tree-full-of-stars: The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins
cavetocanvas: Las Meninas - Diego Velázquez, 1656
cavetocanvas: Nijinsky As Petrouchka - Franz Kline, 1948
cavetocanvas: Interior (Claude Terrasse at the Piano) - Pierre Bonnard, 1907
ponderful: Phèdre by Alexandre Cabanel. 1880. “In Greek mythology, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphae, wife of Theseus and the mother of Demophon and Acamas.”
cavetocanvas: Le Désespoir, (1861)Jean-Joseph Perraud (1819-1876) Musée d’Orsay, Paris (Submitted by antonio-m, photo: Antonio-M.)
cavetocanvas: Nighthawks - Edward Hopper, 1942
cavetocanvas: Seated Male Nude Holding A Staff - Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, mid to late 18th century
museedart: Ovid Banished from Rome by Turner, 1838, oil on canvas, private collection
cavetocanvas: The Wyndham Sisters - John Singer Sargent, 1899
cavetocanvas: Hearts are Trumps - John Everett MIllais, not dated
cavetocanvas: Madame X - John Singer Sargent, 1884 There are 8 million and one things I could say about this painting, but I’ll keep my remarks brief. The woman in the painting is Virginie Gautreau. Originally an American who moved to Paris, Gautreau was groomed by her mother to take a prominent position in society as a “professional beauty.” Sargent approached Gautreau to pose for him, wanting to pay homage to her beauty. This portrait was shown in the Salon of 1884 to widespread criticism and ridicule, for both Sargent and Gautreau. Before this work was released, Sargent had been gaining momentum in Paris as a portrait painter, but after heavy criticism, he relocated to London, where it took a decade to rebuild his career. Gautreau was ridiculed so much that she withdrew from society and became a recluse. As for the painting itself, one of the many unsettling aspects for critics at the time was that Gautreau is pictured as an erotic yet resistant woman. The fantasy in art history is in the representation of women as accessible and available to the male viewer. However, the way Sargent presents Gautreau resists that. Her face in profile looks away from the viewer; yet, her body is exposed and presented to us as an object of desire, but not the “come hither” kind. Sargent challenges the presumed passivity of posing, because her body, but not her gaze, looks back at the viewer. 
cavetocanvas: Girl with a Mandolin - Pablo Picasso, 1910
arthistorita: Room of the Monkeys, Thera, ca. 1550 BC, Room Beta 6. Like the Spring Fresco, the Room of the Monkeys has a sense whimsy and imaginative application of colors. The inherently playful subjects are shown in various states of action- climbing, jumping, swinging- creating a scene that is not only dynamic, but also demonstrates the painter’s skill in stylistically and believably depicting the animals from various angles.