Spring in art part 3: Monet's wonderful floral obsession

No celebration of the beauty of nature in Spring can be complete without dedicating one post to Claude Monet. Luckily for us, the Impressionist master's love for the representation of flowers and gardens in bloom knew no bounds. So much so, that he is quoted to have said that flowers were the reason he became a painter in the first place.

This is an early Monet, he was only 24 when he produced this stunning picture. It's a lush cascade of lilacs, tulips, peonies, geraniums and hydrangeas that dominate and burst outside the picture plane. Whilst the flowers are painted with great precision, we can already see how Monet's dynamic brushwork conveys the delicate fleshiness of the petals.

Monet's symbiotic love story with flowers continued until his last day. In 1883 he moved to Giverny (some 70 km north west of Paris) where he enthusiastically embraced horticulture and created a magnificent flower garden, which he painted time and time again. The Japanese-inspired water garden built around the pond in his domaine would later serve as inspiration for his many water lily paintings.

In 1904 Monet said: "Beyond painting and gardening, I am good for nothing. My greatest masterpiece is my garden." That's it, I have mentally earmarked another destination for when we can all travel freely again.

#monet #impressionism #spring #flowers #art #artblog #artblogger #artlovers #beyondthecanvasblog

Claude Monet,Spring Flowers (1864), The Cleveland Museum of Art

Spring in art part 2: One lilac does make the spring.

Expect to see plenty of Russian art on here for it is one major passion of mine. Places like the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow are where every day more I long to go back and lose myself until those rather stern-looking museum supervisors unceremoniously inform me that it's closing time. All in due course.

Until that day comes, let's feast our eyes on this stunning piece by Russian-Soviet symbolist painter Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. Although the artist is mostly known for his iconic Bathing of a Red Horse, for me this painting truly has it all: vibrant colours, unusual perspective, superb optical illusion (look at how the light shines through that finely-shaped inkwell) and very balanced composition, which is dominated by the lilac flowers Petrov-Vodkin placed at the center of the canvas.

This gem came to market in 2019. The hammer went down after a nearly $12 million bid by a private collector, making this the most expensive painting ever sold at a Russian art auction. It is not often I find myself wishing a painting of this calibre graced the walls of my flat, but this colourful still-life stole my heart the moment I saw it.

#petrovvodkin #symbolism #russianart #avantgarde #spring #art #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939),Still Life with Lilac,1928, Private Collection

Photo credit: Christie's

On World's AIDS day 2024

"Don’t be afraid of the clocks, they are our time, the time has been so generous to us. We imprinted time with the sweet taste of victory. We conquered fate by meeting at a certain TIME in a certain space. We are a product of the time, therefore we give back credit where it is due: time. We are synchronised, now forever. I love you." – Felix Gonzalez.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres' installation "Untitled (Perfect Lovers)," is a heartbreaking exploration of love, time, and loss. The piece features two clocks set in sync, symbolising the artist's relationship with his partner, Ross Laycock, who died of AIDS in 1991. The gradual falling out of sync between the clocks poignantly mirrors the merciless progression of the illness leading to the inevitable separation. Gonzalez-Torres also passed away from AIDS-related complications in 1996.

In 2023, 39.9M people globally were living with HIV, 1.3M people became newly infected, 630 000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses. Since the start of the epidemic. 88.4M people have become infected with HIV and 42.3M people have died from AIDS-related illnesses (source UNAIDS). War zones breed a perfect storm for HIV infection: conflict, displacement, sexual violence, and healthcare collapse, mostly impacting women and adolescents. Donate to research and community outreach programmes if you can.

#felixgonzaleztorres #perfectlovers #art #contemporaryart #WorldAIDSDay #WAD2024 #EndAIDS #blog #beyondthecanvasblog

"Untitled" (Perfect Lovers), 1987-1990. Installed in the Permanent Collection. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. 31 Jan. 2015 – 24 Oct. 2018. 

© Felix Gonzalez Torres Foundation