At her feet, three women with bowed heads raise their hands in prayer—their sobriety implies mourning as if they foresaw the child’s fate.

This is one of the greatest Gustav Klimt paintings ever made in the pre-modern era

This prophetic painting is titled “Hope, II.”

Why would “Hope” apply to a scene of expectant fatalism? There’s a method to Gustav Klimt’s paradoxical aesthetic.

“Hope, II” recalls his earlier, related painting of a pregnant woman “Hope.” By association with its predecessor, this was Hope, II, revealing Klimt’s pattern of pregnant women and the weight of hope they carried in their wombs.

The unborn child here is the embodiment of the nominal hope, but it has death looming over it.

Hope, a great attribute of Gustav Klimt paintings

In this atmosphere of maternal anxiety, Klimt displays a Freudian flavor to manifest Sigmund Freud’s explorations of the child within every adult persona.

Klimt lived and worked in the turn-of-the-century Vienna, home to Freud, and thus was in proximity of this psychoanalytic inspiration.

Gustav Klimt’s paintings often investigate formative drives, like sex and death, mirrors Freud’s studies of the psyche. Through the Freudian lens, what does the child within the woman reveal?

Pregnant women in art are seldom visible

Women and children make appearances in many historical portraits, but the pregnant mothers, as well as the notion of pregnancy, are curiously invisible and exist outside the artistic consciousness.

Why Hope II is special?

By featuring this expectant mother to the center-stage, Klimt parades the splendor of hope about to emerge.

But by giving her death as a companion, Klimt forces us to confront the reality of birth and death within the same frame.

The woman is entrapped in the irony between the commencement and the endgame of life, poised beneath the possibility of a ‘healthy birth’ or the ‘tragic premature demise’ of her child.

To balance out the solemn gravity, Klimt adorns this woman in a stark richness.

The woman’s gold-patterned robe—drawn flat, as clothes are in Russian icons, although her skin is rounded and dimensional—has an extraordinary decorative beauty.

Gustav Klimt paintings are another great example of great convergence of technique, pattern, and colors

Devoted to his craftwork, Klimt was among the many artists of his time who united old-fashioned traditions—like his Byzantine gold leaf painting—with a modern psychological subject.

In Hope II, Klimt revisits this theme but makes some notable changes:

More Abstract

The pregnant woman in Hope II is more abstract, with her face barely visible. Her body is covered in a richly patterned, ornamental garment, and her figure is surrounded by vibrant golden colors.

Less Death Imagery

Although Hope II retains some darker undertones, it focuses more on ornamental beauty and less on explicit symbols of death, giving it a more positive, serene mood.

Both Hope I and Hope II reflect Klimt’s fascination with the cycles of life and death, conveyed through his unique blend of sensuality, symbolism, and vibrant ornamentation.

Birth and death exist side-by-side, suspended in equilibrium, collaborators in the appetite of living. The Power of art and a curious subject like – pregnant women in art – truly executed by Klimt. Respect!

The post Hope II by Gustav Klimt – The Subject of Pregnant Women in Art appeared first on The Artist.

Personal, Psychological, and Emotional Depth

Distinctive Visual Language

Frida’s Feministic Icon

Cultural and Political Engagement

Modern Relevance

Commercial Appeal

The post Why Frida Kahlo’s Artistic Style is Famous? appeared first on The Artist.

The purposes, motivations, intentions, and inspirations behind the art are endless.

Being one of the most creative ways of expressing human experience, we have used art as a means of telling stories.

May it be the story of a single person, of a community, or of a nation, art has in many ways contributed to the beautiful way these stories are told.

We’ve put together a list of 25 functions of art based on the viewpoints from renowned artists and philosophers for you to reflect upon

1. Art as an Expression

Art is a human activity, consisting in this, that one person consciously, by certain external signs, conveys to others feelings he has experienced, and other people are affected by these feelings and live them over in themselves.” – Tolstoy

Tolstoy’s famous “Expression Theory” centered on the idea that art elicits and provokes emotion in the viewer.

Out of many styles of expression, Abstract Expressionism is one great example where artists are empowered with the liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through nontraditional and usually nonrepresentational means.

The prominent function of art always drawn toward the expression theory.

Artists like Jackson Pollock believed that it was the viewer (and not the artist) who defines and interprets the meaning of the abstract expressionist artwork thus, there is no relevance on what the artist thinks or conveys while producing the work.

Convergence by Jackson Pollock is one of the initial art pieces of abstract expressionism and considered as the bravest action paintings ever made

The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating” – Jackson Pollock

2. Art empowers our faith in the nobility of man (Humanism)

“Art is a lie that makes us realize truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand” – Pablo Picasso 

One of the most powerful shifts resulted from the Renaissance period is that the Church was never a responsible source for their behavior and beliefs towards God and fellow men and that they themselves are responsible for the actions. One of the key aspects of what makes us human is revolving around our faith in religion, art, and culture

The School of Athens by Raphael remains one of the powerful representation of this shift in human history and also embodies the classical spirit of Renaissance

3. The creation of beauty is art

What is beauty in art? – Beauty is what we see as characteristic and harmonious.

Whatever different reactions art will about inside you, it is clear that the explanation is complicated and definitive.

Every piece of art, whether a painting, a vase or a statue, will have different colors, lines, and textures that will appeal to your soul and heart.

4. Know Thyself

“Creative without strategy is called ‘art.’ Creative with strategy is called advertising” – Jef Richards, educator

Art is a form of expressing oneself

Consciously or unconsciously artists are following Socrates’ command – Know thyself.

During this process, artists are exploring their subject, medium, and material, rebalancing the spiritual value of those elements, thereby experiencing the subtle preciousness of their awareness.

This interaction is beautiful which in fact leads to the inevitable desire for outward expression.

Art is born here.

5. Art is freedom in every sense

“Art is meant to disturb. Science reassures” – Georges Braque, painter

One decides to express the imagination is brave. The value of freedom in our creative expression cannot be overstated.

What about aestheticizing violence? What about creating art in gigantic forms?

What about choosing topics that are controversial? Different expressive media have a tendency to attract different personalities.

Phillipe Perrin, known for his huge artworks revolving around the subjects of evil and crime, chooses subjects that have the power to instill immediate shock and presents them in a bold way that ensures they do.

One of Perrin’s famous works, Bloodymary, blends the line between theatre, sculpture, and performance art through the lens of murder.

The artist uses unconventional medium and subject to place the viewer face to face with images inexorably tied to modern violence, subtly aestheticizing the violence in art.

The true meaning of art can be multifarious, but the purpose of art is met when such artists like Perrin uses art in innovative and unconventional ways.

6. Art sends strong messages from the sidewalk to the world at large

 “Speak softly, but carry a big can of paint” – Bansky 

Street art has proven itself to be a truly expressive art form.

It is not an inferior form of political outcry nor is it the indifferent rebellion of disaffected youth.

Street art thinks, feels, and evokes thoughts and emotions in the people that view it with an open mind.

Using iconic imagery that is often recognizable regardless of language, the street artist is able to speak his opinions and solutions to a global audience, making this a rapidly advancing form of art the world over.

7.  Art is the most intense mode of individualism

“Art is either plagiarism or revolution” – Paul Gauguin, painter

Famous artist Paul Gauguin once written – “One must always feel the plane, the wall; tapestries need no perspective”

Paul Gauguin’s art, style, and legacy reflected strongly in his artworks and often dismantled the traditional perspectives of art.

Gauguin was once of a few ordinary men that were able to leave mundane life to realize and fulfill a dream – to become an artist.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by Paul Gauguin is a great example of individualism where Gauguin said to read from right to left instead of from left to right – which in fact provides an entirely different perspective to the reader, which itself shows the true power and meaning of art

8. Art shifts realism into reality

“Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn’t look like a painting of something; it looks like the thing itself.” – Roy Lichtenstein

We’re living in a time where our beliefs and messages must be braver and rendered more boldly than ever before.

Popular culture was shrouding everything in the 1950’s and 60’s in America, and maintaining the status quo became more important than ever.

The power of pop art has been emerging since then and continuously breaking all conformist perspectives and definitions of art

Whereas abstract artists sought to let the medium control the image, such as in Pollock’s drops of paint.

Pop Artists went beyond realism into reality.

9. Great art tells meaningful stories

“Art does not reproduce what is visible; it makes things visible.” Paul Klee, artist

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau – One of the most perceptible modern pieces of art, currently resides in MoMA Newyork,  has been considered as one of the many inspiring works by poets and musicians and also frequently parodied.

In this masterpiece, both, lion and woman display a calm demeanor on this artwork, but actually, both are on the alert warning that the trust between two worlds may get violated anytime.

10. Art validates our sorrows

“Art grows from joy and sorrow, but mostly from sorrow. It grows from human lives” – Edvard Munch

Art helps us see that sorrow can be beautiful and noble and still be one aspect of a good life.

Art also helps us to suffer alone without the input of society so that we can show a dignified face to the world in our public sorrow.

The true meaning of art lies in the emotion, considering sorrow is one prominent expression that we embody, art always validates our sorrows. “They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn’t.

I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” said Frida Kahlo, a great artist who infused her canvas with her native Mexican birthright and the historical epochs of her life.

