Painting are unique in a manner that it has the ability to narrate stories that have no definite time or place. However, let us imagine what would happen if paintings could speak and in this case – the most famous ones. What information would have they disclose? Colors and lines can be translated as signatures, meaning that every single scratch on the canvas contains a link to the artist’s experiences and the world he/she is creating. In this blog I will go further into detail about the stories behind some of the greatest masterpieces of the world and why they have become what they are today.
The Untold Tales of Iconic Artworks
Mona Lisa’s Mysterious Smile
Historically, perhaps the most well-known painting is Leonardo da Vinci’s *Mona Lisa*, but people still know very little about it. Depicted between 1503 and 1506 the piece portrays the wife of a wealthy merchant named Francesco del Giocondo known as Mona Lisa. And what makes a subject of the Mona Lisa most recognizable is her mysterious smile. Scholars have debated its meaning for years: Does she smile like this because she is happy? Is there a regretful look that she gives? Controversy even has it that the smile depicted is what the artist Leonardo da Vinci himself had to grapple with in issues to do with image. The mystery of smile, which is placed on the face of the Mona Lisa, has remained the enigma and every person can read it in regard with his own perception.
The Starry Night: A Window into Van Gogh’s Soul
Starry night is one of the most recognizable paintings of Vincent van Gogh painted in 1889 as the artist was a voluntary patient at asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. This picture, completed in 1889 when the artist was confined in a mental home, is regarded by many as being one of the expressions of the artist’s sufferings. ’A Starry Night’ is more nerve-racking than the other works of Van Gogh and this could be because of his mental instability when he painted the picture. Theo, once he wrote him that night is more alive and more colourful than day and the painting of the subject is not only a denoting of the night but also presented as an embodiment of Van Gogh’s state of mind, his search for some kind of comfort in the world which appeared more and more chaotic to him.
The Persistence of Memory: Dali’s Dreamlike Vision
The cubic painting with a few lifeless objects alien to the human world and with watches hanging on the bare ground – Salvador Dali’s *The Persistence of Memory* is one of the most easily recognized paintings that belong to the surrealist movement. This work was painted in 1931 and somehow depicts that time is not very essential to Dalí, or in other words, time is inconstant. The work was created based on the dream that Dali had where clocks appeared to be melting in the sun and portraying that he or she subconscious feeling about time and existence. This gives the painting a rather spooky feel and has, therefore, led to its association with surrealism since it invokes people’s perception on time and reality.
The Last Supper: A Story of Betrayal and Redemption
There is also Leonardo Da Vinci’s *The last supper*, which is another painting that describes a certain narrative, this time of betrayal and forgiveness. Saving; This wall painting was done early between 1495 and 1498 where this moment of Jesus revealing that one among his disciples is going to betray him is represented. Every facial expression of the disciples as well as Jesus’s facial expression, head orientation and position are symbolic in the painting. All the characters’ reaction to the announcement has been depicted very well thus making the scene appear real. What is so powerful about * The Last Supper * painting has not only the exceptional artistry, but the profound message that it tells – one of the fall of the man and his ability to be forgiven.
Guernica: Picasso’s Protest Against War
Guernica is more than all, an artwork of Pablo Picasso; it is politicised art. Born in answer to the bombing of a Basque town of Guernica during Spanish Civil War, this picture shows war in all its insanity in a confused manner with broken forms. Guernica was painted in 1937 and is dominated by a monochromic scale and depicts suffering and its devastating effect on innocent civilians and animals with deformed shapes and anxious faces. The painting was Picasso’s way of rebelling against the act of war and it has turned into a universal symbol of tragedy of war. What most people don’t know about *Guernica* is that it was painted as a bold and powerful statement against war and oppression.
How Emotions Drive Artistic Expression
Frida Kahlo’s Pain and Passion
Among all the keyed artistic creations of the human brush, Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits can be duly considered as among the most passionate existing ones. Kahlo, who had to struggle with physical pain for most of her life, as the result of a bus accident and other health problems, incorporated her pain into her artwork and her work embodies her identity. Such painting as *The Broken Column *and *Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird* shows her sufferings in the physical and emotional sense, giving vivid expression to the internal state employing the images of aggressive and bright colours, and elements of Surrealism. It is for this reason that Kahlo’s artworks are fittingly provocative, charged and timeless in portraying her suffering into canvases.
Monet’s Serenity Amidst Turmoil
The famous series of paintings of Claude Monet *Water Lilies* are rela- ted to the state of harmony and peace whereas during the creation of those a painter went through severe spiritual crisis. There used to have an eye problem, which can be seen from the work he did while aging and the eye problems that he had like cataracts would hinder him from painting as it used to be. Nevertheless, he remained optimistic, and painted his favorite subjects – the water lilies – and came up with some of his most iconic masterpieces during this period. The sharpness in his paintings gradually diminishes in amplitude as well as the striking contrast as seen in his last masterpieces; Monet could hardly see the objects that he painted and yet he was still passionate in painting the beautiful world before him. The tale of Monet’s *Water Lilies* A tale of persistence and also that art truly does triumphs and heal.
Edvard Munch’s Scream of Anxiety
Presumably, when it comes to depicting anxiety and existentialist dread The Scream by Edvard Munch is unparalleled Works of art, painted in 1893, the painting is a figure with mouth wide open in horror against a background of a bloody sky. The background of the creation of the painting Munch said that he wanted to depict a scene that once happened to him when he was walking with friends he felt anxiety. Its forms are exaggerated, figures are twisting and turning and colors chosen are bright, all of which give the painting a feel of panic, desperation. For me, *The Scream* is not only one of the paintings but the expression of mankind’s nature to feel scared and worried.
Conclusion
The histories of the paintings are as multilayered and varied as the paintings themselves are ineffable. Each famous art paintings and print is a part of the artist who painted it and tells the emotion, experience and the world in which the artist lived in. Whether it is the enigmatic grin on face of Mona Lisa or the painting of starry night of Van Gogh or the splashing effect of Pollock these paintings still have the magic to draw people. Digging into these unknown stories and feelings, which lay behind these masterpieces, one is wiser about the value of art and its potential to change people.
