Almost every significant piece of art has a mystery, a "double bottom" or a secret story that you want to reveal.

Music on the buttocks

Hieronymus Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1500-1510.

Fragment of a part of a triptych

The debate about the meanings and hidden meanings of the Dutch artist's most famous work has not subsided since its inception. On the right wing of the triptych entitled "Musical Hell" are depicted sinners who are tortured in the underworld with the help of musical instruments... One of them has notes imprinted on the buttocks. Oklahoma Christian University student Amelia Hamrick, who studied painting, put 16th century notation into a modern twist and recorded "a 500-year-old song from hell out of hell."

Mona Lisa nude

The famous "La Gioconda" exists in two versions: the nude version is called "Monna Vanna", it was written by little-known artist Salai, who was a student and model of the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many art critics are sure that he was the model for Leonardo's paintings "John the Baptist" and "Bacchus". There are also versions that, dressed in a woman's dress, Salai served as the image of Mona Lisa herself.

Old Fisherman

In 1902, the Hungarian artist Tivadar Kostka Chontvari painted the painting "The Old Fisherman". It would seem that there is nothing unusual in the picture, but Tivadar put into it a subtext that was never revealed during the artist's life.

Few had the idea to put a mirror to the middle of the picture. Each person can have both God (duplicated the right shoulder of the Old Man) and the Devil (duplicated the left shoulder of the old man).

Was there a whale?

Hendrik van Antonissen "Scene on the Shore".

It would seem like an ordinary landscape. Boats, people on the shore and the deserted sea. And only an X-ray study showed that people gathered on the shore for a reason - in the original, they examined the carcass of a whale washed ashore.

However, the artist decided that no one would want to look at the dead whale and rewrote the picture.

Two "Breakfasts on the Grass"

Edouard Manet, Breakfast on the Grass, 1863.

Claude Monet, Breakfast on the Grass, 1865.

The artists Edouard Manet and Claude Monet are sometimes confused - after all, they were both French, lived at the same time and worked in the style of impressionism. Even the name of one of the most famous paintings by Manet "Breakfast on the Grass" Monet borrowed and wrote his "Breakfast on the Grass".

Doubles on "The Last Supper"

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.

When Leonardo da Vinci wrote The Last Supper, he emphasized two figures: Christ and Judas. He was looking for sitters for them for a very long time. Finally, he managed to find a model for the image of Christ among young singers. It was not possible to find a model for Judas Leonardo for three years. But one day he ran into a drunkard on the street who was lying in a gutter. It was a young man who had grown old by unrestrained drunkenness. Leonardo invited him to a tavern, where he immediately began to write Judas from him. When the drunkard regained consciousness, he told the artist that he had already posed for him once. It was several years ago, when he sang in the church choir, Leonardo wrote Christ from him.

"Night Watch" or "Day Watch"?

Rembrandt, The Night Watch, 1642.

One of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt "Performance of the rifle company of Captain Frans Banning Kok and Lieutenant Willem van Ruutenbürg" hung in different rooms for about two hundred years and was discovered by art critics only in the 19th century. Since the figures seemed to appear against a dark background, it was called "Night Watch", and under this name it entered the treasury of world art.

And only during the restoration, carried out in 1947, it was discovered that in the hall the painting had time to be covered with a layer of soot, which distorted its color. After clearing out the original painting, it was finally revealed that the scene presented by Rembrandt actually takes place during the day. The position of the shadow from the left hand of Captain Kok shows that the action time is no more than 14 hours.

Inverted boat

Henri Matisse, The Boat, 1937.

At the New York Museum contemporary art in 1961 a painting by Henri Matisse "The Boat" was exhibited. Only after 47 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down. The canvas depicts 10 purple lines and two blue sails on a white background. The artist painted two sails for a reason, the second sail is a reflection of the first on the surface of the water.
In order not to be mistaken in how the picture should hang, you need to pay attention to the details. The larger sail should be at the top of the painting, and the peak of the painting should be towards the top right corner.

Deception in self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Pipe, 1889.

There are legends that van Gogh allegedly cut off his own ear. Now the most reliable version is considered that van Gogh's ear was damaged in a small scuffle with the participation of another artist - Paul Gauguin.

The self-portrait is interesting in that it reflects reality in a distorted form: the artist is depicted with a bandaged right ear, because he used a mirror when working. In fact, the left ear was affected.

Alien bears

Ivan Shishkin, "Morning in the Pine Forest", 1889.

The famous painting belongs not only to Shishkin's brush. Many artists, who were friends with each other, often resorted to the "help of a friend", and Ivan Ivanovich, who painted landscapes all his life, feared that touching bears would not turn out as he needed. Therefore, Shishkin turned to the familiar animal painter Konstantin Savitsky.

