art attack

Showing famous artwork and telling a little secret behind it.

[beatricecollection]

“Anna Wieds Garden”, Emil Nolde (1907, private collection)

During the 1920s Nolde became member of the Nazi party, expressing his distaste towards Jewish artists and their work. When Hitler rose to power in the 1930s, however, Emil Nolde was faced with rejection: since Hitler thought modernism to be “degenerate”, Nolde’s works were condemned and, despite his protests, included in the 1937 “Degenerate Art” Exhibition. Although being a supporter of the Nazi party, he was in the end forced to keep many of his paintings secret, calling them “Unpainted Pictures”.

[beatricecollection]

“The Tilled Field”, Joan Miró (1923-24, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum)

Joan Miró started painting at the age of 7. Not agreeing with his son’s passion, Miró’s father convinced him to attend business school. Although Miro' was outwardly a taciturn, somewhat timid man, he was not able to accept this frustration and had a mental breakdown. Since then he completely dedicated himself to arts. 

[beatricecollection]

“Blues on Green”, Adolph Gottlieb (1971, Tate Collection)

Gottlieb was an american artist and printmaker.

“Blues on Green” was realized after Gottlieb suffered a major stroke in 1970 that left him completely paralyzed, except from his right hand and arm. He was so dedicated to art that he continued painting regardless of his condition until his death in 1974.

He was always a rebel: in 1950 he lead a protest with some artist friends against the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gaining them recognition as “The Irascibles”.

[beatricecollection]

“Night Creatures”, Lee Krasner (1965, Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Better known for being Jackson Pollock’s wife, Krasner’s life was dedicated to arts since she was very young: when she was only 15, she decided to attend high school on the other end of the city, in order to receive better artistic training. 

She was unbelievably talented, but her life as an artist was not easy due to her gender: her teacher Hans Hofmann once said: "This is so good you would not know it was painted by a woman."

[beatricecollection]

"Excavation", De Kooning (1950; Art Institute of Chicago)

De Kooning began his work in black and white being too poor to buy artists's pigments. His paintings now are sold for many millions dollars, his most famous artwork "Woman III" was in fact sold in 2006 for $137.5 million. 

[beatricecollection]

"IKB 191", Yves Klein, 1962.

International Klein Blue is a particular shade of color first mixed by french artist Yves Klein, who developed this color so that it has the same brightness and intensity as dry pigment as well as wet. 

It is extremely hard to reproduce this color on a computer monitor.

[nyctaeus]

Ivan Puig, ‘Hasta Las Narices (Fed Up)’, 2004

[streetartfrankfurt-deactivated2]

FOX, 

Frankfurt am Main, MAinufer, 2014

[beatricecollection]

"Blue Poles: No. 11" Jackson Pollock, 1952.

In his works, Pollock challenged the traditional idea of painting with easel and brush. Not only did he use his hands, but he also enjoyed working with his whole body, as well as sticks and basting syringes.  

[beatricecollection]

"Angola. Missing People from the Angola Civil War" Tim Hetherington, 2002.

Tim Hetherington was a british photojournalist, whose main point was to document political upheaval, poverty and war, as well as their effects on daily life.

He died in 2011 (aged 40), killed by a shrapnel while covering the 2011 Lybian civil war.

[beatricecollection]

"Angola. Parenting." Parents and children who attend a creche (4/27), Tim Hetherington, May 2005.

Tim Hetherington was a british photojournalist, whose main focus was to document the effects of poverty, political upheaval and war on daily life. 

Tim Hetherington died in 2011 (aged 40) killed by a shrapnel in Lybia, while covering the 2011 Lybian civil war. 

[beatricecollection]

"Balloon Dog (Orange)", Jeff Koons, 1994-2000

Koons' "Balloon Dog (Orange)" was sold in 2013 for $58.4 million, becoming the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction.

Koons explained that his crucial point is to reject any hidden meaning in his artwork: the only meaning is what the viewer perceives at first sight. 

[beatricecollection]

"I like America and America likes me" (performance), Joseph Beuys, 1974.

In1974 Beuys flew to New York, where he had arranged a performance. He was taken by an ambulance to a room, that he shared with a wild coyote for eight hours over three days. The ambulance also brought him back to the airport, so that he never set foot an the american ground. He later explained: "I wanted to isolate myself ,[...] see nothing of America other than the coyote"

[beatricecollection]

"Map", Alighiero Boetti, 1971-73

[beatricecollection]

"250cm lined tattooed on six paid people", Santiago Sierra, 1999.

Santiago Sierra is a spanish artist, whose focus is to criticize capitalism and the institutions which support it. 

[beatricecollection]

Henri Michaux, 1956