රහස් පිරි සිතුවම්
The painting ’Figure at a Window’ was created in 1925. Dali was only 21. Although Gala hadn’t entered his life, Salvador’s sister Ana Maria served as the source of inspiration. As the time passed, their relationship got much worse. Dali even said: ’Sometimes I spit on my mother’s portrait and truly enjoyed it.’ Ana Maria could not stand such shocking behavior.
Ana Maria wrote about him in her ’Salvador Dali, Seen through the eyes of his sister,’ in 1949. Salvador was extremely upset about it and angrily mentioned it every once in a while. Finally, in 1954, Salvador painted the ’Young Virgin Autosodomized by her Own Chastity.’ The position, the hair, the landscape, and the color palette clearly resonate with the ’Figure at a Window.’ They say Dali’s painting was his revenge for the book Ana Maria wrote.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, ’Danaë’, 1636 — 1647
In the 60s, an X-ray of the ’Danaë’ revealed many secrets of one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings. For instance, in the original version of the painting, Danaë, who had an affair with Zeus, had the face of the Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia. The artist’s wife, however, died in 1642. So, he transformed Danaë’s face into the face of Geertje Dircx, Rembrandt’s lover, in the final version of the painting.
Vincent van Gogh, ’Bedroom in Arles’, 1888 — 1889.
In 1888, van Gogh purchased a small studio in Arles, the South of France, where he was hiding from the Parisian artists and critics. He chose one of the four rooms to be his bedroom. In October, he began to paint the ’Bedroom in Arles’ as soon as the renovation was over. The color palette and coziness were very important to the artist because everything about the room was meant to provide comfort, which explains the color scheme of the painting.
Van Gogh’s specialists have a different explanation for such an unusual color. The artist was taking digitalis that helped him fight epilepsy. This drug causes serious changes in the perception of color. In other words, surroundings appear to be yellow and green.
Leonardo da Vinci, ’The Mona Lisa’, 1503 — 1519.
The Mona Lisa is known for its perfection and mystery. Joseph E. Borkowski, an American art specialist, as well as a part-time dentist, suggests that the original woman lost many teeth. Borkowski was able to find scars around Mona Lisa’s mouth by looking at the zoomed-in pictures of the masterpiece.
’[The Mona Lisa] wears an expression common to people who have lost their front teeth. A close-up of the lip area shows a scar that is not unlike that left by the application of blunt force.’
Pavel Fedotov, ’Major’s Betrothal’, 1848.
The audience laughed out loud at the ’Major’s Betrothal’ when the painting was introduced to the public. In his painting, Fedotov added many ironic elements that made a lot of sense to his contemporaries. For instance, the major did not follow the etiquette of his time period. He did not bring bouquets for the bride and her mother. The bride put on an evening dress during daytime (all the lights in the room are off). Most likely, the young woman wore a low-cut dress for the first time. She looks ashamed and is trying to hide in her room.
Art history specialists suggest that Delacroix was inspired by the revolutionary laundress Anna-Charlotte who went to the barricades after the death of her brother and killed nine guards. The artist depicted her with a nude chest. According to Delacroix, an open chest is a symbol of courage and dedication, as well as the triumph of democracy. The naked chest shows that the Freedom, like any female commoner, does not wear a corset.
Kazimir Malevich, ’Black Square’, 1915.
It turns out that the ’Black Square’ is neither black nor square. None of the sides are parallel to each other or to the frame’s edges. A dark color is the result of a concoction of many different colors. Specialists note that this happened due to the principled position and the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form, rather than the negligence of the artist.
In 1902, a Hungarian artist Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar created the ’Old Fisherman.’ Although the painting seems ordinary at first, there is something very unusual about it. Through this painting, Tivadar implied something that remained unopened while the artist was alive.
Very few people thought of putting a mirror to the middle of the painting. Every person has God (the right shoulder of the fisherman), and a Devil (the left shoulder of the fisherman) within.
Gustav Klimt, ’Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’, 1907.
Klimt depicted the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in one of his paintings. All of Vienna was discussing a love affair the famous artist had with Adele. The hurt husband wanted to take revenge on the lovers, but chose a very unusual way. He ordered Adele’s portrait and made Klimt create hundreds of sketches hoping that the artist would get tired of the woman.
Bloch-Bauer wanted this project to last a few years, so his wife could see how Klimt’s feelings were dying out. Bloch-Bauer paid the artist really well. Everything ended according to the husband’s plan. The work was finished in four years, and the lovers have long grown cold towards each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never learned that her husband knew about her affair with Klimt.
Paul Gauguin, ’Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’, 1897-1898.
The most famous Gauguin’s painting needs to be read right-to-left, like the kabbalistic texts that very much interested the artist. An allegory of a man’s spiritual and physical life develops from the birth of the soul (sleeping baby in the left bottom corner) to the inevitability of the death hour (a bird holding a lizard in the left bottom corner).
Gauguin was working on this painting in Tahiti, which had become his refuge from civilization. This time around, his escape was not very successful. Total poverty led him to severe depression. When he finished the painting, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to commit suicide. He had not calculated the dose properly and his suicide attempt failed. The next morning, he dragged himself to his hut and fell asleep. He felt a forgotten thirst for life as soon as he woke up. In 1898, he entered a new, more successful stage of his caree
Salvador Dali’s revenge
The painting ’Figure at a Window’ was created in 1925. Dali was only 21. Although Gala hadn’t entered his life, Salvador’s sister Ana Maria served as the source of inspiration. As the time passed, their relationship got much worse. Dali even said: ’Sometimes I spit on my mother’s portrait and truly enjoyed it.’ Ana Maria could not stand such shocking behavior.
