by 69%, the size of the plates by 66%, and the size of the loaves by 23%.
An analysis of the paintings revealed a number of interesting points. In the Middle Ages, the apostles were portrayed as ascetics. However, the meal that appears in paintings before 1498 (this is the year when the world's most famous Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci was painted) was quite plentiful. The most “generous” food was the artist of the 16th century, the Mannerist Jacopo Tintoretto: in his picture, the plates are the fullest.
Scientists believe that the gradual increase in portion sizes in the paintings reflects the overall increase in consumption in the world. According to the authors of scientific work, the paintings are only a reflection of the "impressive socio-historical growth in the production, availability, safety, abundance and cheapness of food."
5 "Black Square" was not the first painting in this style. Long before Malevich, Alle Alphonse exhibited his masterpiece “Battle of the Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night” at the Vivienne Gallery - a completely black rectangular canvas.
Black Square" was first written not by Malevich, but by the French poet Bilo, calling the painting "Battle of the Negroes in the Tunnel"
In 1882 (33 years before Malevich's Black Square) at the Exposition des Arts Incohérents exhibition in Paris, the poet Paul Bilot presented the painting Combat de nères dans un tunnel (The Battle of the Negroes in the Tunnel). True, it was not a square, but a rectangle.
French journalist, writer and eccentric humorist Alphonse Allais liked the idea so much that he developed it in 1893, calling his black rectangle "Combat de nègres dans une cave, pendant la nuit" ("Battle of the Negroes in a cave in the dead of night"). Not stopping at the success achieved, then Alle put up a virgin white sheet of Bristol paper called "The first communion of girls suffering from chlorosis in the snowy season"
. Six months later, the next picture of Alphonse Allais was perceived as a kind of “coloristic explosion”. The rectangular landscape "Harvesting tomatoes on the shores of the Red Sea by apoplectic cardinals" was a bright red one-color painting without the slightest sign of an image (1894). In the end, in 1897, Allais published a book of 7 paintings "Album primo-avrilesque" (April Fools' Album).
Thus, twenty years before the Suprematist revelations of Kazimir Malevich, the venerable artist Alphonse Allais became the "unknown author" of the first abstract paintings. Alphonse Allais also became famous for the fact that in almost seventy years he unexpectedly anticipated the famous minimalist musical piece “4′33″” by John Cage, which is four and a half “minutes of silence”. Perhaps the only difference between Alphonse Allais and his followers was that he, exhibiting his stunningly innovative work, did not at all try to look like a meaningful philosopher or a serious discoverer.
6 An abstract painting by Henri Matisse, The Boat, hung upside down in the Museum of Modern Art for forty-seven days. During this time, 116 thousand people managed to see it.
A boat sailing and its reflection in the water surface is depicted)) And you need to look at it by turning it 90 degrees
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Wash, a wonderful illustration of the true "value" of such art.
7 The idea to depict a soft watch came to Salvador Dali when he watched Camembert cheese melt in the sun.
8 Vincent van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life.
The tragic life of Vincent van Gogh is popular today as some kind of sacred legend that people seem to need more than the radiance of his stars and sunflowers. A hungry, almost beggarly existence, full of loneliness and contempt for others, has already turned into a worldwide hype and interest in the 20th century. During his life, Van Gogh sold only one painting ("Red Vineyards in Arles"), and exactly one hundred years later, at Christie's auction in New York, his "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" was bought for $ 82.5 million (a record among paintings) . Against the background of this unhealthy worship, the image of the artist himself is lost, powerful and vulnerable at the same time, who ended his dramatic journey on earth in despair and suicide. Van Gogh lived only 37 years, of which only the last seven and a half were devoted to painting. However, his creative heritage is amazing. These are about a thousand drawings and almost the same number of paintings created as a result of volcanic creative eruptions, when Van Gogh painted one or two paintings daily for long weeks. Van Gogh became the last truly great artist in history, an unattainable example for others, whose selfless and heroic art, like a torch, like a rainbow, now shines over humanity. His paintings are a stunning dialogue full of love and suffering - with oneself, with God, with the world...
9 Edgar Degas painted about 1,500 paintings of ballet dancers. .
10 Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky “Chaos. The Creation of the World”, which was written based on the Bible, was bought by Pope Gregory XVI, who awarded the artist with a gold medal.