11. Art is a personal act of courage

“Art is a personal act of courage” – Seth Godin

Courage is more important than creativity. Great art comes from the heart, doesn’t come from doing what you’re told. The mesmerizing charm of a great work of art doesn’t come from what is painted on the canvas. Rather, it comes from what was in the artist’s heart while he was painting. Franz Krueger’s The Parade auf Opernplatzis a great example of that. Krueger shows us that true art can be created only through courage, the strength of character, and determination. The meaning of art implies a personal and open proliferation of your thoughts.

12. Art is the signature of civilizations

“Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” – Leonardo da Vinci

Humanity advances on the great foundations built by ancestors. We transform the heritage of the past, learn the social aspects, identify new opportunities and invent new ways of life. In this journey, the past lives remain as a reference point as a subtle guide to build great things in this modern world.

At Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, you will be amazed by the galleries of  “The art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and later South Asia” section, where you will experience some of the finest masterpieces from the Islamic world, moreover enables you to understand the artistic and scientific heritage of an entire civilization. Rightly said by Roger Seruton, the culture of civilization is the art and literature through which it rises to the consciousness of itself and defines the vision of the world – after all the definition of culture derives from greater civilizations

13. Art embodies power and of color

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment” – Claude Monet

Colors are powerful. Doesn’t matter what you might be creating now – a painting, or a powerpoint presentation, or an illustration –  your eyes must be straying over a palette, splashed with many colors, choosing the right one to add to your work.  To a sensitive soul, the impact of a perfect color combination is deeper and intensely moving.

Visual art always played an important role for artists to convey the life, lustre, and power of life through colors

14. Art is Attitude

“Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics”- Victor Pinchuk

Art has taken a different dimension to think, feel and evoke thoughts in the people that view it with an open mind. Art represents the attitude either of an artist or of a belief system. Street art is often considered as vandalism, but it is executed with purpose, design, technique and intention. Street art heightens our experience of the visual landscape outside museum walls.

15. Art is the highest form of hope

“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” Elbert Hubbard, artist

Art can move us to tears. Beautiful art can bring tears of joy when we see a painting, sculpture or photograph of people or creatures experiencing things we want to experience. Experiencing such heart-warming feelings about it encourages us to hope for the same thing for ourselves.

Mutiny of Colours, A Project of Love, Peace, and Unity by Iranian Street Artists is one great example. The powerful messages of peace, love, and hope in a country torn apart by internal conflicts are represented by Iranian street artists through their art, and mostly these works grow in all endless direction, both metaphorically, conceptually and physically.

16. Art is about two things – Life and Death

“The goal of all life is death” – Sigmund Freud

Many artists have used death as a theme for art.

By giving death as a central theme, artists force us to confront the reality of birth and death within the same frame. Hope II by Gustav Klimt is one great art – represents a pregnant woman and the weight of hope the protagonist carried in her womb. The function of art lies around the diverse perspectives of life and death

Birth and death exist side-by-side, suspended in equilibrium, collaborators in the appetite of living.

17. Art rebalances our life

“Art is like soup. There will be some vegetables you don’t like but as long as you get some soup down you it doesn’t matter.” George Wyllie, Sculptor

Viewing art that depicts situations and feelings outside of what we normally experience on a daily basis helps us attain balance in our emotions by filling those voids.

We gain balance through art by taking a moment to observe, judge, and appreciate things we don’t normally see and our responses to them.

18. Art can be surreal

“Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos” – Stephen Sondheim

Surrealism – a philosophical and artistic movement that explored the unconscious mind – reveals human emotions and desires in an irrational, powerful, poetic and revolutionary way. The concept has a greater relevance considering it brought out the repressed inner worlds of sexuality, violence, dream, and desire.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali shows us a few seemingly soft or melted pocket watches lying about in open land.  Dali’s message was to show that time and space are relative and that we, in fact, live in a universe of complete disorder.

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” – Salvador Dali

19. Art is You

“Art is anything you can get away with”- Andy Warhol

Art helps us to complete our own unformed thoughts and ideas. We have an ‘aha’ moment when we see a piece of art that perfectly captures a feeling or thought we have had that we couldn’t express. When this happens, we have gained a piece of new knowledge through the art that we can now communicate to ourselves and to others.

This why the best possible function of art operates via YOU.

20. Art is discovery and exploration

“Art is a discovery and development of elementary principles of nature into beautiful forms suitable for human use”- Frank Lloyd Wright

Is it not more remarkable when a natural talent emerges from nothingness to produce a work of art with an organic honesty that might have been wiped out by years of training in established structures, conventions, and accepted wisdom?

One such unlikely place was a tax collector’s office in Paris, and its unlikely talent came in the form of a Laval­born son of a plumber named Henri Rousseau. The majority of Rousseau’s life is somewhat cloudy, and with good reason—it is wholly unexceptional.

The Snake Charmer by Henri Rousseau is a dream­like depiction of mysterious human and animal forms in a jungle scene. This work is a testament to the attention Rousseau received from prominent artists during his time.

21. Art empowers the heart of people

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas

When activists are showing images of children suffering from poverty or oppression in their campaigns, this is the art pulling the heartstrings of society’s elite and powerful to make changes. Such moments – using art to raise awareness – truly validate the existence and definition of art

When photographers publish the photos of war-torn areas, it catches the attention of masses whose hearts reach out for those who need help. When the artist creates great music and movies, it entertains people around the world. This is art, making a difference in society.

22. Culture is a great friend of art

“Art speaks the soul of its culture” – Abby Willowroot

Art is also a remarkable mode of depicting culture from all over the world, art and culture complement each other very well.

When you see a Zen garden in Sydney or San Francisco, you know that it’s a practice that originated from China. When you see paper swans swarming a beautiful wedding ceremony, you know that this is origami, an art that came from Japan. When you see films featuring Bollywood music and dancing, you know that it’s a movie from India.

Destinations like Newyork, Berlin, Prague, Sao Paulo, UAE, etc. are on a helm of cultural revolution to uplift their cities with art, design, and imagination – after all culture is the collective term for human behaviors

23. Art is activism

“Art resides in the quality of doing, the process is not magic.” – Charles Eames

Art has been used many times to represent the isolation, claustrophobia, and anxiety of our society due to the tough political times that we’re living at present. Tetsuya Ishida, a Japanese artist, portrayed the Japanese life about the social, economic and academic educational structures. Many of his works exposed the Japanese people’s trials in trying to acclimate to the changes involving social and technological contemporary life. Read – Tetsuya Ishida – Saving the World With A Brushstroke

Similarly, a lot of street art has an obvious, or sometimes very subtle, anti-establishment hint in it. The very mediums it uses, owned by states or corporations, are protected by law from the artist but are used without regard or in spite of it. That illegality is often a part of the message

24. Art is harmony

“Art is harmony” – George Seaurat

The power of art lies neither in the image nor the emotions it arouses in the viewer, rather its greatness is derived from understanding the creative forces which inspired the masterpiece.  Harmony is a subjective concept, rather it emerges within a context that many factors come together. Goya’s black paintings series is a great example that proves this theory. Today, although we are exposed to images of gore, misery, and grief, much of it is sanitized and censored. Goya, on the other hand, unabashedly captures human trauma and sorrow in the paint.

25. Art as Therapy

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”- Thomas Merton

In the famous book Art as Therapy, the authors have outlined seven functions of art and explain how art helps us grow and evolve in our understanding of ourselves, each other, and the world we live in. Taking your time to mindfully observe artwork can be of true value to your emotional well-being.

Conclusion: The functions of art remain incomprehensible

‘What is art?’— one question continuously steers educators, performers, practitioners, and philosophers to engage in deep analysis. But no matter what the function of art may be, the experience it delivers finally matters, and probably one reason it has been around us for as long as humans have existed. Whether or not we are aware of it, we allow art to affect our lives one way or another.

You may not know it, but your daily existence can be much more colorful with the presence and influence of art, and it only gets better once you allow your own creativity and imagination to take a turn for good.

So go ahead and open yourself up to art. It will be worth the change.

The post 25 Functions of Art That Make Us Better Human Beings appeared first on The Artist.

While many principal characteristics of renaissance art have been influencing the modern world, this phase had led towards a spiritual thinking wherein people began exploring the philosophy of humanism

With the advent of the printing press, knowledge was for the first time in over 1000 years accessible to people outside of the clergy, the noble, the aristocratic, and the royal.

Renaissance brought about several changes. And these are changes that are still influencing the modern world, even up till presently. But germane among its effect was the fact that at the time, it ushered the world into a phase of heightened spiritual thinking. A phase where people began to explore the philosophy of humanism.

Special attention was given to the classical eras in Greece and in Rome, which until the Renaissance were the pinnacle of human achievement.

Renaissance Art – A period of revival and creativity

A renewed passion for learning and for human achievement led to the influence of all of these new studies in the formation of greater art.

Renaissance was a period of greater learning and curiosity that led many learners and artists to develop and engage in new forms of art.

Renaissance brought about several changes. And these are changes that are still influencing the modern world, even up till presently. But germane among its effect was the fact that at the time, it ushered the world into a phase of heightened spiritual thinking. A phase where people began to explore the philosophy of humanism.

Florence, Italy was the birthplace of the Renaissance and that is the reason why many disciplines focused mainly on Italy.

The power of humanists during the Renaissance period was dominating and thus the church sought to become “patron” of the artists’ projects.

The creative ventures involving the church and the artists shot up due to the high education sponsored by the church and the wealthy merchants spending huge amounts of money on the paintings.

