Saintes-Maries - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Van Gogh paintings Langlois Bridge at Arles.

Another group of Van Gogh paintings is called Saintes-Maries.

In 1888 when Van Gogh was in France, he went on a trip to a town called Saintes-Maries that is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
He made many paintings and drawings while he was there because he really liked the way the sea was so many colors like blue, pink, gray, green or purple.



(from: wikipedia - saintes-maries (van gogh series))


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Langlois Bridge at Arles - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Van Gogh painting Bedroom in Arles.

Another group of paintings by Van Gogh is Langlois Bridge at Arles.

Van Gogh made 4 oil paintings, 1 drawing, and 4 water colors of this bridge.
When he was in France he saw this bridge over the water, and with the windmills drawbridges and cottages it reminded him of the Netherlands where he grew up.



(from: wikipedia - langlois bridge at arles)


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Bedroom in Arles - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Van Gogh's Chair.

Another famous Van Gogh painting is Bedroom in Arles made in 1888.

This is a painting of Van Gogh's room when he was living in the Yellow House in France.

He actually painted this room three different times.




(from: wikipedia - bedroom in arles)


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Van Gogh's Chair - Van Gogh

We just learned about the The Yellow House.

Another of his famous works of art is Van Gogh's Chair, painted in 1888 in Arles France.

It is a painting of a simple chair made of woven straw over a tile floor.
In the background is a box of onions, with the name "Vincent" on the box.


(from: wikipedia - van gogh's chair)


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The Yellow House - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Portrait of Pere Tanguy.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings was The Yellow House made in 1888.

This house was a place that Van Gogh lived and painted in France, and worked with one of his friends Paul Gauguin for a while.


(from: wikipedia - the yellow house)


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Portrait of Père Tanguy - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting The Courtesan (after Eisen).

Another of his paintings was the Portrait of Père Tanguy, painted in 1887.

When Van Gogh moved from the Netherlands to France, he lived in Paris where he got to see a lot of different styles of paintings.
One of the art dealers that worked there was named Julien Tanguy. He was such a friendly person that people called him Pere Tanguy which means Father Tanguy.

Van Gogh made three different paintings of Tanguy, and his style changed a lot between each painting as he started to learn different types of art in Paris.

The first painting is mostly brown with just a little bit of color, making him look like a worker.
The second painting has a lot more colors, and other paintings in the background.
The third painting shows some of the impressionist and Japanese styles that he was learning in Paris.




(from: wikipedia - )


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The Courtesan (after Eisen) - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting Still Life with Straw Hat.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings is The Courtesan (after Eisen) made in 1885.

For a while Van Gogh got really interested in art from Japan, and started trying to copy it and make some of his own painting in Japanese style. He called the paintings Japonaiserie, which means like Japanesery.

The most famous of his paintings was the Courtesan, that he made after copying a magazine cover that had the same person on the front cover.


(from: wikipedia - japonaiserie (van gogh))


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Still Life with Straw Hat - Van Gogh

We just learned about the painting Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles.

Another of Van Gogh's still life paintings was Still Life with Straw Hat painted in 1885 in Neunen.

When Van Gogh was teaching some of his friends in the town of Eindhoven how to paint, he made a bunch of paintings himself.
This painting shows some nice smooth brush strokes and lots of light and dark shading of colors.


(from: wikipedia - still life with straw hat)


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Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting Head of a Peasant Woman with a White Cap.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings is Still Life with Earthenware and Bottles, made in Amsterdam in 1884.

This painting is part of a bunch of paintings by Van Gogh called Still Life Paintings.
For a while he lived in the town of Neunen, and made a bunch of paintings of things like bottles, bowls and fruit.
All of these things were not moving, which is why the painting type is called still life.

He tried to do a lot of contrasting to show different colors against each other, like green next to red, and he tried to work on different shades of light showing on the things in his pictures.
While he was in Neunen he also helped to teach some other people how to be painters.