"Italian" paintings by Aivazovsky, presented at exhibitions in Naples and Rome, brought recognition and success to the painter. Critics wrote that no one had ever portrayed light, air and water so vividly and authentically. The English artist Joseph Mallord William Turner, who visited one of the exhibitions where the works of the Russian painter were exhibited, was so shocked by what he saw that he dedicated a poem to him:
Forgive me, great artist, if I'm wrong,
Taking your picture for reality.
But your work fascinated me,
And rapture took possession of me.
Your art is high and monumental,
Because genius inspires you.
World creation. Chaos. 1841
The most large-scale work created by the master in Italy is “The Creation of the World. Chaos” (1841, Museum of the Armenian Mkhitarist Congregation, Venice).
Focusing on the skill of Karl Petrovich Bryullov, Aivazovsky created a canvas, grandiose in its expressiveness, depicting the confrontation and at the same time the relationship of two primordial elements - sky and water, which the divine light illuminates, piercing and uniting them. This work, which is based on the words from the book of Genesis: “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness filled the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters” was highly appreciated by Pope Gregory XVI.
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"The Persistence of Memory"
Only Salvador Dali could come up with this painting. The Spanish painter depicted a hanging clock that seemed to have lost all its hardness and flowed smoothly from a branch, chest of drawers and the face of a sleeping man. The idea of creating a painting came to Dali quite by accident. He noticed how Camembert melts in the sun, and transferred this state of cheese to objects in the picture.
Many critics have tried to understand the meaning that Dali put into his work. Someone saw in it the theory of relativity of Albert Einstein, believing that this is how the artist conveyed the law of physics about space and time to painting. The author himself said that the theory of Heraclitus, which asserted the connection of time and the flow of thoughts, is better suited for his masterpiece.
"The Last Supper"
From under the brush of Leonardo da Vinci appeared many magnificent creations of the Renaissance. Yet The Last Supper stands out among them. This is not just a picture of one of the Italian artists. It keeps the deep meaning and history of the formation of the Christian religion.
All attention in the picture is focused on two heroes: Christ and Judas. For the face of Jesus, a young man from the church choir perfectly suited. Only the image of vile Judas was still not given to the artist. Yet three years later, Leonardo da Vinci found the perfect sitter. They became some drunkard who was lying in the gutter. Steeped in cheap booze and constant visits to the tavern, he soberly remembered that he once posed for an artist a long time ago. It turns out that on the canvas Jesus and Judas had the face of the same person. Only if at first it was a young and clean singer from the church, then the second is a dirty and lost drunkard.
"Dream"
Once the work of Pablo Picasso's "Dream" was sold for an incredible price of 139 million dollars. In 2006, art collector Steve Wynn decided to part with one of the paintings. During the presentation, the man gesticulated so vigorously that he hit the work with his elbow. The painting was seriously damaged. The incident made such a strong impression on the collector that he found a hidden message from above in this and decided to keep the painting for himself.
"Boat"
A painting by Henri Matisse made a splash at an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. And even greater interest and even a scandal around the work could cause the negligence of the museum staff. They put the painting upside down. Only after almost two months, one of the visitors, who is well versed in painting, was able to notice a gross mistake. Really, none of the 115 thousand people who visited the exhibition and left flattering comments saw this. Nevertheless, the news quickly spread and hit the front pages of the city's newspapers.
"Feast of the Gods on Olympus"
The most mysterious creation of the Dutch painter Peter Rubens was found in the Czech Republic in the 1960s. The exact date of the painting's creation was not known until scientists discovered a definite arrangement of the planets on the canvas. The god Jupiter was Duke Gonzaga of Mantua. Sun, Cupid, Venus and Poseidon were the positions of Jupiter, Venus and the Sun. Venus is approaching the constellation Pisces. This arrangement of the planets was typical during the winter solstice of 1602.
"Sistine Madonna"
Look at the work of Raphael. Created for the altar of the church, it kept a lot of mysteries that scientists still constantly question. Sixtus II has six fingers on his hand, which is very symbolic, because the name of the pope is translated as "sixth". This is just what it looks like. If you look closely, this is not the sixth finger, but just an extension of the palm. It's just that the shadows created such an impression. So, another mystery solved.