Renaissance art was instrumental in the change that the world experienced. Below are five of the characteristics of Renaissance Art that had a major influence on the world. 

Top 5 Characteristics of Renaissance Art that Changed the World

1. A positive willingness to learn and explore

The onset of technology and new discoveries led artists and learners to seek more.

While the Western world saw simultaneous discoveries and innovations, the artists in Italy became more and more curious to explore the world and all the possible aspects of nature.

The discoveries in Europe included new sea routes, continents, and colonies along with new innovations in architecture, sculpting, and painting. They believed that revival of the classical antiquity could lead to a much worthy and standardized stake in that era.

2. Faith in the nobility of man- Humanism

Prior to Renaissance was the Renaissance Humanism which contributed immensely to the rise of the Renaissance.

Note that Renaissance Humanism is not the same as Humanism.

Humanism was a major offshoot, and characteristic of the Renaissance period. While the Renaissance Humanism was an intellectual movement that began in the 13th century. The major ideal of the philosophy was tied around the study of classical texts, and the alteration of these classical thinking by more contemporary ones. As in the 15th century, Renaissance Humanism had become the dominant form of education. It was so popular that it was divided into a range of sub-developments. Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) is regarded as the Father of Italian Humanism, his contribution to the philosophy was quite huge.

Renaissance Humanism was very instrumental to the reign of the Renaissance. It was popular and predominant during the period. This was to the extent that the church had to support and even “patron” it.

Humanists shared the belief that God created humans with so many potentials and abilities, and to get the best of them, one has to dignify himself and esteem himself rightly. So they felt that they had the responsibility to act on this belief and make the most of it.

Through humanism, Art especially enjoyed the support of the church. The church began to finance and sponsor creative ventures and education. And with the high-rate of patronage from the wealthy royals, there was always a ready market for the paintings that were made.

Intellectuals, artisans and common men concluded that the Church was never a responsible source for their behavior and beliefs towards God and fellow men and that they themselves are responsible for the actions.

The parallel vision between religion and humanism was cleared and the esteem related to self-importance was thought upon. The magnificent Procession of the Magi, portrayed by Gozzoli along with companies, seeks a more regal face rather than a religious one.

3. The discovery and mastery of linear perspective

The revival in math and proportions led to the innovations of two major systems: the use of linear perspective and the introduction of the vanishing point – This is considered to be one of the revolutionary characteristics of renaissance art

This was created by the famous architect of that time, Filippo Brunelleschi.

He used the innovations in math to create a linear perspective using parallel lines, a horizon line and a vanishing point to realistically portray space and depth in art.

Since painting is a two-dimensional activity, the advent of linear perspective created a three-dimensional look through practice.

To achieve this, artists took a horizon line at eye level and marked a vanishing point on it. A receding checkerboard of intersecting lines was created that converged and met the vanishing point. This created a sense of distance and depth.

With constant practice, artists managed to create a three-dimensional effect in their paintings.

Not only did the art with linear perspective shoot high, but the ability to portray convincingly naturalistic figures in illusionistic spaces was praiseworthy too.

The mastermind behind the developments was the author of three mathematical treatises and a wonderful artist, Piero Della Francesca, whose perspective paintings and impressive figures showed technique and finesse. One such classic example of his work is The Flagellation of Christ.

4. Rebirth of Naturalism. 

This is another characteristic of Renaissance Art that brought about change in world patterns.   

At the period, there was the rise of anatomical drawings and paintings. The Italian Renaissance artist-Leonardo da Vinci pioneered this move. He set the standard for drawing and painting anatomically correct bodies. He birthed this out of his quest to thoroughly understand the human body. He did this by performing 20 autopsies while drawing all that he found in the human body, the way he saw them. He then incorporated what he learned of bone structures, musculature, and organ placement (from the bodies he drew or painted), into the body of knowledge.   

Italian Renaissance artists integrated figures into complex scenes that permitted a broader perspective and a glimpse into the lives of the wealthy or rich.

Both light, shadow, and perspective were used effectively to draw attention to figures in paintings. 

Leonardo Da Vinci was considered to be a scientist as well as an artist.

Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo observed cadavers being dissected.

This was for them to study how human muscles lay underneath the skin.  

In Medieval days, the human body was regarded as being sinful, smelly, and disgusting. And therefore, it was to be covered at all times.

But then, during the Renaissance period, this changed. Renaissance thinkers considered the human body to be a beautiful thing. And in fact, a model for God’s universe.

In Da Vinci’s 1487 drawing; “Vitruvian Man,” which meant “universal man”, he expressed how a spread-eagle human body, fits into a perfect circle. And he did this with its arms stretched out into a perfect square.

Michelangelo’s nude statue, “David” is a prime example of the Renaissance’s fascination with the human body. And its belief that the human body is the apex of God’s creation.

Michelangelo painted so many nude characters in his “Last Judgement”. He did this on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. And after a while, the Vatican had to hire another painter to paint modest clothes around his drawings, to cover many of the nude paintings.

5. Secularism 

Secularism; which is the last characteristic I’ll dwell on, was also a useful force. It is the transition of predominant beliefs and thought patterns from religious themes to broader themes. And also the incorporation of practices such as architecture and sculpture. Renaissance artists portrayed non-religious themes, meanwhile, Medieval Art was exclusively religious in nature.

During Medieval times, most people believed the world would end in the year 1,000 A.D., so they believed that any other art subject was inappropriate.

Renaissance art focused on religious subjects, and Bible characters. So the trend gradually shifted toward the painting of scenes that were not religious. 

One of the earliest Renaissance examples of a non-religious theme was van Eyck’s revolutionary “Arnolfini Marriage.” Jan van Eyck employed the art of depth and reflection by adding a mirror on the back wall. That way, the people that viewed the picture got a reflection of themselves in the view of the painting.

The interest in Classical Roman culture was rekindled during this period. Then, the Renaissance put forward artworks that often portrayed scenes from Greek and Roman mythology. 

One of the evidence of the rebirth of the Greek and Roman culture was the revival of sculpture works.

In classical times, only the important cities were filled with statues and sculptures. But during the Renaissance, there was an increased interest in archeology, to rediscover the Classical culture. Michelangelo was present when the Laocoon; carved in the 1st century, was discovered in Rome.

Michelangelo was not only a painter and sculptor of great talent. He also served as the architect of the Dome for St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. And this church building is acclaimed to be the largest church building on earth.

Final thoughts

Conclusively, the phase of Renaissance art had countless effects and a great impact on the way the world is now structured.

Painters and sculptors that emerged after this period of great innovations and developments, followed up on the new trends and even made out better designs and artworks. Well, as time passed, innovations proceeded and knowledge got more refined with every passing generation.

The teachings, learnings, and innovations of previous generations led newer ones to thirst after new breakthroughs. Breakthroughs that will typify their own generation. This then kept each person on their toes and helped them to discover and contribute more to the body of art.

Geniuses such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo contributed at a high level with their findings and innovations.

Other fields of expertise like Architecture were also not left out. Architecture and Art experienced a completely different lapse.

This phase in Architecture led to the rise in all of the beautiful designs that characterized the past centuries. Viewed as devotional objects of that time, the paintings are still adorned as great works of art. And it even birthed our present structures; the jaw-dropping ones which we now boast of today. 

The principles of Renaissance art have no doubt, contributed immensely to the state of the world today. It taught us principles and ideals which have remained relevant, through and true.

And have transcended generations, while still strongly influencing our lifestyle and patterns in today’s world.

The 7 most famous of renaissance paintings

Why is Monalisa painting so famous?

The post 5 Characteristics of Renaissance Art That Changed the World Forever appeared first on The Artist.

But maybe we should stop worrying and learn to love the “naive”.[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]Is it not more remarkable when a natural talent emerges from nothingness to produce a work of art with an organic honesty that might have been wiped out by years of training in established structures, conventions, and accepted wisdom? [/quote_colored]

Maybe the first time someone said it, they said it with a sneer, but that person was almost certainly an established artist or critic who might have felt threatened by a raw talent from an unlikely place.

One such unlikely place was a tax collector’s office in Paris, and its unlikely talent came in the form of a Laval­born son of a plumber named Henri Rousseau. The majority of Rousseau’s life is somewhat cloudy, and with good reason—it is wholly unexceptional. After graduating high school with merely passable grades,

Rousseau worked for a while as a lawyer’s assistant before deciding to trade in his briefcase for a gun as a member of the French army. His father’s death put an end to any military aspirations, as Rousseau moved back to his hometown to care for his mother, eventually finding himself in a government position as a toll collector. At this point, Rousseau is a few years past forty, married, father of several children, and moderately successful in a comfortable job.

Respectable, sure, but remarkable? Not by a long shot. It was during this time that Rousseau began to commit himself to the one subject where he had shown exceptional talent as a student—art. At the age of 49, he left his day job and dedicated himself fully to creating art. Maybe it makes for a better story to say that his work was unappreciated in his lifetime—and certainly, he attracted more than his fair share of critics and found limited financial success—but to claim as much is to ignore several renowned supporters that he earned during his lifetime. Chief among them is the great Pablo Picasso, whose immediate recognition of Rousseau’s talent compelled him to host a banquet in the former toll collector’s honor.

