Pieces of Art

Somewhere in the Metropolitan Museum 

[update: the above image is from Pierre Bonnard's Garden- hurray google image search! The rest of the answers will be included below, if you want to test your art history chops.]

After days of staring at blank computer screens and dull-looking charts, I gave myself a mental treat going through some close-ups I took at the New York Met on one of my first trips into the city last month. Only problem? My burned out brain can't remember which artist the works are attributed to- let alone the title of the paintings! Oh well...pop quiz time? If anyone can tell me the artist who painted the above (and below) works, I'll be eternally grateful (and seriously impressed.)

 As you can tell, I've got a thing for Impressionism. Not sure I can quite explain it- something about the use of color, maybe, or the way the brush strokes and the handiwork can be traced when you get close to the painting. I know they're intended to be viewed at a distance, but I think they can be more beautiful even a few inches away. My brain tries to picture how the artist's hand would have moved to create such lovely patterns.

 So this one (and the bit above) is obviously Monet's Water Lilies. I have an especially soft spot for Monet. He was the first artist I learned about in school, and I was lucky to visit Giverny as a kid- what a dreamy place! I love the way the intense purples and sage-greens blend and balance seamlessly.

And of course Van Gogh. This one I found fairly easily on the Met's wonderfully navigable website.
The beautiful swirling brush strokes are almost synonymous with his name.

I hope this has been a little visual pick me up for your hump day. It's definitely perked up my week a bit :) If you know who the unnamed artists are, please share (I suspect one is Gauguin, and one may be Cezanne...?) And if you're in New York any time soon, I highly recommend an afternoon at the Met- it's a really special place.

p.s. if your looker for the lighter side of the fine art world, this collection of Medieval Twitter's finest moments had me in tears this morning.

p.p.s. answer to our impromptu pop quiz:

Image 2: Andre Derain
Image 3: Edouard Vuillard
Image 4: Van Gogh's Cherry Tree