I was in Birmingham yesterday and took the opportunity to visit its fantastic art gallery to see my favourite picture.
Birmingham Art Gallery displays some amazing classical, world famous pictures by artists such as Ford Madox Brown and Rossetti, however my absolute favourite is a massive landscape hung in the main circular gallery. It is called 'February Fill Dyke' and was painted by the artist Benjamin Williams Leader in 1881. The picture is so large that when you sit in front of it you are almost absorbed into the painted scene. It never fails to fill me with wonder, so powerful is its representation of a cold, wet winter evening in the late 19th century:
https://static.artuk.org/w1200h1200/BRM/BRM_BMAG_1914_P308.jpgPost up your favourite picture and why it means so much to you
(pronounced: equal-sequel) "I suffered for my art.. now it's your turn"
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My extended family are/were most definitely not fascists.
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This wonderful piece represents the conflict between good and evil that lurks in the heart of every one of us, It delicately highlights and contrasts the moral conflicts we face and illustrates the pain, anguish and suffering, as we try to find the divine and righteous path to follow.
Back on topic, I haven't really got a favourite painting. I like different things at different times.
Otherwise I'm a self confirmed pheasant when it comes to art
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https://artinvestment.ru/content/download/news/20080418_11top.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4f/a9/44/4fa9443641259fad54e788f092f29b10.jpg
Find it hard to pin it down to one painting. Being as he died a little earlier this year, and I was blown away by a massive career retrospective of his work I saw a few years ago, right now I'd pick this one by American pop artist James Rosenquist.
It's one of a series of gigantic paintings he did of gift-wrapped dolls. They really are amazing pieces.
I do have a favourite photographer - Gregory Heisler. A true master of light and has an uncanny ability to take photos that convey the mood and personality of the subject. Technically perfect, but he has that extra thing that just makes his images consistently beautiful and powerful.
She's a big fan of Birmingham art gallery and particularly the pre Raphaelites like Rosetti. It is a great place, mostly free. I've also bumped ( okay, seen from a close distance) into John Sergeant and Prince William in there. John was looking at the Buddha statues and William was being shown around at quite a pace so not looking at anything in particular. It also has Marc Almond's favourite tea room.
My feedback thread is here.
As much as this is very cliched to a non religious person like me its the fine quality of the painting that gets you it much more powerful in real life than on the computer screen.
Having said that, I absolutely love the Joseph Wright picture above (darkened room experiment), it is massive if you actually see it, beautifully detailed and with AMAZING sense of light.
As this is a guitar forum, let's have Holbein's well known painting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ambassadors_(Holbein)
It's the one with the infamous distorted skull across the bottom. But most relevant right now is the lute, painted in fanatical detail if you look at a high-res versions. (You can even see the quilting of the timber on its back)
I've also heard the argument that anything that provokes a reaction should be considered as art. So if I took a shit on the gallery floor would that be an artistic statement? Although presumably if Damien Hirst did it, it'd somehow be a masterpiece. Good luck if you can get away with calling this nonsense art.
https://i.imgur.com/QLMgWyO.jpg
I always go and look at this in Glasgows Kelvingrove museum. Glen Massan by Gustave Dore. It's pretty big, so you really don't get the drama of it without seeing in person. Well worth a look if you are ever there.