The Snake Charmer, pictured here, is a testament to the attention Rousseau received from prominent artists during his time. Commissioned by the mother of experimental French artist Robert Delaunay in 1907, one year prior to the banquet with Picasso and three years before Rousseau’s death,[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”] The Snake Charmer is a dream­like depiction of mysterious human and animal forms in a jungle scene. [/quote_colored]The piece’s reliance on dark, subdued colors relegates its subjects to shadows in the background, giving the piece a frightful, exotic feel. This focus on feeling over precision in naive art genre is what makes Rousseau’s frequent jungle depictions so evocative, though it is now believed that he lived his entire life in France and never saw a jungle with his own eyes. The Snake Charmer is an especially strong example of what made the naive art style so controversial during Rousseau’s time—abstract yet meticulous, childlike but sophisticated in a way of its own.

Though beloved by many artists during his lifetime, wide acceptance of Rousseau as an avant­garde master did not occur until after his death in 1910. The flat, fantastical depictions seen in naive art works such as The Snake Charmer, The Hungry Lion Throws Itself on the Antelope (1905), The Sleeping Gypsy and The Dream (1910) have influenced artists and writers as varied as Sylvia Plath and Joni Mitchell, and his unlikely rise to fame continues to inspire us all to this day.

[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]In every common person there is the potential for greatness—greatness which may be criticized, called primitive and unsophisticated, but can be developed only through determination and perfecting one’s craft. [/quote_colored]

If being “naive” puts you in the company of greats such as Rousseau, consider that it may not be such a bad thing after all. As stated above, we must stop worrying and learn to love the naive. Is it truly remarkable when a natural talent emerges from nothingness to produce a work of passion with an organic honesty and enters into the world of greatness!

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What allows it to stand the test of time?

Is it the technique the artists use? Or perhaps it’s the colours? The theme?

No, it’s something infinitely more complex than that. Real art is alive. It is given power by the artists who see a different world and show us exactly what they perceive.

They expand our understanding even of simple concepts. But in order to do that, they need to be courageous.They mustn’t paint because they expect someone to like or appreciate their art. They mustn’t paint because someone told them to.

[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]The mesmerizing charm of a great work of art doesn’t come from what is painted on the canvas. Rather, it comes from what was in the artist’s heart while he was painting.[/quote_colored]

Franz Krueger’s The Parade auf Opernplatzis a great example of that

In 1824, Nicolas I, the future tsar of Russia, commissioned a painting to commemorate a very special day in history. He made sure that a well-known painter was to illustrate his grand stature and show the whole world his greatness. The painting was supposed to be about him. Thus Franz Krueger was given the great honour to capture his future majesty’s prominence on the canvas.

Krueger was already a well-known painter in Berlin and specialized in military paintings and portraits, so this choice made a lot of sense. However, the artist had something a bit more different in mind.

The painting shows a sky, shrouded in clouds. There’s a great gathering of people on the square so it’s obvious that something important is happening. The buildings are expertly painted to remind us of where we are. Statues silently observe as events unveil. In the background, soldiers are standing in perfect formation, each one a copy of the other. Military officers are riding their horses around to signify that something is going on, all the while a large crowd has gathered on both sides of the ranks.

The artist has beautifully painted the crowd and infused it into a whole – it’s impossible to tell if there are aristocrats or ordinary people under the black hats. There is no distinction – just as the artist wanted it.

It’s continuum of people. Just people, without putting an emphasis on their stature, social status, political influence, profession or anything else! Just people. The disorderly crowd provides a perfect contrast to the structured ranks of the military. This breathes life into the painting.

If you carefully read the description again, and if you observe the painting with a bit more attention to detail, you will notice that something is missing. Or perhaps not missing, but definitely not getting the focus some parties intended.

Where is Nicolas I in all of this?

It is a known fact that he was the one who ordered the painting and it was supposed to commemorate a big moment for him. Yet he’s not the centre of this incredible work of true art. He’s just a part of the crowd. Just another person in a sea of normal people! His stature and grandiose nature are not shown in the painting. Krueger wanted to capture something special, something grand, and having a lot more substance than the life of an aristocrat, even if he was a future tsar. Instead of being a monument of the duke’s ego, the painting actually told the story of the people in that particular moment.

[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]Scandalous for its time, the painting gathers the attention of the art community to this day. It doesn’t have one central image to it, but rather shows the gathering of the Berlin bourgeois, subtly hinting that no one person is more important than the others; that they’re a whole and they are what creates the spirit of the city.[/quote_colored]

Krueger shows us that true art can be created only through courage, strength of character, and determination.

The artist simply painted what he saw. How was this gutsy?

It actually took a lot of nerve to depict the Berlin bourgeois with the same level of detail as the future tsar of Russia. The duke, his influence, the force of the Russian military – they are all undermined by the presence of these ordinary people in the painting. The painting was commissioned in 1824, yet Krueger didn’t deliver what was asked of him.

Instead of designing a beautiful lie or pleasing the king by bringing him to center of attraction, the artist represented the even more beautiful truth. He tells a narrative, showing us that there is no one “hero” in the centre of this story, but that each and every one of these people matter. They are what make the city what it is. They are Berlin and without them, there is no city; there is no parade; there is no story.

Look at the painting and ask yourself how does it make you feel? The dim sky perfectly sets the serious mood of the piece. The huge, empty square, the big buildings contrasting with the huge crowd underlines the importance of each and every one of the people present in the painting, whether we’re talking about soldiers, officers, or civilians. It makes you feel that all of them are a part of something great, locked in the moment; but also that they are the moment itself, and that this great thing wouldn’t exist without them.

It transports you into the parade and makes you feel like you’re a part of it, too. The painting simply inspires you to contemplate something great.

[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]Krueger showed us that great art comes from the heart.It doesn’t come from doing what you’re told. This is why the painting is so mesmerizing – because it doesn’t portray something we’ve seen a thousand times before. It doesn’t paint scenes of the fake heroism of aristocrats at the time. There is no idealization or painting with rose-tinted glasses. The artist simply shows us the truth and the critical realism of his painting is what resonates with us.[/quote_colored]

Krueger knew that there is a difference between creating something beautiful and creating something powerful.

Even though these two concepts don’t necessarily exclude one another, it’s entirely possible for beautiful art not to be powerful, while vice versa is almost out of the question. Power comes from creating something that’s exploring the boundaries and reaching new frontiers. It comes from doing something people think you shouldn’t be doing; the unpopular choices that are misunderstood by many; the experiments no one believes would be successful. Yet in most cases they are the ones that withstand the test of time.

[quote_colored name=”” icon_quote=”no”]A true artist has the courage to get outside of his comfort zone and this is when true masterpieces are born. Courage is possibly the most important aspect of painting something meaningful that leads to a greater understanding.[/quote_colored]

It breeds authenticity and is not there to please the audience, but to show them the way the artist sees the world. It’s there to make people ponder questions and think about their own reality. If you don’t do that, if your art doesn’t bring people to new heights, then what’s the point?

If you have the chance to visit Berlin—an amazing, living, breathing city which offers fantastic art—be sure to visit the Alte Nationalgalerie and see some of Berlin’s finest paintings.

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The Story of Paul Gauguin is immensely cinematic and inspirational.

Paul Gauguin was one of a few ordinary men who could leave mundane life to realize and fulfill a dream.

While it was fully intentional that he be recognized as a Prophet of Art, he couldn’t have imagined that he would go beyond that and be heralded by future critics as a clandestine classicist who was true from the very beginning artist of great talent.

Gauguin’s dream was not to be a painter known for exacting detail, but to be a forerunner of a new age of artistic expression and symbolism, defined not only by his art but by his character, reputation, essence, and aura

He built a legend around his life that may have at first been an act but later became a reality.

Gauguin’s composition has a strictly balanced framework of horizontals and verticals to which the harmonious rhythms of the groups of figures remain subject.

One of his great works – Te Tamari No Atua (The Birth of Christ) – a depiction of an island girl lying on her cot, a crib with oxen and a dog behind her, two helpers in the background, mother and child encompassed by a gleaming aureole, is still as moving today as when it was painted.

From Everyman to Prophet to Master: The Evolution of The Prophet Gauguin

Though Gauguin wanted everyone to think he was “a savage”, his actual life began in 1848 in Peru, where he was born to a journalist and his French-Peruvian wife, who herself was descended from Peruvian nobility. He was raised mainly in Lima, Peru, until he joined the Merchant Marine as a young man.

His days as a sailor took him to many ports of call as far away as India and the Black Sea, but he was especially entranced by Rio de Janeiro and the South American Continent from which he fancied his savage roots.

As he grew into manhood, he settled down in Paris and became a financier at a local firm. He did well, married well, and became a person of means.

With his prosperity, he began a collection of Impressionist art, which spurred a passion in him that ignited him all of his life.

As a collector, he met Impressionists like Cezanne and Camille Pissarro and became enthralled with the idea of creating his art.

It was under Pissarro’s influence and tutelage that Gauguin became an artist.

The esteemed Impressionist invited the amateur painter and stockbroker to exhibit with his fellow Impressionists.

A little more than a decade after Gauguin had begun painting as a side interest, the stock market crashed. Much to the displeasure of his wife and her respectable family, he rejected the status quo lifestyle of Europe and his place in it as a business and family man and left ordinary life entirely in pursuit of the life of an artist.

Thinking that he could never find his lost paradise in the mundane conformity of European society, he went in search of it in exotic or rural locations.

He was on a mission of discovery that led him to Panama, Martinique, Brittany, Tahiti, and the Marquesas Islands.

He also explored exotic physical locations and spiritual and esoteric dimensions.