(from: wikipedia - still life paintings by vincent van gogh (netherlands))


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Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Van Gogh painting called The Potato Eaters.

Another of Van Gogh's paintings is the Head of a Peasant Woman with White Cap, painted in 1885 in the Netherlands.

This was also from his group of paintings called the Peasant Character Studies. One special thing about this painting is that many years later when people used an X-Ray to look through the layers of paint, they found out that Van Gogh had first made a self portrait of himself on the canvas, and then painted over it with the new painting of the Peasant Woman.


(from: wikipedia - peasant character studies (van gogh series))


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The Potato Eaters - Van Gogh

We just learned about Van Gogh's painting of Still Life with Cabbage.

Another famous painting by Van Gogh is called The Potato Eaters made in 1885 in Nuenen, Netherlands.

This painting was part of what people call his "Peasant Character Studies".
During this time Van Gogh made many paintings about people that were poor but worked very hard jobs like farming or sewing.

His painting of the Potato Eaters is of a group of poor people sitting around a small table eating dinner.
He wanted it to look dirty and for the people not to look beautiful because he wanted to show how hard the people worked, and that they weren't rich.


(from: wikipedia - the potato eaters)


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Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs - Van Gogh

We just learned about the Vincent Van Gogh.

One of the first paintings from Vincent van Gogh is Still Life with Cabbage and Clogs in the Netherlands in 1881.

When Van Gogh was 28 years old he made one of his first paintings, of some cabbages and wooden shoes called clogs on a table.
Paintings of things that are not moving are called still life.
This was before Van Gogh came up with his own different style that made him famous later on.


(from: wikipedia - early works of vincent van gogh)


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Vincent van Gogh

We just learned about Michelangelo's sculpture of The Deposition and a lot of other works of art by Michelangelo.

Another of the most famous artists in the world was Vincent van Gogh.

He was born in the Netherlands in 1853 and grew up going to a few different schools where he was not a very happy kid.
Later on he got a job helping to make and sell artwork, and that made him much happier.

Through his life he started making paintings in the impressionist style, and then later on he made his own special style.

Sadly Van Gogh was not very famous while he was alive.
He started to get a little famous right before he died, and then about 10 years after he was gone some people found out what a genius he was and since then he has become one of the most famous artists of all time.

A lot of artists are famous for making a few dozen paintings, or even a few hudred.
Van Gogh made over 2,000 works of art, and some of his most famous paintings have sold for over 100 million dollars.

Even though Van Gogh only lived to be 37 years old and didn't have much time to become a master, he is thought to be one of the best artists of all time.


(from: wikipedia - vincent van gogh)


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The Deposition - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's sculpture of the Risen Christ.

Another famous work of art by Michelangelo is called The Deposition, made in Florence in 1555, also called The Florentine Pietà, The Bandini Pietà or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ.

This statue shows Jesus after he had died on the cross, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Nicodemus who were both followers of Jesus.
Most people believe that the sculpted face of Nicodemus was made to look just like Michelangelo's face.

People think that Michelangelo meant to make this statue to e outside of his tomb after he died, so he worked on it very hard day and night for eight years.
Then he started getting angry and was breaking parts of the sculpture because he was frustrated that it was not perfect.

Later on after Michelangelo died, another sculptor named Tiberio Calcagni was hired to fix up the broken arms and legs that Michelangelo had damaged.


(from: wikipedia - the deposition (michelangelo))


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Risen Christ - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michael's artwork at St. Peter's Basilica.

Another famous sculpture by Michelangelo is called Risen Christ and was made in 1521 in Florence.

This sculpture is of Jesus after he rose from the dead standing and holding a cross.

When he was working on this sculpture, after Michelangelo started carving it he found a black mark inside the white marble block, so he put that one away and started over with a whole new block of white marble.
Even though the first sculpture was not finished, someone still wanted to have it because Michelangelo was so famous, and later on someone even finished up the sculpture.
So there are now two of the same sculpture, but one of them has a black mark on the back side.

