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

Medieval Russian Tolkien Illustrations

These illustrations popped up on my feed from theonering.net
As an Orthodox Christian I find them kind of fascinating- some look more iconographic than others,
which I'm not sure how I feel about.
Some of them are a bit confusing- I'm not sure, for example, which scene this image is supposed to depict.
Any guesses?

source

I thought perhaps it had something to do with King Theoden,
But if so, why is there an eagle around?

Art and Iphones

So, my dumb phone not smart mobile phone

pulled a fast one on me and stopped holding its charge.

damn. 

Until recently I have been really resistant to the idea of a smartphone of any kind.

Mostly this stems from my resistance to change in general,

but also from a stupid bet I made with the oft-mentioned boyfriend

who will totally shove it in my face if I lose

(and then hug me and tell me I am beautiful.

He's just that good.)

But on a perfectly practical note,

smartphones will soon be a necessity to my education

followed by my career.

I mean,

How many of my two followers the lovely people who enjoy reading this blog

have seen their doctor pull up disease facts on their iphones

or calculate dosage, or a BMI?

Yea. I bet you both alllll raised your hands in the the back of your heads.

So of course I went for the iphone 5. 

When I finally cave in to trends

(which I am generally slow to do)

I go all in

Jump right on that bandwagon.

And WITH said iphone 5

comes a fancy-pants little iphone case 

which I am ALMOST more excited for

than the smartphone itself

what is wrong with me?

Anyways, I love the idea of using traditional art on an iphone case

enter Zazzle.com

They have an incredible selection 

of all my favorite artists

Durer, 

Monet,

even the slightly obscure (but ever awesome) Kunstformen

and then there's these designs, 

by Etsy graphic design artist csera

She is seriously amazing

(and reasonably priced.)

My two favorites:

and this is just to trippy for words: 

and this one is gorgeous too! 

AND THIS ONE!

Why must these silly little life choices be so hard?!

My Dad also suggested I use this website

They have SUPERCUTE cases

if you're into the monogramming thing

(alas, I am not.)

So, guys,

which one should I get? 

Where did you get your smartphone case?

The Beggar at the Door

 If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door,  

 you will not find him in the chalice. 

 Saint John Chrysostom

Rembrant