He lived and painted in the era of spiritualism and the occult, and he, with other artists such as Maurice Denis and Emile Bernard, embraced the idea of art as prophecy, creating a group known as the Nabis, the Hebrew word for ‘prophets’.

He believed that returning to the savage and native brought the art closer to a spiritual experience. He and his fellow Nabis also maintained that they were ushering in a new era of art – and they were.

He brought that philosophy to self-creation and wove stories and legends of his life and lineage as that of Incan savage rather than Peruvian nobility.

Gauguin created many great works in far-flung locales, but he lost everything to do it. His wife and family had shunned him when their lives collapsed from his neglect, and he didn’t have a penny to his name when he died. What he did have was his legacy.

Paul Gauguin’s Art, Style, and Legacy

The romance and drama of Gauguin’s life and the dreamy subjects of his paintings sometimes pull the viewer’s mind from the skill and execution of his work.

A clandestine classicist, he was never far removed from the sophistication and beauty of classicism, even though that was never his intention.

Gauguin’s used flat planes and bold colors to elicit feeling in the viewer rather than a mere appreciation for a well-rendered piece of realistic art or the aesthetic beauty of the impressionists.

He wanted the viewer to engage with the subjects, not the art itself.

The prophet was not impressed with the European art world’s attempt at primitive art because it neither hailed from nor represented any primitive source.

On the other hand, he traveled to Tahiti to create primitive art in a primitive place.

In his work Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?), his choice of composition and color give the feeling of such a place, and he doesn’t need nor use detail to impart the emotions of the central subjects of the painting.

The anti-establishment pro-savagery ideal he sought is evident in the fragile composition that features three horizontal fields of color juxtaposed with two figures placed one on top of the other in the very center of the canvas, breaking every rule of compositional placement.

This rule-breaking only adds to the feeling of the place and is completely appropriate, especially in adding to the ebullient attitude of the main subject.

The hopeful bride figure in the front is in a playful and anticipative pose while an older girl sits confidently behind.

The calming choice of hue in the three fields of color that make up the landscape brings the offset composition back into harmony and suggests peace, happiness, and the carefree joy of a simple place.

His philosophy of simple planes and clean lines does not hinder his ability to capture the expression and feeling of the girls in the piece, and in fact, only enhances the effect.

Gauguin once written – “One must always feel the plane, the wall; tapestries need no perspective”

Indeed, the suggestion is all that is needed.

His colors, subject matter, and composition complete the whole.

His many works accomplish his ideals and bring the viewer into a spiritual and emotional place close to the core of the primitive mind.

His attitude toward shape and plane influenced succeeding movements and artists in the Art Nouveau, German Expressionism, Fauvist, and Abstract movements.

His dissolute life, extreme poverty, a heart condition, and alcohol had broken the spirit and ruined the body of this seemingly indomitable, athletic man during his last days.

But Paul was a man that accomplished what so many have not, the fulfillment of a dream and the realization of his convictions into eternity.

Hey Paul Gauguin, You’re truly an inspiration to us!

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In a bid to improve, get better and serve better, in the course of the latest inventions, artificial intelligence (AI) is now a common phenomenon.

Dating back to the 1950s, when AI took the stage, one would see that it has come a very long way. Its usefulness cuts across various industries, and its impact cannot be overlooked.

For one who is conversant with art and AI and the immense improvement both areas have witnessed, it is surprising that art and AI have somehow, one way or the other, found a way to come together.

Art and AI have merged.

Artists are known for their desire to explore and experiment with the latest technologies.

Owing to this, artists have not left AI as a field out of their quest for adventure; rather, they have found a way to bring art and AI together.

The concept of a merger existing between art and AI is exciting and, at the same time, intriguing.

It is not new knowledge that AI has taken the place of human skills, ideas, and abilities in many fields.

However, this development is the reason for the question, “With AI now in the picture, is it safe to say that we would no longer be needing the services of the artists?”.

The answer to that is No.

You probably do not understand because art as a field might as well suffer the same fate as other fields, but this is a question with roots, and the place of artists in the presence of AI, which now seems hidden, needs to be unveiled.

In a real sense, without art, there would be no way to imagine new ways in which we can use AI.

Of the many reasons we do art, the aim most of the time is to communicate, educate, recall memories, and create an emotional atmosphere regarding any topic.

In a quest to understand and truly be able to touch our personalities, we have each come up with ways to express ourselves in whatever form it may be.

You want to experience that feeling of being able to express your thoughts, ideas, and desires and being sure that you have successfully passed a message across.

Art allows you to communicate effectively even without words and gives you room to see yourself in things that are not you.

There was a period when of his many troubles, the last thing man would choose to engage in was some activity involving brushes and colors or dry bones and feathers.

Rather, he took to hunting, the fight for survival, and the daily challenge of a place to lay his head.

As time went by, man evolved. He began to think differently; he started to put his resources and abilities to good use, gathering food in easier ways than hunting and this little space; he thought of something a bit different from the concept of survival. Art was what he thought about.

Man’s ability to put his resources- dry bones and feathers, to good use while making simple art is what we have inadvertently tried to bring to life with machines.

The ability to multi-task, think fast, understand, reason, and carry out tasks effectively are core components of AI that have been major parts of man since time immemorial.

We should consider the possibility of our writing skills being sharpened and our becoming creative writers by using computers while they make rare connections between words and suggest new words.

Taking cues from machine learning could be the best way to positively impact education and training while developing a mutual approach to human-machine learning.

AI has been integrated into art gradually, and we started by using AI to create art by taking time to teach these machines to understand, interpret, and reproduce our art.

There is a technique known as style transfer, which uses deep neural systems to reproduce, redesign and align several varying art styles, ranging from paintings to sculptures and a lot more.

It recognizes and combines elements from one image and uses them in another without any necessary coding experience.

The form of art you choose to apply it to doesn’t matter; the procedures are the same, whether painting, sculpture, dance, music or photography.

You only have to choose an artwork whose style you want to reproduce and allow the system to apply that style to a different image. You can also choose several art styles and allow the machine to produce a perfect blend of styles.

Style transfer has made AI seem like an impersonator. The question of who owns the artwork remains unanswered. Artists control how the styles are blended and are allowed to edit as they please.

While using AI to imitate, we must begin to make maximum use of AI.

Many challenges have surfaced as interest in art has continued to increase. People are more intentional about gaining knowledge concerning art, and more people have picked an interest in art.

As people are beginning to develop a genuine interest in art, there is another issue of how to search or browse concerning art.

Most people who pick an interest in art have only stared at artworks. People need to understand the elements of art and its formal qualities like lines and composition.

AI has helped to successfully bridge this gap between art and the people.

Google’s “Deep Dream Generator” platform, which started to help scientists understand how AI works, has become a means to create art, producing results that can be termed psychedelic.

Beyond the deep dream, artists have started to use other forms of AI to produce art in different styles.

Tate Britain recently asked, ” how can AI help?”.

AI was chosen as the theme for the year because getting machines to do what humans can do only gets more exciting by the day while the entries rolled in.

The winning entry “recognition” features a program that’d continuously screens about 1,000 photographs a day, made available by Reuters, and tries to link them with 30,000 British artworks in Tate’s database based on whatever similarities the images share.

Google’s research project – Magenta, explores using AI to create art and make the process easier.

An artist has many objects placed in front of him that he intends to recreate with sketches, but this time around, using artificial intelligence.

He does a 3D scan of the objects to allow the artificial intelligence program to observe their contours, recognize the various objects, and then start to create their depictions.

Like his project (creating real-life objects in sketches using AI), the idea behind using AI in art is quite simple and easy to comprehend; it is a way of understanding the barriers to computational activity.

The artist, in this case, would be making use of a computer program that runs on a neural network like the human brain.

It is yet to be ascertained whether AI can make art without human intervention. There are basic differences between the work of robots and humans, and these differences, regardless of how much AI is used, will remain.

Until, certainly, AI can indeed produce art on its own without human intervention, it will be seen as a mere tool for human artists, so in clear terms, AI is not the artist; the artist can, however, make use of AI to create his art and twist it as he chooses.

Conclusion:

The place of artists cannot be overridden by robots or artificial intelligence because art is an idea or imagination finding expression without words.

Robots do not possess the ability to own ideas; humans do.

So if a person has an idea and has a robot to bring the whole idea to life, it is still art because of human intervention; however, little was provided.

The convergence of AI and Art continues to evolve.

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It’s true to the core that art never dies, it constantly improves itself. So, below are the most famous paintings about Death in Art.

The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio

The Entombment of Christ, a painting produced by Caravaggio between 1603 and 1604. The theme of death in art isn’t a rare occurrence, but this painting that is considered one of the most admired works of Caravaggio is a great example of how such deep aspects of life are important in depicting the key moments of history. In this painting, the dead Christ’s body is being carried by two men. It’s not a burial as Christ’s body is being laid on a stone slab but a moment of mourning as many believed God came to earth to reconcile humans with heavens.

Oath of the Horatii by Jacques Louis David

Oath of the Horatti is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1784. This painting is best known for its Neoclassicim style around the world. There was a dispute between Roman and Alba longa warring cities who have agreed to send best three warriors from their cities. This painting depicts three brothers from Roman family saluting their father who is holding their sword.

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

The Death of Leonardo da Vinci, a painting produced by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in 1818. This painting represents one of the greatest minds, resting in peace. The king of France, Francis I is shown holding Leonardo Da Vinci head and receiving his last words.