Savitsky painted some of the best bears in the history of Russian painting, and Tretyakov ordered that his name be washed off the canvas, since everything in the picture "from design to execution, everything speaks of the manner of painting, of the creative method peculiar to Shishkin."

The innocent story of "Gothic"

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930.

Grant Wood's work is considered one of the strangest and most depressing in the history of American painting. The painting with the gloomy father and daughter is replete with details that indicate the severity, puritanism and retrogradeness of the people depicted.
In fact, the artist did not intend to depict any horrors: during a trip to Iowa, he noticed a small house in the Gothic style and decided to portray those people who, in his opinion, would ideally fit as inhabitants. Grant's sister and his dentist are immortalized in the form of characters that the people of Iowa took offense at.

Salvador Dali's revenge

The painting "Figure at the Window" was painted in 1925 when Dali was 21 years old. Then Gala had not yet entered the artist's life, and his sister Ana Maria was his muse. The relationship between brother and sister deteriorated when he wrote in one of the paintings "sometimes I spit on a portrait of my own mother, and it gives me pleasure." Ana Maria could not forgive such shocking.

In her 1949 book, Salvador Dali through the Eyes of a Sister, she writes about her brother without any praise. The book infuriated El Salvador. For another ten years after that, he angrily remembered her at every opportunity. And so, in 1954, the painting "A young virgin, indulging in the sin of Sodom with the help of the horns of her own chastity" appears. The woman's pose, her curls, the landscape outside the window and the color scheme of the picture clearly echo the "Figure at the Window". There is a version that Dali took revenge on his sister for her book.

Two-faced Danae

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Danae, 1636-1647.

Many secrets of one of the most famous paintings by Rembrandt were revealed only in the 60s of the twentieth century, when the canvas was illuminated with X-rays. For example, the shooting showed that in the early version the face of the princess, who had a love affair with Zeus, looked like the face of Saskia, the wife of the painter, who died in 1642. In the final version of the picture, it began to resemble the face of Gertier Dierks, Rembrandt's mistress, with whom the artist lived after the death of his wife.

Van Gogh's yellow bedroom

Vincent Van Gogh, The Bedroom at Arles, 1888 - 1889.

In May 1888, Van Gogh acquired a small workshop in Arles, in the south of France, where he fled from Parisian artists and critics who did not understand him. In one of the four rooms, Vincent is setting up a bedroom. In October, everything is ready, and he decides to paint "Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles." For the artist, the color and coziness of the room were very important: everything should have suggested the idea of \u200b\u200brest. At the same time, the picture is sustained in alarming yellow tones.

Researchers of Van Gogh's work explain this by the fact that the artist took foxglove, a remedy for epilepsy, which causes serious changes in the patient's perception of color: the entire surrounding reality is painted in green-yellow tones.

Toothless perfection

Leonardo da Vinci, Portrait of Madame Lisa del Giocondo, 1503-1519.

The generally accepted opinion is that Mona Lisa is perfection and her smile is beautiful in its mystery. However, the American art critic (and part-time dentist) Joseph Borkowski believes that, judging by the expression on her face, the heroine has lost many teeth. Examining enlarged photographs of the masterpiece, Borkowski also found scars around her mouth. “She smiles so much precisely because of what happened to her,” the expert said. "Her expression is typical of people who have lost their front teeth."

Major on face control

Pavel Fedotov, The Major's Matchmaking, 1848.

The public, who first saw the painting "The Major's Matchmaking", laughed heartily: the artist Fedotov filled it with ironic details, understandable to the audience of that time. For example, the major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette: he appeared without the required bouquets for the bride and her mother. And her merchant parents discharged the bride herself into an evening ball gown, although it was day outside (all the lamps in the room were extinguished). The girl clearly tried on a low-cut dress for the first time, she is embarrassed and tries to escape to her room.

Why Freedom is naked

Ferdinand Victor Eugene Delacroix, Liberty on the Barricades, 1830.

According to art critic Etienne Julie, Delacroix painted the face of a woman from the famous Parisian revolutionary - washerwoman Anne-Charlotte, who came to the barricades after the death of her brother at the hands of royal soldiers and killed nine guards. The artist depicted her with a bare chest. According to his plan, this is a symbol of fearlessness and selflessness, as well as the triumph of democracy: naked chest shows that Freedom, like a commoner, does not wear a corset.

Non-square square

Kazimir Malevich, "Black Suprematist Square", 1915.

In fact, the "Black Square" is not at all black and not at all square: none of the sides of the quadrangle is parallel to any other side of it, and not one of the sides of the square frame that frames the picture. And the dark color is the result of mixing different colors, among which there was no black. It is believed that this was not the author's negligence, but a principled position, the desire to create a dynamic, mobile form.