A lot of sculptures at the time were just of people standing straight up, but Michelangelo made this one of Jesus with his leg bent and his head turned, and people really liked that it then looked different depending on where you were standing and looking at the statue.


(from: wikipedia - risen christ (michelangelo, santa maria sopra minerva))


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St. Peter's Basilica - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's painting of The Crucifixion of St. Peter.

Another one of Michelangelo's masterpieces was St. Peter's Basilica - Michelangelo.

In Rome, they wanted to rebuild an old church and make it one of the greatest churches in all the world.
They asked Michelangelo to help build it, so he drew up all the plans for the church.

Many other artists had worked on the church, but Michelangelo took over and came up with the plans for how to make the dome of the church.
When it was made it was the widest dome in the world, and it is still the tallest dome in the world.


(from: wikipedia - st. peter's basilica)


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The Crucifixion of St. Peter - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's painting of The Conversion of Saul.

Another famous work of art from Michelangelo is The Crucifixion of St. Peter, made in 1550 in Italy.

In the Bible, St. Peter was one of the Apostles of Jesus, and after Jesus died he was one of the first leaders of the church for Christianity.
The Bible does not say when or how St. Peter died, but many stories from history say that he was crucified upside down, because he didn't feel like he was good enough to die in the same way that Jesus did.

Michelangelo's painting shows Peter upside down on the cross in the middle, surrounded by a bunch of other people.
One interesting thing that people noticed in this painting is that in most paintings from those days where they showed someone who was dying in a sad way they would show the person crying or with their head down looking sad.
In this painting, Peter is lifting himself up to look angrily at the people who are putting him on the cross, to show them that even though he is going to die he is not happy and that they should feel bad for what they are doing.

This painting was a fresco, which means it was painted on wet plaster, and it was the last fresco that Michelangelo ever did.


(from: wikipedia - the crucifixion of st. peter (michelangelo))


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The Conversion of Saul - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's Sagrestia Nuova at the Medici Chapel.

Another work of art by Michelangelo is The Conversion of Saul - Michelangelo.

In 1545 Michelangelo was paid by the Pope to make a painting of the Bible story of Saul from the book of Acts.
Acts 9 tells about how Saul was on his way to put the followers of Jesus in jail.
He saw a great light and had a vision from God telling him to help Jesus' followers instead of putting them in jail.

The painting shows Jesus and his angels in heaven, and Saul down below.
Jesus is sending light down to Saul who is on the ground looking scared.


(from: wikipedia - the conversion of saul (michelangelo))


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Sagrestia Nuova - Medici Chapel - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of The Last Judgement.

Another famous work of art by Michelangelo is the Sagrestia Nuova that he made for the Medici Chapel in Florence Italy, in 1524.

The Medici family was very rich, and also really liked sculptures, so before they died they paid Michelangelo to make sculptures for them in a church.
He made the Sagrestia Nuova, which means New Sacristy, which is a name for a room in a church.

In the church he made statues of people that were supposed to be for Day and Night, Dawn and Dusk.
This was because he wanted people to think about how time passes by from day to night and dawn to dusk.


(from: wikipedia - medici chapel)


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Jesus' Ancestors - Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

We just learned about the Sistine Chapel paintings of Jesus' ancestors, Aminadab, Naason.
Salmon, Boaz and Obed, Jesse, David and Solomon.
Another few of the ancestor paintings are of Rehoboam and Abijah.

There are 14 total paintings of the ancestors of Jesus around the outside of the Sistine Chapel.
Each one has the names of the ancestors and some people next to the names.

The paintings are of:
Asa, Jehosaphat, Joram
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz
Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon
Josiah, Jechoniah, Sheatiel
Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim
Azor, Sadoch
Achim, Eliud
Eleazar, Mathan
Jacob, Joseph

Joseph is the father of Jesus, so Michelangelo showed 14 paintings and named 33 of the ancestors of Jesus that are listed in the Bible book of Matthew.










(from: wikipedia - gallery of sistine chapel ceiling)


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