The Death of Socrates by Jacques Louis David

The Death of Socrates, a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1787. One of the main features of this painting is that it focuses on classical subjects. It depicts Socrates who was sentenced to death for introducing strange gods and corrupting the youth of Athens.

Andromache Mourning Hector by Jacques Louis David

Andromache Mourning Hector, a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1783. This painting is famous for one of the scenes used from antiquity. It depicts hector who has been killed by Achilles. Andromache is the wife who is mourning over his death and comforted by his child.

The Menaced Assassin by René Magritte

The Menaced Assassin, a painting produced by Rene Magritte in 1927. It is considered as one of the famous and theatrical works by Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte. The painting is about a nude woman whose body is lying on a couch smeared with blood while the assassins were about to leave the room.

Murdering Airplane by Max Ernst

Murdering Airplane is a painting produced by Max Ernst in 1920. For this painting, Max Ernst got inspiration from World War I events in which he also served as a fighter. This painting depicts a monstrous unrealistic airplane with human hands flying over a field.

Christ of Saint John of the Cross by Salvador Dali

Christ of Saint John of the Cross, a painting produced by Salvador Dali in 1951. The Spanish government got an offer of 127 million dollars for this painting but they rejected it. For this painting, the Spanish painter got inspiration from a dream in 1950, he saw the exact image of Christ in colors as drawn in this painting by him.

The Dying Swan by Vladimir Tretchikoff

The Dying Swan is a painting produced by Vladimir Tretchikoff in 1949. This painting is also well known around the world by the name “Alicia Markova The Dying Swan’. Alicia Markova was a lovable ballet girl who did perform the famous role of the Dying Swan. The South African painter loved her performance and hen decided to paint her.

The Surreal World of Salvador Dali

The Entombment by Michelangelo

The Entombment is a painting produced by Michelangelo between 1500 to 1501. This is an unfinished painting by the Italian artist who was going to depict the placing of the Christ body in the garden tomb through The Entombment.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living by Damien Steven Hirst

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living is an artwork – probably one of the best contemporary installations around the theme of death in art – produced by Damien Steven Hirst in 1991. It is known for its true example of Contemporary and Conceptual art. A killer dead shark is kept in a tank filled with formaldehyde.

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons by Jacques Louis David

The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1789. Many historians believed that the original title of this painting was Brutus returning home after having sentenced his sons for plotting a tarquinian restoration and conspiring against roman freedom, the Lictors burnt their bodies to be buried. The Lictors remains one of the greatest examples of death in art

Leonidas at Thermopylae by Jacques Louis David

Leonidas at Thermopylae is a painting produced by Jacques Louis David in 1814. The French painter was occupied for about fifteen years for Leonidas at Thermopylae painting. The Spartan king Leonidas preparing for combat is shown in this painting prior to the battle Thermopylae.

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? by Paul Gauguin

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is a painting produced by Paul Gauguin between 1897 and 1898. There is an original title inscribed on the upper left corner of this painting in French as D’où Venons Nous / Que Sommes Nous / Où Allons Nous. This painting should be read from right to left according to French painter instead of left to right.

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Some of the sculptures mentioned in this article were commissioned by city authorities to either commemorate the rich history of the towns or celebrate the works of notable writers, artists, and activists who contributed great efforts for fundamental causes.

Behold sculptures and figures that made an impactful mark around the world. Some of these sights took decades in the making! Installations such as Chicago’s ‘Cloud Gate’ or ‘Statue of Liberty’ are now identified as city markers.

Such feats would not be possible without the tremendous vision, perseverance, and sparkling curiosity of below mentioned artists and sculptures who’ve turned streets into attractions, hills into symbolic sights, and political agendas into murals.

Each sculpture was born from a unique story and stories continue to be the leading force behind amazing and even bizarre ideas.

Prepare to be mesmerized by 50 of the most fascinating and inspiring public art around the globe!

1.The Singing Ringing Tree by Mike Tonkin

 The Singing Ringing Tree beautifully curated by artists Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu in 2006, sits majestically in the Pennine hill range overlooking Burnley, England.

The 10 feet tall structure is composed of rows of galvanized steel cylinders in such a way that it resembles the shape of an actual tree. Here’s the real magic though – when the wind passes through the sculpture, a tune can be heard almost as if it is alive and singing.

In 2007, the structure was dedicated to the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

2.Les Voyageurs by Bruno Catalano

Les Voyageurs, sculptures of two men with missing torsos holding travel bags in Marseilles, France, is both an ode to new beginnings and a nod to completed journeys left behind. French artist Bruno Catalano evokes sorrowing feelings and memories every traveler feels when migrating to find a home in a new place.

The gravity-defying sculptures carry an air of melancholy and are said to be inspired by Catalano’s real-life nomadic lifestyle, with him traveling, sailing, and moving all his life.

3.Non Violence by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd

Non Violence, also cited as The Knotted Gun, by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd was completed in 1985 and aptly placed by the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York.

The sculpture is a gun with the front end twisted up in a knot. Reuterswärd fashioned this display soon after the murder of his friend, John Lennon. It is a stirring display symbolizing peace and hope for a future free of violence.

4.The Shoes on the Danube Bank by Can Togay

A sight of sadness for most and trauma for some, The shoes on the Danube Bank, by Can Togay and Gyula Pauer, commemorates the tragedy of World War II where hundreds of Hungarians were ordered to leave their shoes on the bank before getting shot.

The strip, completed in April 2005, features 60 pairs of shoes, all made of iron and attached to the stone embankment. 

5.Frank Kafka’s Head by David Cerny

The mechanized kinetic structure of Prague’s most celebrated literary figure Franz Kafka by artist David Cerny is one of the most mesmerizing installations in the world.

Frank Kafka’s Head or ‘Metalmorphosis’ was completed in 1991 and sits in downtown Prague close to where Kafka worked during the day. The bust is a reflection of Kafka’s inner mental torment, capturing the ‘mad genius’ syndrome that plagued him for life. Most of Kafka’s written works revolved around the themes of anxiety, alienation, and absurdity.

The bust is made up of rotating layers of stainless steel that twist randomly and fall into place uniformly to reveal Kafka’s face before disintegrating again. It’s a phenomenal monument mimicking traditional clockwork.

6.The Flying Balloon Girl

Touching tribute to freedom, The Flying Balloon Girl, imprinted on the West Bank Barrier, Palestine, by Banksy in 2005 is a true icon of hope.

The art is an image of a young girl ascending upward holding on to floating balloons. Banksy, a pseudonym for a street artist whose identity is a mystery, is known for leaving prompting imagery based on themes of escapism, barriers, and peace.

7. Declaration by eL Seed

Declaration by eL Seed, a spiraling fuchsia 3D model of Arabic calligraphy is a sight for sore eyes in Dubai Opera, UAE. eL Seed is a renowned French-Tunisian street artist and calligrapher who dedicated this work as an ode to the city he calls home.

The sculpture, completed in 2018, showcases a line from a poem written by the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum that reads ‘art in all its colors and types reflects the culture of the nations, their history, and civilization’.

8.Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate or ‘The Bean

Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate or ‘The Bean’ as it’s now called is a hot tourist spot in downtown Chicago, USA, and a real identifier of the city. The reflective structure was unveiled in 2006 and since then has become a popular hustle and bustle pit stop that pulls a lot of crowd in.

The gigantic 33 x 66 x 43 feet structure was born from Kapoor’s attempt at playing with shapes and experimenting with new architecture perspectives.

9.The Architectural Fragment

The Architectural Fragment, a Melbourne favorite, was designed by Petrus Spronk as part of the Swanston Walk Public Art Project in 1992. The structure is shaped like a monument sinking into the ground outside the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

The word ‘Library’ is etched in a half-buried manner on the top of the sculpture in gold leaf. Spronk was inspired by the ancient architecture of Grecian buildings in Samos as well as Pythagorean calculations founded by mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras, who belonged to the Island of Samos.

10.Nelson Mandela by Marco Cianfanelli

Nelson Mandela by Marco Cianfanelli is a deconstructed monument that portrays the side angle of the political leader, Nelson Mandela. The structure rests along the road in Howick, a town in South Africa, where Mandela was captured in 1062 by the apartheid security police.

The jagged steel vertical columns mark 50 years to Mandela’s arrest hence 50 columns. Aptly, at first sight, they resemble prison bars but drawing in reveals the shape of his face. The South African artist calls his work ‘Release’ based on the notion of freedom but also on the movement of light in and out the structure from where one stands.

11.The Yellow Pumpkin

The Yellow Pumpkin is an unexpected sight on a beach located in Naoshima Island, Japan.

The sculpture is one of the many similar ones by a female artist, Yayoi Kusuma, who carries an eccentric vision for what art should look like. The pumpkin is of a vivid yellow shade dotted with black spots giving it a very ‘pop’ effect.

It is placed at the edge of a pier facing the most expensive resort on the Island, the Benesse Hotel. Though Kusuma is now recognized as the world’s top-selling female artist, she had a rocky road to fame. Depending on therapy and art to battle mental health challenges, her usage of polka dots on bright color palettes is symbolic of fighting the darkness.

12.Parda Marfa

If you were to cross Highway 90 in the Chihuahuan desert of Texas, you would be a witness to the duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset’s Brainchild Prada Marfa. The mock biodegradable store, set up in 2005, is a proper boutique showcasing several Prada bags (without the bottom) and 20 right-heeled shoes. The fake store is meant to wither away over time reuniting with the earth and is the artists’ bold take on commercialism and gentrification. 