Specialists Tretyakov Gallery discovered the author's inscription on famous painting Malevich. The inscription reads: "Battle of the Negroes in the Dark Cave." This phrase refers to the title of the playful picture of the French journalist, writer and artist Alphonse Allais "Battle of the Negroes in a Dark Cave in the Deep of Night", which was a completely black rectangle.

Melodrama of the Austrian Mona Lisa

Gustav Klimt, "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer", 1907.

One of the most significant paintings by Klimt depicts the wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinad Bloch-Bauer. All Vienna discussed the tumultuous romance between Adele and the famous artist. The wounded husband wanted to take revenge on his lovers, but chose a very unusual way: he decided to order Klimt a portrait of Adele and force him to make hundreds of sketches until the artist starts to turn away from her.

Bloch-Bauer wanted the work to last several years, and the model could see how Klimt's feelings fade away. He made a generous offer to the artist, which he could not refuse, and everything turned out according to the scenario of a deceived husband: the work was completed in 4 years, the lovers had long cooled to each other. Adele Bloch-Bauer never found out that her husband was aware of her relationship with Klimt.

The painting that brought Gauguin back to life

Paul Gauguin, Where We Come From? Who Are We? Where Are We Going ?, 1897-1898.

The most famous painting by Gauguin has one peculiarity: it is "read" not from left to right, but from right to left, like Kabbalistic texts that the artist was interested in. It is in this order that the allegory of a person's spiritual and physical life unfolds: from the birth of the soul (a sleeping child in the lower right corner) to the inevitability of the hour of death (a bird with a lizard in its claws in the lower left corner).

The painting was painted by Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist fled from civilization several times. But this time life on the island did not work out: total poverty led him to depression. Having finished the canvas, which was to become his spiritual testament, Gauguin took a box of arsenic and went to the mountains to die. However, he miscalculated the dose and the suicide failed. The next morning, rocking, he wandered to his hut and fell asleep, and when he woke up, he felt a forgotten thirst for life. And in 1898 his affairs went uphill, and a brighter period began in his work.

112 proverbs in one picture

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Dutch Proverbs, 1559

Pieter Bruegel Sr. portrayed a land inhabited by literal images of the Dutch proverbs of those days. There are approximately 112 recognizable idioms in the painting. Some of them are used to this day, such as: "swim against the tide", "bang your head against the wall", "armed to the teeth" and "a big fish eats a small one."

Other proverbs reflect human stupidity.

Subjectivity of art

Paul Gauguin, Breton Village in the Snow, 1894

Gauguin's painting "Breton Village in the Snow" was sold after the death of the author for only seven francs and, moreover, under the name "Niagara Falls". The person holding the auction accidentally hung the painting upside down, seeing a waterfall in it.

Hidden picture

Pablo Picasso, The Blue Room, 1901

In 2008, infrared radiation revealed another image hidden under the Blue Room - a portrait of a man dressed in a suit with a bow tie and resting his head on his arm. “As soon as Picasso had new idea, he took up a brush and embodied it. But he did not have the opportunity to buy a new canvas every time his muse visited him, ”art critic Patricia Favero explains the possible reason for this.

Inaccessible Moroccans

Zinaida Serebryakova, "Naked", 1928

Once Zinaida Serebryakova received a tempting offer - to go on a creative journey to depict the naked figures of oriental maidens. But it turned out that it was simply impossible to find models in those places. Zinaida's translator came to the rescue - he brought his sisters and bride to her. No one before and after that managed to capture the closed oriental women naked.

Spontaneous insight

Valentin Serov, "Portrait of Nicholas II in a Jacket", 1900

For a long time Serov could not paint a portrait of the Tsar. When the artist gave up completely, he apologized to Nikolai. Nikolai got a little upset, sat down at the table, stretching out his arms in front of him ... And then it dawned on the artist - here he is! A simple military man in an officer's jacket with clear and sad eyes. This portrait is considered the finest depiction of the last emperor.

Deuce again

© Fedor Reshetnikov

The famous painting "Deuce Again" is just the second part of the artistic trilogy.

The first part is “Arrived for Vacation”. Clearly wealthy family, winter holidays, joyful excellent student.

The second part is "Deuce again". A poor family from the outskirts of the working class, the height of the school year, a dejected, stunned, again grabbed a deuce. In the upper left corner you can see the picture “Arrived for Vacation”.

The third part is "Re-examination". A country house, summer, everyone is walking, one malicious ignoramus, who has failed the annual exam, is forced to sit within four walls and cram. In the upper left corner you can see the painting "Deuce again".

How masterpieces are born

Joseph Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844

In 1842 Mrs Simon was traveling by train in England. Suddenly a heavy downpour started. An elderly gentleman sitting opposite her got up, opened the window, stuck his head out and stared like that for ten minutes. Unable to contain her curiosity, the woman also opened the window and began to look ahead. A year later, she discovered the painting "Rain, Steam and Speed" at an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and was able to recognize in it the same episode on the train.

