Art today covers so many things. The choices that you have are endless, so there is something to suit everybody’s taste. So much we can learn about it from looking at the Masters. However, you can appreciate art even if you are a beginner to it all.

As a race the Chinese and Japanese generally use black and white to express themselves. Very cleverly they use brushes for both their writings and their drawings. Brushes, in fact, made of hair with a very fine point, ideal for their delicate work, with a bamboo handle.

How fantastic then were the actual paintings of Zen. We need to look no further to have an appreciation of this type of art. When they draw and paint they brush on a wash before they paint later carefully with ink.

Not only do they appear very true to life, they often give the feeling of actual movement in the work. How delicately they must use their brushes to get this fragile effect. Nevertheless these same brushes are used for Calligraphy.

So what do we know about Expressionism? How does one describe this type of work to a beginner? I actually see it as a way of letting your inner emotional state run free. But I stress that this is my interpretation of it.

Let us use the famous painter Van Gogh as an example. To the normal person much of his work appears to be totally distorted. The weird shapes and forms created turned into natural genius!

How often we all admire the works of Monet and his wonderful landscapes amongst other pictures. Interestingly enough they appear as a series of dots and dashes which then form the picture. This is called Impressionism.

Probably this art style dates back to the 19th Century. The light plays an important part of the completed picture and this style works well with landscapes.

Let us consider Still Life paintings now. Are they easily achievable? I think not. They appear so easy on the eye. Probably because we all recognize the typical types of subjects that are used for this. How often do we stop and think how talented artists are?

Simple items are not always easy to reproduce and you need a good backdrop for this type of work. I think that this dates back to about the 17th century and the famous Dutch Masters. How fantastic some of these artists from a bygone age were, and so forward thinking.

The works of Toulouse-Lautrec and his wonderful pictures of the Parisian nightlife. The Can Can dancers etc. all brought to life. Generally he seemed fascinated with the theatricals of the ” Moulin Rouge”, the Montmartre and the Bohemian lifestyle.

What about Monet who produced such greatly coloured and inspired landscapes, and natural artistic scenes. Yet he did not stop at this as he also loved doing very amusing caricatures mainly of his friends.

So many wonderful artists, too many to mention, Constable, J.W.Turner, Renoir, and Picasso, and what a talent Salvador Dali.

For those who like art, prime examples to be recommended are to be seen all over Barcelona in the works of Salvador Dali, which seem to spread all over this city. To look at these one surely feels his brain must have been overloaded.

Popularity: 2% [?]