"Morning in a pine forest"
Many paid attention to the wrapper of such delicious chocolates known since childhood. Little bear cubs play in the forest thicket. Only these cute animals were not written by Ivan Shishkin at all. The Russian artist was a great landscape painter, able to convey every twig and blade of grass, but he could not draw people and animals. Then he turned to the artist Konstantin Savitsky for help, who helped Shishkin finish drawing the cubs. The painting itself originally belonged to two authors. Yet few people know about it. Indeed, after the purchase of the painting, Pavel Tretyakov erased the name of Savitsky, leaving only Shishkin.
Salvador Dali believed that he was the reincarnation of his dead brother.
In each of Dali's works there is either a portrait of him or a silhouette.
The idea for soft watches came to Dali when he watched Camembert cheese melt in the sun.
Edgar Degas was so fascinated by ballet dancers that he created more than 1500 works with them.
The theme of all the works of the artist Marcel Duchamp was everyday life. His most famous work, called "Fountain", is nothing more than the spewing urine of the artist himself.
The work of Henri Matisse, "The Boat", for 46 days hung upside down 
, on display in New York before anyone noticed. The picture was appreciated by 1600 visitors.
William Morris had a happy childhood, everyone spoiled him. As a result, he could throw dinner out the window, just because he did not like the way it was served.
Jackson Pollock often painted his paintings with cigarettes.
The work of the artist Auguste Rodin, "The Bronze Age", was so realistic that it seemed to people as if there was a living person inside the sculpture.
Rubens was knighted and Philip IV , King of Spain, and Charles I , King of England.
Vermeer used the camera obscura in his work.
In his entire life, Vincent van Gogh sold only one work - « Red vineyards in Arles”, and then to his brother, the owner of an art gallery.
In 1912, the Gioconda, the work of Leonardo da Vinci, was stolen. For 3 years, while they were looking for it, 6 copies were sold, which were considered the original, and each of them cost a lot of money.
In 1962, the Gioconda was valued at $100 million, and in 2009 at $700 million.
Most artists and artists are left-handed.
It is believed that Pablo Picasso is the most famous artist in the world.
Raphael is best known for his large number of Madonna paintings. But at the same time, according to the historian Giorgio Vasari , the artist was an atheist. It is also known that the same woman is depicted in all these paintings.
Andy Warhol was not only an artist. His first film, The Dream, about how his friend sleeps, lasted 6 hours. The premiere was attended by 9 people, 7 of them stayed to watch the film, 2 of them did not sit even an hour. Warhol created about 60 films, such as: "Kiss", "Food", "Shoulder", "Couch", "Kitchen", "Face", "Horse", "Suicide", "Sunset", " Bitch ', 'Blowdown' …
Andy Warhol wore a gray wig and eventually dyed his hair gray. After being told he had blurred vision, he 
began to wear opaque glasses with a tiny hole to see.
In his youth, Renoir was a tailor and also sewed shoes.
Pieta is the only work by Michelangelo that he signed. He was also a poet, more than 300 of his poems are still available.
Michelangelo became the first Western artist to have his biography published during his lifetime.
Leonardo da Vinci could draw with one hand while writing with the other.
Paul Gauguin was a laborer on the Panama Canal.
The first solo exhibition of Paul Cezanne took place when he was 56 years old.
Claude Monet won 100 thousand francs in the lottery, which allowed him to quit his job as a messenger and take up painting.
Vermeer never painted children, although he had 11 of them.
Renoir was so in love with painting that he did not stop working 
even in old age, suffering from various forms of arthritis, and painted with a brush tied to his sleeve.
Salvador Dali created the Chupa Chups logo.
Most of the time, Claude Monet drew caricatures, mostly of his teachers.
Salvador Dali's nickname was " Avida Dollars ", which in translation means "passionately loving dollars."
Vincent van Gogh had a brother who died at birth. His name was also Vincent van Gogh.
The full name of Picasso consists of 23 words: Pablo Diego-Jose-Francisco de Paula-Juan Nepomuseno-Maria de los Remedios-Cypriano de la Santisima-Trinidad-Martir-Patricio-Clito-Ruiz-and-Picasso.
Picasso's first word was "pencil".
Picasso wore long clothes, and he also had long hair, which was unheard of at that time.
