Sunday, December 7, 2008

FAMOUS ART



I've always considered myself as an art aficionado. Ever since I can remember, I've been fascinated by works of art, especially art by the Old Masters. I'm especially fond of Impressionism, and my favorite is Claude Monet. One of the things I want to do before I die is to see some of these original works of art up close and personal, so that means I'll be scouring the museums all over the world for that. I don't mind. after all, I do have that adventurous streak in me. I picked out some of the most famous art I admire and made a slideshow, aptly set to the "Mona Lisa Smile Suite" by Rachel Portman.. Following is the list of those included in the slideshow according to order of showing, with the art title, artist, and art movement. Enjoy!


1) A Beautiful World – Grandma Moses – American folk art
2) A Girl With A Watering Can – Renoir -
impressionism
3) Adam and Eve – Gustav Klimt – art nouveau
4) American Gothic – Grant Wood –
American folk art
5) Amoureux au Bouquet – Marc Chagall -
expressionism
6) A Pair of Shoes – Vincent Van Gogh –
impressionism
7) Arundel Mill and Castle – John Constable -
Romanticism
8) Ashes – Edvard Munch -
expressionism
9) At The Moulin Rouge – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec –
post-impressionism
10) Boating – Edouard Manet -
impressionism
11) Bathers at Asnieres – Georges Seurat –
pointillism
12) Beata Beatrix – Dante Gabriel Rossetti –
Pre-Raphaelite
13) Blind Man’s Bluff – Francisco de Goya –
Spanish rococo
14) Bride With A Fan – Marc Chagall -
expressionism
15) By The Seashore - Pierre Auguste Renoir -
impressionism
16) Cowper Madonna - Raphael –
renaissance
17) Creation of Adam (section of Sistine Chapel) – Michelangelo Buonarrotti -
renaissance
18) Daniel In The Lion’s Den – Peter Paul Rubens –
baroque
19) Dejeuner Sur La Herbe – Edward Manet -
impressionism
20) Flagellation of Christ – Caravaggio -
baroque
21) Girl Asleep At A Table – Pablo Picasso –
cubism
22) Girl With A Pearl Earring – Jan Vermeer –
baroque
23) Head of A Nymph – Sophie Gengembre Anderson –
Pre-Raphaelite
24) Holy Family - Michelangelo Buonarroti –
renaissance
25) Impression: Sunrise – Claude Monet –
impressionism
26) In The Green Mountains – Grandma Moses –
American folk art
27) Irises – Vincent Van Gogh -
impressionism
28) Landscape at Beaulieu – Pierre Auguste Renoir -
impressionism
29) L’Etoile Pastel – Edgar Degas –
impressionism
30) Madonna and Child with Angels – Fra Filippo Lippi -
renaissance
31) Mona Lisa – Leonardo da Vinci –
renaissance
32) Night Fishing at Antibes – Pablo Picasso –
cubism
33) On The Terrace – Pierre Auguste Renoir -
impresionism
34) Pieta – Michelangelo Buonarrotti –
sculpture
35) Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne – Amedeo Modigliani –
expressionism
36) Portrait of Picasso – Juan Gris -
cubism
37) River Landscape – Thomas Gainborough -
rococo
38) Starry Night – Vincent Van Gogh –
post-impressionism
39) Still Life With A Basket – Paul Cezanne – post-impressionism
40) Stour Valley and Dedham Church – John Constable -
Romanticism
41) Study of A Nude – Paul Gauguin –
post-impressionism
42) Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – Georges Seurat - pointillism
43) Sunflowers – Vincent Van Gogh - impressionism
44) The Art of Painting – Jan Vermeer - baroque
45) The Birth of Venus – Sandro Botticelli –
renaissance
46) The Cornfield – John Constable -
Romanticism
47) The Entombment – Peter Paul Rubens –
baroque
48) The Flame – Jackson Pollock – abstract expressionism
49) The Joy of Life (Le Bonheur de Vivre) – Henri Matisse –
fauvism
50) The Kiss – Gustav Klimt –
art nouveau
51) The Last Supper – Leonardo da Vinci –
renaissance
52) The Little Valley – Paul Gauguin – Post-impressionism
53) The Marriage at Cana – Veronese -
renaissance
54) The Milkmaid – Jan Vermeer –
baroque
55) The Moon-Woman – Jackson Pollock – action painting
56) The Music Lesson – Jan Vermeer -
baroque
57) The Night Watch - Rembrandt –
baroque
58) The Persistence of Memory – Salvador Dali –
surrealism
59) The River at Argenteuil – Edouard Manet -
impressionism
60) The Scream - Edvard Munch – expressionism
61) The Stay at Homes – Norman Rockwell –
American folk art
62) The Three Ages – Salvador Dali -
surrealism
63) The Thinker - Auguste Rodin –
sculpture
64) Venus of Urbino – Titian -
renaissance
65) Village Path – Camille Pisarro -
impressionism
66) Waterlilies - Claude Monet –
impressionism
67) Waterlilies (the clouds) – Claude Monet -
impressionism
68) Whistler's Mother - James Abbott McNeill Whistler –
impressionism
69) Woman Before An Aquarium – Henri Matisse -
fauvism
70) Woman with a Parasol (The Stroll, Camille Monet and her son Jean) – Claude Monet –
impressionism
71) Young Girl Fixing Her Hair – Sophie Gengembre Anderson – Pre-Raphaelite