Anatomy lesson from Michelangelo

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, 1511

A couple of American neuroanatomy experts believe Michelangelo actually left some anatomical illustrations in one of his most famous works. They believe that there is a huge brain on the right side of the picture. Surprisingly, even complex components such as the cerebellum, optic nerves and pituitary gland can be found. And the flashy green ribbon perfectly matches the location of the vertebral artery.

The Last Supper by Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh, Cafe Terrace at Night, 1888

Researcher Jared Baxter believes that the dedication to Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is encrypted on Van Gogh's painting "Cafe Terrace at Night". In the center of the picture is a waiter with long hair and in a white tunic resembling the clothes of Christ, and around him exactly 12 visitors to the cafe. Also, Baxter draws attention to the cross located right behind the back of the waiter in white.

Dali's image of memory

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931

It is no secret that the thoughts that visited Dali during the creation of his masterpieces were always in the form of very realistic images, which the artist then transferred to the canvas. So, according to the author himself, the painting "The Persistence of Memory" was painted as a result of associations that arose at the sight of processed cheese.

What Munch Screams About

Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.

Munch talked about the emergence of his idea of \u200b\u200bone of the most mysterious paintings in world painting: "I was walking along the path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I stopped, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - I looked at blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends went on, and I stood, trembling with excitement, feeling an endless cry piercing nature. " But what kind of sunset could scare the artist so?

There is a version that the idea of \u200b\u200b"Scream" was born in Munch in 1883, when several violent eruptions of the Krakatoa volcano occurred - so powerful that they changed the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere by one degree. An abundant amount of dust and ash spread throughout the globe, even reaching Norway. For several evenings in a row, the sunsets looked as if the apocalypse was about to come - one of them became a source of inspiration for the artist.

A writer among the people

Alexander Ivanov, "The Appearance of Christ to the People", 1837-1857.

Dozens of sitters posed for Alexander Ivanov for his main picture. One of them is known no less than the artist himself. In the background, among the travelers and Roman horsemen who have not yet heard the sermon of John the Baptist, you can see a character in a korchin tunic. Ivanov wrote it from Nikolai Gogol. The writer closely communicated with the artist in Italy, in particular on religious issues, and gave him advice in the process of painting. Gogol believed that Ivanov "has long since died for the whole world, except for his work."

Michelangelo's gout

Raphael Santi, School of Athens, 1511.

Creating the famous fresco "The School of Athens", Raphael immortalized his friends and acquaintances in the images of ancient Greek philosophers. One of them was Michelangelo Buonarotti "in the role of" Heraclitus. For several centuries, the fresco has kept the secrets of Michelangelo's personal life, and modern researchers have suggested that the artist's strangely angular knee indicates that he has joint disease.

This is likely, given the lifestyle and working conditions of Renaissance artists and Michelangelo's chronic workaholism.

Arnolfini's mirror

Jan van Eyck, "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple", 1434

In the mirror behind the Arnolfini couple, you can see the reflection of two more people in the room. Most likely, these are witnesses present at the conclusion of the contract. One of them is van Eyck, as evidenced by the Latin inscription, placed, contrary to tradition, above the mirror in the center of the composition: "Jan van Eyck was here." This is how contracts were usually sealed.

How lack turned into talent

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, Self-portrait at the age of 63, 1669.

Researcher Margaret Livingston studied all of Rembrandt's self-portraits and found that the artist suffered from squint: in the images, his eyes look in different directions, which is not observed in the portraits of other people by the master. The disease led to the fact that the artist was better able to perceive reality in two dimensions than people with normal vision. This phenomenon is called "stereo blindness" - the inability to see the world in 3D. But since the painter has to work with a two-dimensional image, this very shortcoming of Rembrandt could be one of the explanations for his phenomenal talent.

Sinless Venus

Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus, 1482-1486.

Before the appearance of "The Birth of Venus", the image of a naked female body in painting symbolized only the idea of \u200b\u200boriginal sin. Sandro Botticelli was the first European painter to find nothing sinful in him. Moreover, art critics are sure that the pagan goddess of love symbolizes a Christian image on the fresco: her appearance is an allegory of the rebirth of a soul that has undergone the rite of baptism.

Lute player or lute player?

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, The Lute Player, 1596.

For a long time, the painting was exhibited in the Hermitage under the title "The Lute Player" Only at the beginning of the twentieth century, art critics agreed that the canvas still depicts a young man (probably, his familiar artist Mario Minniti posed for Caravaggio): on the notes in front of the musician, you can see the recording of the bass part of madrigal Jacob Arcadelt "You know that I love you" ... A woman could hardly make such a choice - it's just hard for her throat. In addition, the lute, like the violin at the very edge of the picture, was considered a male instrument in the era of Caravaggio.

