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Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy
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Originally titled Promenade Sentimentale, this was the most famous piece in Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque. This particular piece was inspired by the ideas of night. Debussy conveyed images of moonlight, mist and raindrops. When the piece was finally published he changed the name to match a poem of the same name written by Paul Verlaine -
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso
Top 10 Picasso Paintings
The painting was originally a depiction of five prostitutes and two clients, but Picasso continued he removed the clients because he felt the connection to the viewer would be stronger. This piece was a turning point in Picasso’s life. He went as far as to call this piece his “first exorcism picture.” -
Violin and Candlestick by George Braque
This oil on canvas piece was created by one of the major artist in the Cubism movement, George Braque. The idea of Cubism comes from the artist wanting to show more than one view point at the same time. In this case the violin and candlestick are fragmented and reconstructed in geometric forms. -
The Dance by Henri Matisse
In this oil and canvas piece Matisse showed his spot in the Fauvism movement. With shot blunt brushstrokes and pure colors, Matisse displayed more raw emotion in pieces such as this. He once said, “What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity, devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter.” -
Dynamism of Dog on a Leash By Giacomo Balla
Balla was one of the founding fathers of Futurism. This movement was named after its speed and power that was depicted in the art. This oil and canvas is showing his regard for items in motion. The focus on both the solid and the transparency of the legs of both figures gives the sense of motion in this piece. -
Unique Forms of Coninuity in Space by Umberto Boccioni
This bronze figure was a piece that fell under the realm of the Futurist movement. The look of blowing fabric and powerful strides is intended to create a since of movement. Boccioni looked to place emphasis on the concept of the power and speed into his art. He once said, “Let us fling open the figure and let it incorporate within itself whatever may surround it.” -
Gates of Hell (Detail: The Thinker) by Auguste Rodin
The first bronze cast of this plaster model was commissioned by The Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. It has been said that this piece was inspired by Dante’s The Devine Comedy, specifically Inferno. This piece contains many of Rodin’s works that were to become some of his most famous work on their own (i.e. The Thinker and The Kiss). This Bronze sculpture was said to be completed around 1917, yet Rodin fine-tuned the project up to his death. -
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
Duchamp was affiliated with most of the Modern Art movements. Duchamp’s approach was one more focused on the artistic concept and less on the look and craftsmanship. The Fountain was a prime example of this. An exhibition claimed to be accepting all art work submitted. Duchamp approached the gallery and submitted the Fountain. He was told that it was not art and it would not be permitted to be shown. Duchamp’s purpose was to poke fun at high priced art but instead started a revolution. -
Memorial to Karl Liebknecht by Kathe Kollwitz
In this woodcut, which is heightened by the use of white and black ink, Kollwitz takes her common theme of war and poverty to the subject of the socialist martyr Karl Liebknecht. The depiction of the poor brings to light both the themes that Kollwitz most often worked with and the impact his death had upon the poor in Germany. -
Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale by Max Ernst
In the movement of Surrealism, Ernst created a piece that consisted of both flat canvas and actual object. The idea of this painting came from a dream that Ernst had while suffering from the measles, after the dream he wrote a poem and then created the visual. Ernst claimed the inspiration of this was the death of his sister and a hallucination from his measles that made a wood panel appear as a “menacing nightingale.” -
The Treachery of Images by Rene Magritte
This iconic piece of surrealism has the phrase written at the bottom that translates to “this is not a pipe.” In true Surrealism fashion the message was simple: Don’t trust your eyes. Like so many other pieces from Magritte, the simplicity adds a hint of mystery when there seems there should be no mystery. -
American Gothic by Grant Wood
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The background of this piece was the actual inspiration. Wood imagined the two characters that may have inhabited the house and came up with this American icon. The intent of the painting, according to Wood, was to show the positive cultural aspects of Midwestern America, but actually created a hot debate to what the motivation behind this piece was. -
Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow by Piet Mondrian
What started as a career in soft landscapes for Mondrian, led to Cubism and then eventually the simplicity of straight black lines and primary colors. The style of the painting is considered Neoplasticism. This is a style where the art is restricted to vertical and horizontal movements and only primary colors on the palette. His concepts were to show a common understanding of harmony and order. -
The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali
There are a lot of interpretations of this piece. Some believe that the melting clocks are representative of time being eternal, where some say the clocks melting are a symbol for death. Dali never let on what the meaning of this painting was but experts say that this painting was part of his “Freudian phase.” In true Surrealism fashion, Dali uses a hint of sarcasm while the clocks seem to be melting, the title claims that time is “persistent.” -
Peasants by Diego Rivera
As in many of his paintings, Rivera depicts his home country of Mexico in a manner that anyone who came from the farms of Mexico could pick it out in an instant. The painting brings forth the way of the time in which Mexico was building upon. The separation of the worker and he collector is an immediate depiction of the structure of social and political power. -
Opening of the Empire State Building
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Said to be designed in to compete with the Chrysler Building, this New York City mainstay was built in a little over a year. The Empire State Building was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Standing at 1454 (if including the lightening rod) the Empire State Building finally was overthrown as the tallest building in the world when the twin towers were built. -
Guernica by Pablo Picasso
This politically charged painting is one of Picasso’s most famous works. Picasso painted this as an instant reaction the Nazi’s bombing of Guernica. Although there are contrasting views on the roles of the bull and horse that are depicted in the work, the symbolic representation of how war can terrorize the innocent cannot be denied. -
Self-Portrait By Frida Kahlo
In this painting, Kahlo brings in a large amount of personal symbolic meaning. Each symbol that she placed in the painting is a reminder of how she felt about her suffering. As with most of her paintings, Kahlo brings her struggles to the forefront through her depiction of both honest self-portraits with a hint of Surrealism. Some argue that this self-portrait is Kahlo comparing herself to Christ. -
Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Visit the Official Anne Frank siteThe story has been read in countless classrooms across the globe. Her father was given the diary after learning of his daughter’s death and honored his daughter through the publication of it. The original title “The Secret Annex” was published on June 25, 1947 in the amount of 3000 copies. Since then it has been translated numerous times and been adapted as plays and films. -
Autumn Rythem by Jackson Pollock
One of the most highly touted Abstract Expressionists, Pollock’s style was unique. Although one may argue that his works of messes, Pollock once stated “I can control the flow of paint: there is no accident.” In this particular piece, Pollock seemed to use everything he could find in his studio to help in the design, from knives to towels and not much missing in-between. Pollock moved around his work that he had placed on the floor moving continually to assure that there was no real focal point. -
White Center Mark Rothko
This piece is a signature piece of Rothko’s style which is called “Color Field Painting.” Rothko was quoted saying “I’m not an abstractionist. I’m only interested in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.” Rothko had in all 836 canvas paintings until his suicide in 1970.
