I guess that the title already says it: this thread is made for the purpose of putting up paintings that you really like. It would be nice if you could explain
why you like the painting so much (if that's possible
), as that would make it more interesting. Basicly, that's all there's to it.
I'll start off with two paintings by
Edward Hopper, one in particular. I bought an Edward Hopper calendar last year, I guess mostly because of one picture that struck me back then. I'm talking about his famous
Nighthawks (1942, Oil on canvas), the scene of an isolated man sitting in a bright bar in a dark, empty street. Back then I didn't knew Edward Hopper at all, neither this picture, and to me this painting appeared to me as jazz in pictures. It has this sort of sad, melancholy vibe, but without being depressing, if you know what I mean. I'm mostly not really in for melancholy, but this is nice, probably also because it has this pleasant contrast with the socially looking man and woman who are sitting next to him, ordering a drink. Ironically, that also makes the man appear even more lonesome. It's a strong contrast, and as far as I can judge from what I've seen, Hopper was very good with that.
The people behind the calendar that I bought, picked a bunch of very lonely pictures for the first five months. Lonely in a different kind of way than Nighthawks, not really jazzy anymore, but slightly depressing, established by the use of hollow eyes and people's backs. That loneliness can probably be explained by the Great Depression going on back then. Not really my taste, though still good paintings, with an often interesting and good use of colours. For the month June they finally picked a nice, bright picture, and this is the one that I like in particular:
Ground Swell (1939, Oil on canvas). It's the picture of a group of youngsters under a very blue sky, sailing in a white boat on a very blue ocean. There also is a feel of loneliness going on in this painting (I would say that's because we only see the people from the back), but it get's heavily compensated by it's beautiful colours. There really is a strong image of blue and white in this picture, and I can really be a sucker for bright blue (though the blue in the picture of the link below are less brighter than the poster version I've got). The more I look at this picture, the more I like it.
What about you guys? Any beautiful/interesting paintings to share that you personally enjoy?
(since I can't find a decent picture right now from Ground Swell that is smaller than 100 KB, I can't upload it right now. Here is a link:
Edward Hopper - Ground Swell
I will try finding a suitable picture for uploading later on)