Your favorite artist in History

By Martina Kwenda (Ethelartconnect Creative Writer)

These were just ordinary people that took art to the next level and now are legends whose legacy still lives on long beyond their years. Art isn’t just about talent, innovation, and vision it’s about taking a moment in time and embracing it and making it timeless. This is what made them fellow men great. As we remember them lets see what makes them special and this will be a continuing series….. let’s begin

Vincent Van Gogh(1853-1890

This one was a unique artist because he is known for being mentally unstable yet he had his best work in that state. He did cut off his ear after an argument and then signed himself in a mental institution. His most famous painting is The Starry Night, Wheatfield with Crows, and Café Terrace at Night. Van Gogh’s technique of painting with flurries of thick brushstrokes made of bright colors squeezes straight from the tube inspired generations of artists.

Funfact : To this date there is Van Gogh Museum.

Van Gogh’s The Starry Night(1889)

Michelangelo(1475-1564)

Considered to be the greatest of all time because he was a triple threat in that he was a painter, a sculptor, and an architect. Imagine having all that talent and managing it so well like he did and it’s a quadruple since he also wrote poetry. He sculpted The David in Florence and Pieta in Rome and painted the Sistine Chapel ceilings and designed the dorms for St Peters Basilica. The genuineness in him was seen through The David sculpture which he created from a discarded block of marble. According to Walks of Italy  (2015) he a forger as he forged a piece called  Sleeping Cupid which was an ancient Roman sculptor.

Funfact: He was the first person to have an autobiography published during his lifetime.

Michelangelo’s The David (1504)

Rembrandt (1606-1669)

He was Dutch and his greatest work includes The Night Watch, Self Portrait of Apostle Paul. He is particularly known for his ability to show the innermost emotions through facial expression. One interesting fact was that he wasn’t just an artist he was an art collector too. He sadly outlived his wife and four children and he later died in an unmarked grave. His home in Amsterdam has been turned into the Rembrandt House Museum. One of his fine work was stolen from Isabell Stewart Garner Museum in Boston it was called Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilea and its still missing.

Funfact. There are no contemporary primary or contemporary sources so a lot of myth plays a big role in many of his biographies.

Rembrandt’s The Night Watch (1642)

Pablo Picasso(1881-1973)

He’s probably the best-known artist of all time even those who are not lovers of art can easily name him. His famous paintings are Girl before a mirror, the weeping woman and Guernica, Last Moments, and Les Demoiselles d’Avighon. According to Britannica Picasso has sold for 100 million in the 21st Century. He created over 20 000 art pieces in a wide range of mediums, including ceramics and theatre sets. Funny enough his father, a skilled artist teaching at the Barcelona School of Fine he gave up his career after seeing his son’s talent. Reportedly after Pablo finished Ruiz’s painting of a pigeon according to Stewart(2019)

Funfact: As a child prodigy he finished his first painting at 9 but he held his first exhibit in Barcelona, Spain at the age of 19

Pablo Picasso’s Guernica (1937)

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Often called the original Renaissance men because he lived his life on the basis that man’s capacity for personal development and expansion was without limits. He served as a role model of science and invention as he applied these to music and art. His most known painting is Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and The lady with an Ermine, and Self Portraits of John the Baptist. He also

did drawings of technologies like aircraft’s and tanks that were 500 years in the future. According to Jessica White(2020) he was an illegitimate child but that didn’t stop him and he only has about 20 painting that are attributed to him.

Fun Fats: Bills gates owns his notebook to this date.

Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503-1517)

References

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pablo-Picasso

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