Paintings which make you think

Pollock only held this together for a short period of brilliance. This painting is a cathedral of the mind. MoMA , New York. The king and queen stand where you are standing, in front of a gathering of courtiers. Velazquez looks from the portrait he is painting of the royal couple. The infanta and her retinue of maids meninas and dwarf entertainers are gathered before the monarch.

In the distance, a minister or messenger is at the door. In a bright mirror, the royal reflection glows. This painting is a many-layered model of the world's strangeness. Prado , Madrid. When Picasso started to paint his protest at the bombing of Guernica, the ancient Basque capital, by Hitler's air force on behalf of Franco in the Spanish Civil War, he was at the height of his powers. Thirty years after painting his subversive modernist grenade of a picture Les Demoiselles d'Avignon , his cubist intelligence was now enriched by the mythology and poetry unleashed by the surrealist movement.

He also looked back to such historical paintings as Raphael's Fire in the Borgo as he set down the greatest human statement of the 20th century. Reina Sofia , Madrid. In its entirety — including the Dying and Rebellious Slaves in the Louvre and the statue of Moses on the final, reduced version of the tomb eventually erected in Rome — this constitutes the greatest unfinished masterpiece in the world.

Yet Michelangelo did not leave things unfinished out of laziness. It is an aesthetic choice. The tragic power of these prisoners as they struggle to emerge out of raw stone is an expression of the human condition that equals Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Accademia Gallery , Florence. The girl -- wearing a blue and gold turban and an oversized pearl earring -- is the entire focus with only a dark backdrop behind her. It drew huge crowds, further bolstering its status as one of the world's most famous works of art. The oldest painting in the top 10 and competing with "The Kiss" for most sensuous, "The Birth of Venus" was probably commissioned by a member of the wealthy and art-loving Medici family , which ruled Florence and nearby areas for centuries.

Marrying a renewed interest in classic Greek culture with Early Renaissance style, Botticelli creates an unforgettable figure with the Goddess of Love emerging from a huge scallop shell. Botticelli's "Venus" features two significant departures from most other works of his contemporaries. First, he painted on canvas instead of the more popular wood. Secondly, nudity was rare at this time -- so it was daring that Venus is completely exposed minus her long, flowing hair and a hand barely covering her most intimate body parts.

Madrid is the only city in this roundup where you'll find two of the most 10 famous paintings, the first being "Guernica" at No. The complexity of the work has fascinated art critics and the public for centuries.

The painting does double duty as a portrait. It stayed in the royal palace until , when it went to the Prado. On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at The Vatican, the "Creation of Adam" rounds out the top 10 most famous paintings list. The most famous work by renowned artist Michelangelo covers a section of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling -- you have to look up to view it. The scene depicts God and Adam with outstretched arms, their fingers nearly touching. It is one of the most replicated images in history.

Adam's muscular form hints at Michelangelo's other talent -- his "David" is possibly the world's most famous sculpture. You can see the towering marble statue at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel had been dulled by centuries of exposure to candle smoke, among much else. After a long, extensive cleaning that ended in , people were shocked to see the bright, vibrant colors Michelangelo originally used.

This may happen when, for example, a character reacts in an inappropriate or foolish way or when a character lacks self-awareness and thus acts under false assumptions. Do you get off on calling random people on the internet dumb? You seem like a super negative guy. Hey, very good point: I mean it must be obvious, that everybody who uses english must be a native speaker.

Do they even have internet in these development countries? And what is a lingua franca? Is that what you really think of your fellow man, That if you have a low IQ you deserve to be used as Military fodder, so sad. Remember: the adjective modifies the noun. On that note, you may want to consider augmenting that vocabulary of yours.

An intellectual deficiency is a deficiency which is itself, intellectual. Consider an accidental deficiency a lacking in something which came about through chance and an accident deficiency not enough accidents. Angstrom, your nothing. Your going to die, Just like the rest of us. And you will take nothing with you physical or mental. Your name will be added to the long list of forgotten assholes who lived their lives trying to bring less fortunate people down.

I hope you get cancer and suffer years of excruciating pain before your inevitable demise. I second that comment. It was very clever to show the oddity of the monetary world without the use of words. This is a very good example of surrealism entering the realms of reality.

Scary stuff. Perhaps Mr. Alan was making an artistic statement using minimalist grammatical structures to under pin and expose the simplicity of the art shown. Alan seems to have a very good grasp of this art and has surpassed it with his postmodern pen portrait of the artists message. So, Mr. Actually, on second thought I extend my opinion to include all the negative comments attacking Mr. Alan and would also add: You is all big stupid heads! This is vastly more than just cramming a message down your throat.

The way in which this artist is using color, perspective, and action makes me really feel these themes on an emotional level. Thank you for demonstrating what immature people do to make themselves feel brighter than they actually are.

I invite you to extend this opportunity to other pseudo-intellects by posting something you think is smart so they can also tear it down to boost their self esteem. You are the problem. Or better yet, do us all a favor and kill yourself and rid the world of your stupidity. Do you figure your smarter than people who actually found meaning in these paintings? Why think for yourself when others can do that for you. The paintings out it into a different perspective.

Some of us, especially artistic people see the world differently! The pulling down the statue with another one popping up.. That was my favorite. Their all pretty good. It will change. After some extreme turbulence most likely. We are live on an unsustainable path currently. That will hit us hopefully sooner rather than later. I refer you to the twelfth picture: the one after the farmer-butcher feeding a cat sat down for dinner. Yeh but they are more Salient than ever because Neo-Marxists ask, Why is is that cognitive dissonance is still such a huge issue after millennia and the mountain of evidence that proves people usually act in their own least best interest..

Also it deals with more technology issues as well. There were flashes of brilliance in what you said. Tying Marxism to cognitive dissonance presupposes answers that history has yet to reveal. Like it? Connect with:. Facebook Google. Stolen art on a shitty website that will make you question …some things.

Author; you should be ashamed for not: 1. Asking permission from these brilliant artist if you could use their work. Credit them for their amazing work. You are disgraceful. Sure, nice art. You are all idiots. Most of these paintings are self-reinforcing liberal stereotypes. Interested to know what people think of the kid using the wood from the ladder to make a fire. I see it as giving up our rights for the false promise of security.