For many, it seems an overwhelming task to remember the artists and their paintings. For hundreds of years, history has inscribed the names of many artists whose names are well-known, in contrast to paintings. How to remember the artist's peculiarity and style? We have prepared a brief description for those who want to understand the fine arts:

If the paintings show people with big asses, rest assured - this is Rubbens

If people in beautiful clothes are resting in nature - Watteau

If men look like curly-haired women, with hairy eyes - This is Caravaggio

If a painting with a dark background depicts a person with a blissful expression on his face or a martyr - Titian

If a picture contains multi-figure compositions, a lot of people, objects, Christian and surrealistic motives - this is Bosch

If a picture contains multi-figured compositions and complex subjects, but they look more realistic than Bosch's paintings, be sure - this is Bruegel.

If you see a portrait of a person against a dark background in a dim, yellow light - Rembrandt

Biblical and mythological subjects depicting several plump cupids by Francois Boucher

Naked, pumped up bodies, perfect forms - Michelangelo

The ballerinas are drawn, this is Degas

Contrasting, sharp images with gaunt and bearded faces - El Greco

If the picture shows a girl with a monobrow, this is Frida

Fast and light strokes, bright colors and images of nature - Monet

Light colors and joyful people - Renoir

Bright, colorful and saturated - Van Gogh

Dull colors, black outlines and sad people - Manet

The background is like from the Lord of the Rings movie, with a light blue fog. Madonna's wavy hair and aristocratic nose - Da Vinci

If the body depicted in the painting has an unusual shape - Picasso

Colored squares like exel document - Mondrian

Paintings and painters

Art has always been a way of understanding the world and expressing feelings and emotions. There are many different forms of art and painting is only one of them.
Horace said that a "picture is a poem without words" and indeed it is so. Throughout centuries many techniques have developed to allow artists to transform their feelings into images on canvas.
Russian painters represent Russian art which is in many ways unique and has always impressed people around the world. It originates from the world-known icon-painters, the most renowned of whom is Andrey Rublyov.
Many Russian painters praise the beauty of the Russian nature in their works. Ivan Shishkin is especially famous with his canvases representing Russian forest (e.g. "Morning in the Pine Forest") while Isaac Levitan derived inspiration from the Russian autumn.
The Peredvizhniki included artists of the XIX century. One of them was Ilya Repin who is an artist celebrated for his large canvases like "Ivan the Terrible and his Son Ivan" or "Barge Haulers on the Volga". Victor Vasnetsov chose the folk Russian style for his "Bogatyrs" and Mikhail Vrubel is noted for originality of thought. His "Demon" is the fruit of his fantastic imagination.
Ivan Aivazovsky gained a world-wide fame by his romantic paintings representing sea. "The Ninth Wave" is a masterpiece revealing the beauty of the mighty sea on a stormy day.
Russian Art is exhibited in The State Russian Museum in Saint-Petersburg. And in the department of English Art in the Hermitage you can enjoy some of the masterpieces of the British painters.
One of the most famous of them is John Constable - an English Romantic painter who is principally known for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, an area near his house in Suffolk which is now known as "Constable Country".
William Turner was a landscape artist whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism.
William Hogarth is renowned not only for his portraits but also for the series of paintings with satiric details characterizing English high society, in the 1740s.
Thomas Gainsborough is one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of XVIII century Britain. In the National Gallery, London, you can see colorful painting “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews "which is a combination of family portrait and landscape, and dark portrait of" Mr and Mrs William Hal-lett "that exemplifies Gainsborough" s mature style.
William Blake is an English poet and painter. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime today, his works considered significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts. His paintings may seem very unusual and fantastic. For example, he depicted Isaac Newton as a divine geometer.