13.Gustav Vigeland’s 200 mesmerizing life

Gustav Vigeland’s 200 mesmerizing life-like sculptures can be found in the world’s largest sculpture park in Oslo, Norway. The landmark was completed in 1949 – 6 years after the artist passed away, unfortunately.

The bronze stone and wrought iron figures depict mankind in all stages of life from birth to death, experiencing joy, tragedy, fear, and so on. Visitors can see the stone figures playing, couples in love, a man struggling with parenthood, warriors, women dancing, and just about everything that life does and does not celebrate including violence and anger. Vigeland wanted each onlooker to resonate with each emotion represented.

14. Teddy Bear

A rather odd sight for an airport, a giant yellow teddy bear rests under a large lamp in the middle of Hamad International Airport, Doha, Qatar. Swiss-born artist, Urs Fischer is a fan of contemporary art and practices photography, painting, sculpting, and installation. The 23 ft. tall sculpture looks to be made of regular stuffing but in fact, is created from cast bronze. It was purchased in an auction by a member of the Qatar Royal family for a whopping $6.8 million in 2013.

15.Jacob’s ladder by Gerry Judah

Jacob’s ladder, designed by artist British-based artist Gerry Judah, located in Gibbs Farm Sculpture Park, New Zealand is a noteworthy mention. The majestic white tower completed in 2012, stands 111 ft. tall and resembles a silhouette of a floating scarf.

Crafted from a hundred horizontal steel tubes of different lengths placed on top of another, the structure comes together as a curving, shape-shifting body. Overlooking the scenic park, it really is a wondrous sight to behold.

16.Floralis Genérica By Eduardo Catalano

Renowned Argentinian architect Eduardo Catalano’s Floralis Genérica is a commendable work of design. An enormous mechanized structure shaped like a flower sits in a pond outside the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The 43 ft. petals of steel and aluminum open each morning to reveal 4 stamens and closes every sunset since establishment in 2002. It was become a hugely popular photo-op site for visitors and tourists alike catching the demo at dedicated hours.

Catalano is lauded for his understanding of architectural elements of space and structure. 

17.Puppy By Jeff Koon’s Artist

Jeff Koon’s Puppy might be more than just a cute furry pet. A 43 ft. high structure of a West Highland Terrier that was built outside of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain in 1997, sports a flower garden growing over 70,000 flowers in 44,000 lbs. of soil.

The image of the monument has become the national souvenir of Bilbao, being featured on mugs, towels, and miniature figures. Jeff Koon is known for making his mark with mega artworks like flowers and balloon dogs in loud colors that pop in the landscape. 

18.Eight-Legged Spider By  Louise Bourgeois

Another creature guarding the gates of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain is a freakishly real eight-legged spider. The overpowering structure designed by Louise Bourgeois in 1999 is a terrifying sight but holds a personal connection to Bourgeois herself. The spider, Maman, is meant to be protective of her eggs the way a mother shields her children.

The 30 ft. mammoth structure is a reference to her childhood, having to deal with an absent and unfaithful father while relying on the support of her loving, bearing mother. The spider balances on the slenderest of legs, revealing both strength and vulnerability alike. 

19.First Generation By Chong Fah Cheong

First Generation, a sculpture of young boys at the edge of the bridge jumping into a river is a breath of fresh air by artist Chong Fah Cheong. Located in Singapore, the river is an important marker in the history and development of Singapore. Crowds of youngsters used to swim in this river before the 80s era. The work was commissioned by Singapore Tourist Council in the year 2000 as an attempt to depict the period of olden Singapore heritage. 

20.The Wings of Mexico by Jorge Marin

The Wings of Mexico is one of the most “Instagram able” spots in Dubai, UAE. Mexican artist Jorge Marin sculpted the angelic wings in 2018 overlooking the regal view of the grand Burj Khalifa. The wings celebrate triumph, dreams, and the potential of the human spirit. The structure looks extra ethereal during the hours of the night at the heart of downtown Dubai.

21.The Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree by Antonio Navarro Santafé

The Statue of the Bear and the Strawberry Tree is a touching tribute by sculptor Antonio Navarro Santafé to the history, culture, and identity of Madrid, Spain. Established in 1967, it represents the city’s coat of arms and is the subject of great folklore. The 13 ft. tall statue of a gigantic bear coming up to a tree in search of fruit can be seen in the public square of Puerta del Sol.

22.The 600 ft. mural of Black Lives Matter by Sophia Dawson

The 600 ft. mural of Black Lives Matter by artists Sophia Dawson, Patrice Payne, and Vijay Mohammad is the largest display of protest through artwork across the streets of Manhattan New York. All letters either highlight a political statement or lament the black individuals who fell victims to systemic racism rooted in the country. This was one of the many murals created across US cities as a solidarity effort following the unjust death of George Floyd in 2020.

23.The sculpture of Brazilian Formula 1 race car driver by Ayrton Senna

The sculpture of Brazilian Formula 1 race car driver, Ayrton Senna, is Paul Oz’s most impressive work to date. In a 1994 race that took place in Italy, the Formula 1 champion was killed in a fatal car crash. Some 3 million people gathered on the streets of Senna’s hometown to mourn and pay their respects. The life-size 60 kg bronze statue that took Oz 12 months to complete was unveiled in 2019, marking 25 years to Senna’s death, and now rests in Barcelona, Spain.

24.Shedding light By Jeff Koon 

Shedding light on another one of Jeff Koons’ public art, the Balloon Flower is a shiny red structure of the most polished stainless steel shaped like a knotted balloon. It sits in a fountain right next to the new One World Trade Center, New York City, and was created as a homage to 9/11 survivors. The glossy installation is definitely an eye-catcher in the vicinity.

25.The Force of Nature by Lorenzo Quinn 

The Force of Nature by Lorenzo Quinn is a daunting statue of what appears to be Mother Earth swinging planet earth with all her might. Quinn’s inspiration lies in the havoc created by hurricanes and wanted to personify the natural occurrence. Currently, there are 4 of these sculptures around the globe – in Shanghai, New York City, Doha, and London.  

26.The Angel of North by Antony Gormley

The Angel of North Britain’s largest monument, The Angel of the North, was modeled by sculptor Antony Gormley after his own body in February 1998. The Angel was a figure of much controversy when constructed but once it found a home in the town of Gateshead, UK it became an identifying symbol of the region. It is deemed as the largest angel structure in the world, weighing 200 tonnes and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art. 

27.the Statue of Franz Kafka

Another sculpture commemorating Franz Kafka can be found in Prague’s Dusni Street where Kafka spent most of his life – also featured much in his stories. Czech sculptor Jaroslav Róna based the Statue of Franz Kafka on a scene from Kafka’s debut novel, Amerika (1927), in which a very tall, headless figure partaking in a rally is supporting a political candidate on his shoulders. Róna completed this piece in 2003 – According to Kafka, the scene in the book signifies the description of a struggle. 

28. Giant ogre-like creature By Ervin Loránth Hervé

Thanks to artist Ervin Loránth Hervé, there is a giant ogre-like creature that’s ascending from the ground with a violent, frightening expression in Budapest. The behemoth stone structure is the attraction of Budapest’s Szechenyi Square where it’s seemingly breaking through the earth. It catches the attention of many tourists and passersby alikeand hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art.

29. The Freedom Sculpture by Zenos Frudakis

Like straight out of a theatre play, the Freedom Sculpture by artist Zenos Frudakis curated in 2001 is a poignant ode to breaking free. Located in Philadelphia, the structure is embedded in a wall with 4 mummified figures, all alluding to one figure trying to release in 4 steps. Upon seeing the composition from left to right, we can judge that the locked figure struggles to tear the hold and is finally victorious in the last frame. Frudakis conceptualized this piece from a personal internal struggle of his own but understood this to be a universal desire and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art. 

30.Alberta’s dream by Jaume Plensa

Alberta’s dream by the Spanish-born world-famous artist Jaume Plensa depicts a bronze figure of a man slouching on the ground, hugging a trunk of a tree in Calgary, Canada. The statue is engraved with the names of Alberta’s cities with ‘Edmonton’ across the front body and ‘Caligary’ on the back. The sculpture is said to have deep political and social references but the true meaning is yet to be known.

31.Green’s Horse bust By Nic Fiddian

Nic Fiddian-Green’s Horse bust is a real sight of majestic grace. Located in West Sussex, England, the structure stands a staggering 35 ft. tall. According to Green, the bust represents the bond between man and horse, with a horse having ‘a greatest effect on man’s destiny. This is one of the many horse structures of Green’s, with several of them depicting the animal face down drinking water, symbolizing tranquility and peace and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art .

32. A-maze-ing Laughter By Yue Minjun

The statues of ‘A-maze-ing Laughter’ are the subject of much excitement in Vancouver, Canada. The sculpture of 14 bronze-cast men laughing in harmony designed after the artist, Yue Minjun, himself has become a local landmark drawing in flocks of visitors and tourists.

The installation was exhibited at the Vancouver Biennale exhibition from 2009-2011 and was gifted to the public of Vancouver by a donation from Chip and Shannon Wilson. The statues are more than just frozen smiles but symbolize the concept of individuality and self-expression.

