Hidden meanings 9 world famous paintings that the Museum of Contemporary Art of America is proud of

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Museum of Modern Art, which is located in America, is still considered one of the most interesting and important to visit. This is a place where you can see how the history of painting was created, how new, often scandalous and provocative paintings appeared. Today we will tell you about ten of the most famous works of art that are exhibited in this museum, and which to this day are admired by people from all over the world.

1. The Drowning Girl, Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein initially worked in Cubism and Abstract Expressionism before moving on to Pop Art, a genre in which he left his mark. One of Liechtenstein's most outstanding works is The Drowning Girl (also known as Secret Hearts or I don't care! I would rather drown).

The method of drawing and the way of expressing thoughts, feelings and experiences gives the picture the look of a comic book page. The heroine appears as a victim of unhappy love, who would rather drown than turn to her beloved for help. The Drowning Girl has been described as a masterpiece of melodrama and is Liechtenstein's most famous painting since Boo-hoo! Since 1971 "I don't care! …" has been included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

2. Lovers, Rene Magritte

Belgian artist Rene Magritte is best known as one of the leaders of the influential art movement of the 20th century - surrealism. This painting depicts a male figure in a black suit embraced by a woman dressed in red. The figures kiss each other, but interestingly, through the veils, and this is what makes the picture suggestive, like many of Magritte's other works.

There are several interpretations of Lovers, including this portrayal of our inability to fully reveal our true nature, even while in each other's arms. Faces hidden from prying eyes are a common feature of many of Magritte's paintings. When he was fourteen years old, his mother committed suicide by drowning. He saw his mother's body in a wet nightgown wrapped around her face, and some have speculated that this injury led him to display darkened faces in his work. However, the artist denied this.

Even today, The Lovers is one of the most popular and most analyzed works by Rene Magritte, which makes many people think about it.

3. Boogie-Woogie on Broadway, Pete Mondrian

Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric shapes. Pete Mondrian coined the term neoplasticism for his abstract paintings, which featured a straight line, three primary colors and neutral shades: black, white and gray.

Inspired by Manhattan's urban grid (street map) and Broadway boogie-woogie music, he created his final, completed work of art, called Boogie-Woogie on Broadway. The painting is considered the pinnacle of the artist's representation using his inimitable style, which includes lines, squares and primary colors. It symbolizes the culmination of his stylistic innovation and is one of the most outstanding and important works in the school of abstract geometric painting.

4. Christina's World, Andrew Wyeth

Andrew Wyeth was one of the most famous American artists of the mid-20th century. His precise, realistic views of rural life became icons of American culture and challenged the largely abstract nature of contemporary art in the country. His masterpiece "Christina's World" is one of the most famous American paintings of the mid-twentieth century. The painting depicts a woman lying in a field looking at a gray house on the horizon.

The protagonist of this work is Anna Christina Olson, who was a neighbor of Wyeth in South Cushing, Maine, and suffered from a degenerative muscle disorder that prevented her from walking. The artist was inspired to create a masterpiece when he saw her crawling across the field, watching what was happening from the window. Although it received little attention at its first screening, Christina's World gained more and more popularity every year. It is now considered an icon of art and one of the most important works of American realism.

5. The girls of Avignon, Pablo Picasso

Originally named Le Bordel d'Avignon (Avignon's brothel), this revolutionary masterpiece is considered one of the most influential paintings of the twentieth century, as it played a key role in the development of both Cubism and contemporary art. This was a radical departure from traditional European painting.

Picasso used different styles to depict each figure in the painting, with the head of the woman pulling up the curtain in the upper right corner was the strictest cubist element. The painting caused controversy not only for its radical style, but also for its plot. It was first put on public display in 1916, and its name was changed to lessen its scandalous influence.

Avignon in the title of the piece is a reference to a Barcelona street famous for its brothel. Here he masterfully portrayed five naked prostitutes in an embarrassing, confrontational manner. The Maidens of Avignon is considered one of the most important works of Pablo Picasso. The museum acquired the painting for twenty-four thousand dollars, and now it is one of its key attractions.

6. Persistence of memory, Salvador Dali

Perhaps the painting "The Persistence of Memory", which depicts a molten clock that slowly melts and flows from a branch and not only, is considered one of the most popular and controversial works by Dali. According to one version, the artist combines in it the concept of hardness and softness, where the first is reality, and the second is reason.

And it is not at all surprising that this work of art is endlessly subjected to careful analysis, since the artist never went into the details and the meaning inherent in the image. Some art historians suggest that the melting clock is an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time, while others hold the version associated with death and decay.

7. Starry Night, Van Gogh

Van Gogh, suffering from mental illness, was admitted to the Saint-Paul psychiatric hospital in the small French town of Saint-Remy-de-Provence. And despite the fact that this work of art was painted in the middle of the day, it captures the night, or rather the view from the window of the clinic room in which the artist was.

According to one version, "Starry Night" personifies Vincent's genuine interest in astronomy. The study, which was carried out by one of the observatories, concluded that the picture depicts the Moon, Venus and several stars exactly as on that very clear night.

The picture was analyzed a lot by various art critics who found symbolic elements in it. Starry Night is one of the most recognizable pieces in the history of Western art. She is featured extensively in popular culture, including in Don McLean's famous song "Vincent." This is by far the most legendary painting by Vincent Van Gogh, considered one of the greatest works of modern art, and is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

8. Girl in front of the mirror, Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was one of the most recognizable and greatest painters of all time. This painting depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, mistress and model of the legendary painter between 1927 and 1935. The young Marie-Therese was one of Picasso's favorite subjects in the early 1930s.

The painting "Girl in front of the mirror" depicts her beautiful and painted on one side, while on the other side her face darkened, and her body has completely lost proportions, distorted and twisted.

This work is known for its varied interpretations. Some critics suggest that this image personifies the opposition of the external and internal "I" of the protagonist. Others believe that the maestro tried to convey and capture the transience of time and the transience of life using the example of his beloved model.

9. Soup Cans Campbell (Tomato), Andy Warhol

One of the most popular and recognizable works of pop art, Campbell's Soup Cans, consists of thirty-two canvases, one for the 32 varieties offered by the company at the time. This kind of art led to pop art becoming a major art movement in the United States. The ugly style and commercial theme of the painting was initially offensive, as it insulted the technique and philosophy of Abstract Expressionism, the then dominant style in America.

The ensuing controversy over the merits and ethics of such painting, devoid of the aesthetics and mystical tendencies of abstract expressionist works, caused a storm of indignation in the American art world. This made Andy Warhol the leading and most famous artist of the pop art movement, which has had a huge impact on the Western art world as a whole.

Continuing the topic of art, read also about that, which is still talked about.