Paintings and artists

Art has always been a way of understanding the world and expressing feelings and emotions. There are many forms of art, and painting is only one of them.
Horace said that "a picture is a verse, only without words" and this is actually so. Over the centuries, various techniques have developed that allow artists to transform their feelings into images on canvas.
Russian artists represent Russian art, which is unique in many ways and which has always amazed people all over the world. It originates from world famous icon painters, the most famous of whom is Andrei Rublev.
Many Russian artists glorify the beauty of Russian nature in their works. Ivan Shishkin is especially famous for his canvases depicting the Russian forest, such as "Morning in pine forest”, While Isaac Levitan drew inspiration from the Russian autumn.
The Wanderers included 19th century artists. One of them was Ilya Repin - an artist famous for his large canvases, such as "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" or "Barge Haulers on the Volga." Viktor Vasnetsov chose the Russian-folk style for his "Heroes". Mikhail Vrubel is known for his originality of thought. His "Demon" is a figment of a fantastic imagination.
Ivan Aivazovsky gained worldwide fame for his romantic portrayal of the sea. The Ninth Wave is a masterpiece that reveals the beauty of sea power in a storm.
Russian art presented at the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. And in the English Art Department of the Hermitage, you can enjoy some of the masterpieces of British artists.
One of the most famous of these is John Constable, an English romantic painter known for mainly, for his landscapes of Dedham Vale, the area near his home in Suffolke, which is today known as Constable's Land.
William Turner was a landscape painter, we can say that his style laid the foundation for impressionism.
William Hogarth is known not only for his portraits, but also for a series of satirical paintings that characterized English high society in the 1740s.
Thomas Gainsborough is one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters in 18th century Britain. At the National Gallery in London, you can see the colorful Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, which is a combination of family portrait and landscape, and the dark portrait of Mystra and Mrs. William Hallett, which exemplifies the more mature Gainsborough style.
William Blake is an English poet and artist. Unrecognized during his lifetime, today his works are considered important in history and poetry, and visual arts... His paintings can seem unusual and fantastic. For example, he portrayed Isaac Newton as a divine geometer.

Vocabulary:

canvas - canvas, canvas
celebrated - famous
depict - to depict
derive inspiration - get inspiration
divine - divine
evoke - evoke, awaken (feelings)
exemplify - serve as an example
folk - folk
fruit of imagination - a figment of the imagination
Horace - Horace
landscape - landscape
landscape artist - landscape painter
lay foundation (for) - lay foundation, start
masterpiece - a masterpiece
mature - mature
mighty - powerful, mighty
noted - notable, famous
originate - originate
praise - to praise
predominate - to prevail
renowned - renowned
reveal - to open, reveal
unrecognized - unrecognized
visual art - fine art
world-known - world famous

Answer the questions
l.What did Horace say about paintings? How do you understand his words?
2. Who is Andrey Rublyov? What is he famous for?
3. What Russian artists praised the beauty of nature?
4. What artists are called The Peredvizhniki?
5. What paintings by Ilya Repin do you know?
6. What is Ivan Aivazovsky renowned for?
7. In what museums can you see paintings by Russian artists?
8. In what museums can you see paintings by British artists?
9. What is "Constable Country"? Why is it called so?
10. Whose style has laid the foundation for Impressionism?
11. Which painter was also famous for satirical portraying of high society?
12. What is Thomas Gainsborough famous for?
13. What do you know about William Blake?
14. What are your favorite artists and why?

These artists surprise with their talent and the ways in which they create their hyper-realistic paintings. It's hard to believe, but this is not a photo, but real paintings, drawn with a pencil, paints and even ballpoint pens. We don't understand how they do it ?! Just enjoy their creativity.

Omar Oritz is a hyperrealist artist from Mexico with a BA in Graphic Design. The main subject of his paintings is human figures, mostly nude women. In the picture, the artist distinguishes three elements: a human figure, draped fabrics, white color... A feature of Omar's works is minimalist style, laconicism in the transfer of delicate curves and lines of the body, oil work.

Paul Cadden is a world-class contemporary artist from Scotland. For his work, Paul uses only white chalk and graphite, with which he can recreate almost any photograph, paying attention to invisible small details. As the artist himself admits, he does not come up with new details, but only emphasizes them, thereby creating the illusion of a new reality, which is often not visible in the original photographs.

Kamalky Laureano - the artist was born in the Dominican Republic in 1983, currently lives and works in Mexico City. Kamalki graduated from the School of Art and Design, specializing in the creation of hyperrealistic portraits. Plots are difficult to distinguish from real photos, although they are written acrylic paints on canvas. For the author, his work is not just an imitation of photographs, but a whole life embodied on canvas.

Gregory Thielker - was born in New Jersey in 1979, studied art history and painting at the University of Washington. The move to Boston was the starting point for his work on the hyper-realistic cityscapes that made him famous throughout the world. Tilker's paintings are a journey by car on a cold rainy day. Inspired by the works of artists of the 70s, the author creates his realistic paintings using watercolors and oil paints.

Lee Price - an artist from New York, graduated from the university with a degree in painting, is engaged in figurative painting. The main plot of Lee's work is the uneasy attitude of women to food. The viewer, as if from the sidelines, watches women who secretly eat something tasty, but harmful. The artist herself says that in her works she is trying to show the fact that women endow food with qualities that are not inherent in it, they seek consolation in an inappropriate source. The pictures convey the absurdity of the situation, an attempt to escape from reality, to alleviate unpleasant sensations.

Ben Weiner born November 10, 1980 in Burlington, Vermont, graduated from the University of the Arts, paints in oil on canvas. The peculiarity of the artist's works is an unusual plot. Ben draws paints! First, the artist applies paints to the work surface, photographs them, and then from the finished photo he paints a picture on canvas.

