One of the most visual ways to learn more about any historical era, the life of people in a certain area or belonging to different social classes is art. This is especially true for painting. After all, all the great events, joyful and tragic, real and fictional, were embodied in the canvases of various artists. Moreover, sometimes pictures are more eloquent than it might seem at first glance. Since politics, religion, generally accepted concepts of decency and norms did not always allow the artist to clearly depict his idea on canvas, many of them resorted to secret symbols and encrypted messages. Intriguing, isn't it?
To better understand the plots of the paintings, the thoughts of the author and the experiences of their characters, we have prepared for you interesting but little-known facts about the paintings and their artists. With them you will take a fresh look at the world of art and see how significant details that seem unremarkable at first glance can turn out to be. Read about all this and more below.
Yellow color and Van Gogh
It was the yellow color that most often prevailed in the works of the now world-famous, but never recognized during his lifetime artist. Throughout his life, Vincent van Gogh created about 860 oil paintings and more than 2,100 works. However, he lived only 37 years, and began painting quite late. Looking at his paintings, it is impossible not to notice that the yellow color is given special attention in most of them. Some art researchers suggest that the color yellow in the artist's works represents the sun, joy and love. However, there is another version. From a psychological point of view, the predominance of yellow color indicates an unstable emotional state. Perhaps this is why in some countries the expression “yellow house” implies a psychiatric hospital.
Be that as it may, serious psychological problems haunted Van Gogh for most of his life, which the artist himself admitted. But how much they actually influenced his work remains a mystery to us.
Edvard Munch and selfie
First of all, we know Munch for his painting “The Scream”, which, by the way, has several variations made in different techniques. But besides this, the artist was also interested in printing and photography. He even studied printing technology in Germany and created prints of his paintings with his own hands, which also influenced their popularization.
Photography was another of his hobbies. He loved to make photo cards for friends with his own image. To do this, he used a tripod or took pictures in the most common way in the 21st century - at arm's length. Then he completed the photo with a drawing using a pen. Thus, even before the advent of the Internet, the artist began sharing his selfies, and instead of various photo editors he used a pen.
Gauguin's most eloquent painting
The self-taught French artist, whose works are now included in the list of the most expensive paintings in the world, was seriously interested in Theosophy and was a mystic. Being in despair and depression, he was going to commit suicide, but before that he decided to paint a picture with an encrypted meaning. This work is called “Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?”, and in it the artist depicted as many as 15 symbols, namely:
- A sleeping child is the human soul before its incarnation on earth.
- A dog represents the sorrows and troubles that await a person in earthly life.
- Three women - a person’s life before showing interest in self-knowledge.
- A man picking a fruit is an awakening of the desire to understand the secrets of the universe.
- A man with a hand on his head - despair from the inability to find answers to the questions of the universe.
- Two in red - wisdom and the ability to analyze.
- The bird is a spiritual path.
- The woman in black is the human soul at the highest stage of development.
- The source is eternity.
- The statue of a deity represents hope for the life of the soul in another world after death.
- A teenager is a soul that has never known the desire for self-knowledge.
- Goat, kitten and puppy - carefree existence without searching for a spiritual path.
- A naked girl is a pleasure that is pursued in the material world.
- The old woman is the mortality of the human body.
- A bird with a lizard in its claws means the inevitability of death.
By the way, the suicide attempt was unsuccessful, and after the incident the artist’s life began to change for the better.
Dictionary of Dali symbols
Perhaps one of the most famous lovers of symbols in painting is Salvador Dali. The great surrealist believed that everything in this life is not accidental and natural. This is what he conveyed in his work. Thus, the artist acquired a whole vocabulary of symbols with which he communicated with the audience.
Below we have presented the most common of them:
- ants - death, decay and rot;
- crutches - support;
- egg - rebirth;
- elephants - dominance and power;
- sea urchin - gradual knowledge and acceptance of each other in human communication;
- snail - the contrast between external severity, cruelty and a gentle inner world;
- bread - fear of poverty;
- drawers - human memory and thoughts;
- molten clock - indivisibility of space and flexibility of time;
- angels are a union bestowed by heaven.
He most often depicted the last symbol next to his beloved Galla, who significantly influenced the artist’s life and success.
As we see, for an artist a canvas is not so much an opportunity to convey to the viewer what he sees, but rather an opportunity to talk about his feelings and experiences. Each painting represents a story from the master’s life or represents an event that impressed him. Painting is a kind of language in which artists communicate with us, bypassing time frames. But understanding it is not always easy. We hope that our interesting facts from painting will help you look at some paintings differently and see the author’s true message in them.