33. Mustangs By Robert Glen

Robert Glen’s Mustangs will always remain the talk of the artistic sphere. The sculpture of magnificent horses galloping across a body of water just outside of Dallas, Texas. Commissioned to create the piece in 1976, Glen spent a year just researching the behavior, structure, and anatomy of horses. On September 25, 1984, the installation was assembled in a public square, eight years after the conception of the idea. The 9 majestic wild horses are now renowned as the largest equestrian sculpture in the world and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art .

34. Digital Orca by Douglas Coupland

Something out of a video game, Douglas Coupland’s masterpiece, Digital Orca, is an interesting sight of a killer whale mid-leap at the Vancouver harbor overlooking the mountains of Cypress Provincial Park. The structure is fashioned in such a manner that it looks completed pixelated to the naked eye. Commissioned by the city of Vancouver, the piece was completed in 2009. Coupland wanted to create a whimsical sculpture that people could enjoy marveling at and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art .

35 . Les colonnes de Buren By Daniel Buren

Inside the Palais Royal, once the home of Cardinal Richelieu, Former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of France, lies a courtyard of contemporary installations of black and white striped columns called Les colonnes de Buren. Spaced at intervals, with each cut off at different heights, the work of Daniel Buren was a subject of much controversy when set up in 1986. The columns, comprised of marble, are meant to unify the past, present, and future by embodying a deeply historical relationship of underground and street Paris. Though, the sight does appear to be in friction with the 17th-century architectural landmark.  

36.Inside Australia By Antony Gormley

Step inside the largest outdoor gallery, Inside Australia, curated by the ingenious, award-winning artist, Antony Gormley in 2003. Lake Ballard, near Menzies in Western Australia’s Goldfields graces onlookers with one of the most wondrous sights to behold. On the west of the 70-miles long shimmering salt lake appear 51 stick-like figures rooted on plain land. The cast black chromium steel sculptures represent the local residents of Menzies. Gormley wanted the sculptures to be viewed from all angles clearly hence, the leveled ground chosen. The figures are spaced out at 500m and provide the perfect backdrop to the lake, white sand beaches, and Western Australia’s breathtaking landscape and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art . 

37.The sculpture of Cumil the Sewer Worker By Viktor Hulík

The sculpture of Cumil the Sewer Worker of Bratislava, Slovakia is an endearing one. Camil is one of the many statues that Slovak sculptor Viktor Hulík installed as per the city’s request to enhance the look and feel of the town, post-communist period in 1997. The statue appears to be resting his head outside the manhole it is emerging from. His name Cumil actually means ‘watcher’ in Slovak. He welcomes the town passerby with a charming smile and calm aura. 

38.The Dandelion Lights by Mirek Struzik

The Dandelion Lights placed along the Dubai Opera road overlooking the Burj Khalifa are the stuff of fairytale. The 14 whimsical flower structures designed by sculptor Mirek Struzik in 2017 glow in the evening with magical iridescence. The intricacy of the structure along with added light effects has lent itself to become an audience favorite. The large-scale, electropolished stainless steel structures provide an organic sight juxtaposed to the lean and modern infrastructure of the Burj.

39. Stravinsky fountain in Paris by Jean Tinguely

The quirky yet amusing Stravinsky fountain in Paris, France steals all hearts. The disorderly sight of silly, colorful, sculptures resembles the look of a circus. The genius of sculptor Jean Tinguely and painter Niki de Saint Phalle put together elements inspired by Igor Stravinski’s 20th-century classical music – a display of red lips, a treble clef, a mermaid, and other unconventional animal figures that are mechanized and spray water from the fountain. The attraction was unveiled in 1983 and has been the most photographed in the vicinity. 

40. Love Me sculpture By Richard Hudson

Another monument decorating the vicinity of Burj Khalifa, Dubai is Richard Hudson’s Love Me sculpture. The glorious three-dimensional, heart-shaped sculpture is made of mirrored steel and weighs 7000kg. Hudson describes the sculpture as a symbol of peace and love that transcends all boundaries. The 5 meters tall and equally wide structure was unveiled in 2019 and now sits outside the Dubai Mall attracts thousands of crowds and photo captures alike and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art . 

41.Escadaria Selarón by Jorge Selarón

Escadaria Selarón or the Selarón steps in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is one of the most striking staircases in the world. Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón has humbly paid this tribute to the people of Brazil. The artist who found a home in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro in the ‘80s had noticed the stairs near his residence needed renovation. Little by little, he began covering the steps with bright, patterned tiles mostly bathed in colors of Brazil’s flag – yellow, green, and blue. His pastime turned to a passion project and started gaining attention around the world; people started sending him tiles of their homeland to be embedded in the staircase marking it as a poignant harmonization of unity and culture. The 215 steps are a marvelous sight to lay eyes on.

42.The East Side Gallery

What was once the Berlin Wall is now an open art gallery 1.3 km long showcasing some of the most vivid, thought-provoking, and interesting works of art. When the wall came down in 1989, 118 artists from 21 countries congregated to paint the East Side Gallery.

What manifested were a series of political and social statements depicting freedom and visual protests against extreme regimes. The 1316 meters long remnant of the Berlin Wall was given memorial status in 1991, a year after it was declared as an open-air gallery officially and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art . 

43.Parc Guell by Antoni Gaudi

Parc Guell deserves to be called one of the most fascinating sights in Barcelona, Spain. The 45-acre park meticulously designed by the pride of Spain, Antoni Gaudi, in the early 1900s is the largest public art installation of all time – rich in most exquisite architectural elements. The park features pillared monuments, animal sculptures, and curved walls of the most eye-catching ceramic tiles. The park was initially meant to be a luxury residential complex but the idea was dropped and a famous public attraction was developed. Some 2.9 million tourists visit to enjoy the park each year.

44.The Statue of Liberty by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi

A monument that needs no introduction, the Statue of Liberty in New York is one of the most famous figures in the world arguably. A gift from France to the United States to celebrate 100 years of Independence, the 305 ft. structure took French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi 13 years to complete. To date, the statue of the Roman goddess is seen as a universal symbol of freedom. The colossal structure made of copper with a framework of steel rests on New York Harbour in Liberty Island and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art. 

45.The Sail by Mattar Bin Lahej

Emirati artist Mattar Bin Lahej’s calligraphic structures called The Sail standing on waters outside the Address Beach Resort, Dubai is hypnotically stunning. The sail reads the following quote from HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – ‘The future will be for those who can imagine, design, and implement, the future does not wait for the future, but it can be designed and built today’. The reflective structure stands 5m high and is curved like a small sailboat.

46. La Défense, Paris By César Baldaccini

When walking through La Défense, Paris, expect to be towered by a giant sculpture of a thumb. Designed by sculptor César Baldaccini in 1965, the thumb stands over 40 ft. tall and weighs more than 18 tonnes. Every crevice and crack on the thumb appears realistically visible. César often liked to work with his hand impressions and create absurdly enlarged structures out of them that have now found a home in many museums and parks around the world. His method of creation? Fashioning objects from scrap metals and industrial materials and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art.

47.Forever Bicycles By Ai Weiwei’s

Ai Weiwei’s installations will always have one thing in common – bicycles. Weiwei assembled a three-dimensional structure of 1200 bicycles on Waller Beach at Town Lake Metropolitan Park in Austin, United States called Forever Bicycles. The installation with cycles stacked in huge numbers resembles a large honeycomb. The art was the Chinese artist’s ode to his childhood when he traveled across Beijing on a bicycle. The magnitude and repetitiveness, on the other hand, alludes to China’s mass production which fuels the manufacturing industry. The installation, however, was removed from Austin due to insufficient funds required to maintain it.

48. Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg

Art can be whatever it wants to be. There is no better example of this than Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen’s Spoonbridge and Cherry. In the heart of Walker Art Center’s Minneapolis Sculpture Garden rests a giant spoon with a cherry at the tip of it that sprays water into the spoon. The fountain, made of aluminium and stainless steel, was completed in 1998. The cherry alone weighs a shocking 544kg. The playful and iconic structure was inspired by Van Bruggen’s happy memories of childhood during World War II.

49.By the sea In The Year 1997

Sydney’s By the sea annual exhibition is a must-visit attraction for art lovers and adventurers alike. The Bondi beach welcomes visitors to explore the world’s largest sculpture exhibition that stretches 2km along the coastal line. The exhibition features over 100 fantastic and intricate art pieces by Australians and other artists across the globe. The free exhibition has been running every year since 1997. 

50.Clothespin By Claes Oldenburg

Clothespin, designed by Swedish-born sculptor Claes Oldenburg is an enormous peg located at Center Square, Philadelphia. Oldenburg is noted for his attempt at radically altering everyday objects that have eventually now become outdoor monuments. The 45 ft. tall clothespin is meant to be a reference to bridging income level gaps and hence is the Most Fascinating Public Art. 

Conclusion:

Stepping off this adventurous journey into the sculpting world of creative geniuses, may your knowledge lead you to visit these well-known landmarks around the world someday.

These artworks help us widen our imaginations, piece together their formations, and reinstate the very fundamental characteristic of art – it can be anything one wants it to be.

That’s possibly the reason why people associate these sculptures with their cultural identity and continue to maintain their upkeep.

These iconic structures evoke joy, positivity, curiosity, and even sensitivity among onlookers but most of all remain memorable in the hearts of many generations. Do you wanna check out 7 Most Powerful Works By Jeff Koons.

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