Born 1950 in Northern California, he is known for his realistic acrylic paintings on canvas. As a child, the author shared his love of drawing with success in sports, but a back injury determined Ray's main occupation. As the artist admitted, drawing distracted him from constant back pain. Even in his youth, the master received wide recognition and many awards at art competitions.

Alyssa Monks lives and creates her paintings in Brooklyn, has become widely known for her realistic "wet" paintings. The artist uses filters such as water, glass or steam to create abstract designs. For her work, Alissa often uses photographs from personal archives family and friends. Women's faces and figures in the paintings are similar to each other - the artist often draws self-portraits, as she claims that it is "easier" for her to create the necessary subject.

Pedro Campos - hyperrealist from Madrid, began to paint in oils only at the age of 30. The artist creates his realistic still lifes using oil paint. Campos worked as an interior designer, illustrator, art restorer of furniture, sculptures and paintings. The artist believes that it was the work of the restorer that helped him hone his skills.

Dirk Dzimirsky - artist from Germany, born in 1969, received an art education, works in pencil technique. The artist draws pictures from photographs, without going into the smallest details, he improvises a lot. Dirk says that while working on a painting, he represents a living model, so he uses the photo only for a thorough reproduction of predetermined proportions. The author considers his main task to create a sense of the subject's presence in the picture.

Thomas Arvid - American hyperrealist artist from New Orleans, who was born and raised in Detroit, has no formal education, a master of the so-called "oversized" still life. His series of realistic paintings "Wine Cellar" includes corks, bottles, glasses with sparkling or deep red drinks. Authoritative critics and publications have noted more than 70 of the artist's works. The master's paintings adorn not only the walls of wineries and prestigious wine salons, but also private collections and galleries.

Robin Eley Born in Britain, raised and continues to live and work in Australia, holds a BA in Fine Arts and has been awarded the Doug Moran National Portrait Award. He creates his hyperrealistic paintings in oils, and considers the subject “people and cellophane” to be his main "horse". The master works on one painting for about 5 weeks, 90 hours a week, almost every painting depicts people wrapped in cellophane.

Samuel Silva - Portuguese amateur artist without special education, who proves by personal example that you can create a masterpiece from anything. When creating the paintings, the artist uses a palette of eight colors of ballpoint pens from Bic. Silva is a lawyer by profession, and considers his hobby for drawing to be nothing more than a hobby. Today, the world-famous self-taught artist is mastering new painting techniques using paints, chalk, crayons, pastels, etc.

Gottfried Helnwein - Austrian artist, author of hyperrealistic paintings on social, political and historical themes, "master of unexpected recognition", as the writer W. Burroughs called him. The author was educated at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, belongs to the artists of a high professional level. Glory was brought to him by somewhat controversial subjects, surreal compositions. Often, the master portrayed comic book heroes in his paintings and admits that "he learned more from Donald Duck than in all the schools he studied in."

Franco Clun is an Italian self-taught artist who prefers drawing with graphite to all other artistic techniques. His black and white realistic paintings are the result of Franco's independent study of various literature on drawing techniques.

Kelvin Okafor is a hyperrealist artist, born in 1985, lives and works in London. Kelvin is educated in fine arts from Middlesex University. The author creates his paintings with a simple pencil, the main theme of his work is portraits of celebrities.

Amy Robins is a British artist who uses colored pencils and heavy paper for her hyper-realistic work. The artist has a degree in art and design, a BA in Fine Arts, and lives and works in Bristol. Little is known about the young author, but her works have already become famous throughout the world, striking in their realism and technique.

Robert Longo - American painter and sculptor, born in Brooklyn in 1953, awarded the legendary Goslar Kaiser Ring. The artist draws his three-dimensional images of nuclear explosions, tornadoes, hurricanes and sharks with coal on paper. Longo is often referred to as the "painter of death". The famous painting Untitled (Skull Island) depicting a wave was sold at Christie’s auction in London for $ 392,000.

Diego Fazio - self-taught artist, born in 1989 in Italy, has no art education, started with the development of sketches for tattoos, eventually developed his own drawing technique. The young artist was a participant in many international competitions, where he won prizes, was represented at exhibitions around the world. The artist works under the pseudonym DiegoKoi.

Bryan Drury was born in 1980 in Salt Lake City, has a diploma from the New York Academy of Arts, creates paintings in the genre of realism. The artist paints his paintings using oil paints. As the author admits, in his works he tries to focus on the organic qualities of the skin, its imperfections.

Steve Mills is an American artist who sold his first painting at the age of 11. The artist creates his paintings with oil paints, focusing on the smallest details everyday lifethat we often do not notice in the eternal rush. The artist notes that he depicts objects as they are in real life, without changing or exaggerating their original form.