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

MY TWILIGHT EXPERIENCE

My sis and I were shopping for Christmas decors when we decided on the spur of the moment to watch “Twilight”. It was Friday, late afternoon, school was out -- bad call – clearly the demographic was high school and college students. The line wasn’t that long, but the movie house was nearly full. We took our seats and sat back to enjoy the movie. Fat chance…when the Cullens started to appear, the screaming started. As it turned out, seated right behind us was a whole row of high school students. And when Edward appeared, the dialogue was drowned out by the hyperventilating shrieks of the same demographic. Sheesh! A number of us were irritated, especially since they started to anticipate and pre-empt every scene after that with their intimate knowledge of the story. No amount of hushing quelled their excitement. When the scene came for Edward’s first “Hello”, the squealing drowned out the dialogue! Angry moviegoers finally yelled at them, including my very audible “OVER!” Well, that did the trick coz they behaved after that. Remind me never to watch a much hyped movie in its first few days of screening. I’d much rather watch it during its last few days of run when you have an almost empty theater and you can blissfully enjoy the movie without the noise, the jostling, and the passing-in-front-of-you-to-get-to-the-next-seat.

Okay, let’s face it; no movie version could ever hope to surpass the book. That’s proven in the case of the Harry Potter series, The DaVinci Code, the Bourne series, and a lot more. Even the biggest Hollywood budget and the most high-tech special effects could never hope to match the imagination of those who have read the books. The best they could do is to stay true to the story and make the movie as close to the imagination as it possibly could.
Fortunately “Twilight” is one such movie, true to its source material. Even the choice of the actors to play the key roles did not disappoint the book’s followers. Although I still don’t get all the hype about this movie. I mean, the premise of a “good” vampire falling in love with a mortal has been rehashed to death. In fact this angst-filled romance reminded me of TV’s Buffy and Angel (remember them?), except that Buffy is a kick-ass slayer while Bella is the classic damsel in distress. Even the excruciatingly slow-to-happen first kiss reminded me of the long drawn-out first kiss of Joey and Dawson in Dawson’s Creek. But somehow author Stephenie Meyer seemed to have achieved the right balance of suspense and romance to titillate the imagination of her target audience, the young adults of this generation. Furthermore, she has completely reinvented the vampire image and veered away from the frequent depictions of a vampire. Like, being able to move in daylight as long as they avoid direct sunlight; we all know vampires burn when sunlight hits them, but in Twilight world, their skin glow like diamonds, a beautiful apparition. They don’t eat, they don’t drink, they don’t sleep (what? no coffins?), they don’t shun away from garlic or crosses. All this reinvention made Edward even more irresistible, and made the YA crowd root for Edward to finally turn Bella.

The movie not only captivated the hearts of its target audience, but also those not in the demographic. As usual critics are divided on this one, but I really don’t care much for what the critics say. I go to the movies to be entertained. And I WAS entertained, even tickled by the “cute” love story. If it’s entertainment you’re looking for, then this is the movie to watch. Just another one of those big Hollywood movies with sequels you’d have to wait over a year for. Yeah, bummer, huh? =)
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