Ana Maria wrote about him in her ’Salvador Dali, Seen through the eyes of his sister,’ in 1949. Salvador was extremely upset about it and angrily mentioned it every once in a while. Finally, in 1954, Salvador painted the ’Young Virgin Autosodomized by her Own Chastity.’ The position, the hair, the landscape, and the color palette clearly resonate with the ’Figure at a Window.’ They say Dali’s painting was his revenge for the book Ana Maria wrote.
Two-faced Danaë
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, ’Danaë’, 1636 — 1647
In the 60s, an X-ray of the ’Danaë’ revealed many secrets of one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings. For instance, in the original version of the painting, Danaë, who had an affair with Zeus, had the face of the Rembrandt’s wife, Saskia. The artist’s wife, however, died in 1642. So, he transformed Danaë’s face into the face of Geertje Dircx, Rembrandt’s lover, in the final version of the painting.
Vincent van Gogh’s yellow bedroom
Vincent van Gogh, ’Bedroom in Arles’, 1888 — 1889.
In 1888, van Gogh purchased a small studio in Arles, the South of France, where he was hiding from the Parisian artists and critics. He chose one of the four rooms to be his bedroom. In October, he began to paint the ’Bedroom in Arles’ as soon as the renovation was over. The color palette and coziness were very important to the artist because everything about the room was meant to provide comfort, which explains the color scheme of the painting.
Van Gogh’s specialists have a different explanation for such an unusual color. The artist was taking digitalis that helped him fight epilepsy. This drug causes serious changes in the perception of color. In other words, surroundings appear to be yellow and green.
Toothless perfection
Leonardo da Vinci, ’The Mona Lisa’, 1503 — 1519.
The Mona Lisa is known for its perfection and mystery. Joseph E. Borkowski, an American art specialist, as well as a part-time dentist, suggests that the original woman lost many teeth. Borkowski was able to find scars around Mona Lisa’s mouth by looking at the zoomed-in pictures of the masterpiece.
’[The Mona Lisa] wears an expression common to people who have lost their front teeth. A close-up of the lip area shows a scar that is not unlike that left by the application of blunt force.’
The face control major
Pavel Fedotov, ’Major’s Betrothal’, 1848.
The audience laughed out loud at the ’Major’s Betrothal’ when the painting was introduced to the public. In his painting, Fedotov added many ironic elements that made a lot of sense to his contemporaries. For instance, the major did not follow the etiquette of his time period. He did not bring bouquets for the bride and her mother. The bride put on an evening dress during daytime (all the lights in the room are off). Most likely, the young woman wore a low-cut dress for the first time. She looks ashamed and is trying to hide in her room.
Why is the Freedom nude?
Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix, ’Liberty Leading the People’, 1830.
Art history specialists suggest that Delacroix was inspired by the revolutionary laundress Anna-Charlotte who went to the barricades after the death of her brother and killed nine guards. The artist depicted her with a nude chest. According to Delacroix, an open chest is a symbol of courage and dedication, as well as the triumph of democracy. The naked chest shows that the Freedom, like any female commoner, does not wear a corset.
A square that is not too square
Kazimir Malevich, ’Black Square’, 1915.
It turns out that the ’Black Square’ is neither black nor square. None of the sides are parallel to each other or to the frame’s edges. A dark color is the result of a concoction of many different colors. Specialists note that this happened due to the principled position and the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form, rather than the negligence of the artist.
Old Fisherman
In 1902, a Hungarian artist Csontváry Kosztka Tivadar created the ’Old Fisherman.’ Although the painting seems ordinary at first, there is something very unusual about it. Through this painting, Tivadar implied something that remained unopened while the artist was alive.
Very few people thought of putting a mirror to the middle of the painting. Every person has God (the right shoulder of the fisherman), and a Devil (the left shoulder of the fisherman) within.
Drama of the Austrian Mona Lisa
Gustav Klimt, ’Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I’, 1907.
Klimt depicted the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer in one of his paintings. All of Vienna was discussing a love affair the famous artist had with Adele. The hurt husband wanted to take revenge on the lovers, but chose a very unusual way. He ordered Adele’s portrait and made Klimt create hundreds of sketches hoping that the artist would get tired of the woman.
Bloch-Bauer wanted this project to last a few years, so his wife could see how Klimt’s feelings were dying out. Bloch-Bauer paid the artist really well. Everything ended according to the husband’s plan. The work was finished in four years, and the lovers have long grown cold towards each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never learned that her husband knew about her affair with Klimt.
Painting that brought Gauguin back to life
Paul Gauguin, ’Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’, 1897-1898.
The most famous Gauguin’s painting needs to be read right-to-left, like the kabbalistic texts that very much interested the artist. An allegory of a man’s spiritual and physical life develops from the birth of the soul (sleeping baby in the left bottom corner) to the inevitability of the death hour (a bird holding a lizard in the left bottom corner).
Gauguin was working on this painting in Tahiti, which had become his refuge from civilization. This time around, his escape was not very successful. Total poverty led him to severe depression. When he finished the painting, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to commit suicide. He had not calculated the dose properly and his suicide attempt failed. The next morning, he dragged himself to his hut and fell asleep. He felt a forgotten thirst for life as soon as he woke up. In 1898, he entered a new, more successful stage of his caree