Paul Lung born in Hong Kong, draws with an automatic pencil on sheets of A2. A feature of the painting technique is the fundamental refusal to use an eraser, all works are drawn cleanly. The main "muses" of the artist are cats, although he draws people and other animals. Each work takes the author at least 40 hours.

Roberto Bernardi was born in Italy, became interested in hyperrealism at the age of 19, worked as a restorer in the church of San Francesco. To create paintings uses oil paints... The artist became world famous for a series of works depicting objects characteristic of the consumer society. Paintings with sweets, vending machines, refrigerator shelves are the artist's calling card, although his arsenal includes landscapes, still lifes and much more.

Juan Francisco Casas is a Spanish artist who creates his paintings with a regular Bic ballpoint pen. Casas was a traditional artist who decided to prove to others that it was not the material for the work that was important, but the method and technique of drawing. The first exhibition of a creative Spaniard brought him worldwide fame. Most of the paintings of Casas depict his friends.

Teresa Elliott Is an American artist who successfully worked as an illustrator for 26 years before creating realistic oil paintings. Teresa has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, returning to classical art, became famous all over the world for her true to the smallest details portraits.

It turns out that under the paintings of some famous artists other images are hidden. Sometimes, if you look closely, they are visible to the naked eye. But more often they are found by art critics while studying the paintings of famous masters or restorers working on the restoration of paintings. In our review, there are six most interesting cases when paintings concealed hidden images.

Answering the question about hidden pictures, scientists note that the reasons for their appearance on famous canvases are different. Sometimes the artist simply did not like the original version, sometimes the picture had to be redrawn due to public opinion, and it also happened that the artists found themselves in dire financial straits, could not afford to buy a new canvas, and used old ones for their new works.

1. Bust of the monarch in the painting by Jean Auguste Ingres

On the left side of the painting by the French neoclassical artist Ingres "Portrait of Jacques Marquet, Baron de Montbreton de Norvin" (1811-12), which depicts the chief of police in Rome after the conquest of the city by Napoleon, even with the naked eye you can see a bust of a child's head. It is believed to be a bust of the head of Napoleon's son, who was proclaimed king of Rome by his father. In 1814, when Napoleon was finally defeated and abdicated, Ingres painted over the picture for political reasons, and painted a new one over it.

2. The woman in the painting by Picasso "The Old Guitarist"

Pablo Picasso in 1901-1904 had a difficult period when he did not even have the money to buy new materials for work. He often primed old canvases and used them to create new paintings. One of the most famous examples Pentimento in the works of Picasso is the painting "The Old Guitarist", in which a painted figure of a woman was discovered.

Art critics have previously noticed a fuzzy outline behind the bent neck of the guitarist, but only by illuminating the picture with X-rays did they manage to reveal an old image of a woman feeding a small child, and next to them are a bull and a sheep.

3. The bearded man in Picasso's painting "The Blue Room"

Picasso's painting "The Blue Room", painted in 1901, also contains a secret recently revealed by infrared optical tomography. If you put the picture vertically, under a layer of paint, you find a certain bearded man with many rings on his fingers.

4. The shoulder strap in the painting "Portrait of Madame X" by John Singer Sargent

The Portrait of Madame X, which is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is considered a style icon thanks to the lady's simple black attire, statuesque figure and haughty expression. Nevertheless, at one time this portrait was considered a scandalous insult to decency and had a very negative impact on the artist's career in Europe.

The woman in the portrait is the famous Parisian secular beauty Virginie Gautreau. The pallor of her skin, which was considered the standard of beauty at the time, prompted one contemporary critic to call Gautreau's skin tone "corpse." This effect was achieved due to the intake of arsenic. Gotro also dyed her hair with henna for greater contrast. To emphasize the unusual beauty of Gautreau, Sargent depicted her in a black dress, one of the straps of which fell coquettishly over her shoulder.

When the portrait was first exhibited at the Paris Salon, the public exploded with indignation, as the half-open shoulder strap was found to be very obscene. As a result, Sargent rewrote this detail of the dress, lifting it over his shoulder.

5. The woman at the window

In the National Gallery in London, during the restoration of a painting from the 1500s by an unknown artist, an unusual "make-up" was discovered. It turned out that the blonde in the picture is actually a brunette, and her hair color was rewritten by the artist over the original. Today the painting has been restored to its original condition and housed in the National Gallery.

6. Keith in Hendrik van Antonissen's "Beach Scene"

When this dutch painting the seventeenth century was donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum, it was simply a beach scene. However, art historians wondered why the painting depicts a crowd gathered near the water for no apparent reason. After restoration, under a layer of paint, an image of a whale washed ashore was found. The whale is believed to have been painted over for aesthetic reasons in the 18th or 19th century.

Connoisseurs of painting will be interested in learning about.