The Arnolfini Portrait(1434) // Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck’sportrait of a couplein a elbow room might seem straightforward at first glance , but it has become one of themost debatedin the history of art . In the twentieth century , Erwin Panofsky put forrad one of the most far-famed interpretation of the work when he argue that it was n’t just a portrayal , but also served as a legal papers ( sort of like a man and wife permit ) confirm that the wedding had take place . That take became a case of further debate when documentation was discovered showing that the Arnolfini couple did n’t marry until years after the portrait was paint , so if itwasa certificate , it was n’t of them . however , Panofsky ’s argument has continued to bereferencedin discussion of the portrayal and the chronicle of how it has been rede .
The Garden of Earthly Delights(1490-1500) // Hieronymus Bosch
The lack of data about the life ofHieronymus Boschmeans that his oeuvre has been subject to a great deal of interpretation . One lesser - known but eye - catching theory concerns a particular inThe Garden of Earthly Delights , which some believe is connected to Bosch ’s innovation of the house painting .
An amputated infantry locate near a pig in a nun ’s substance abuse is conceive by some to be reference to a form of necrosis anticipate “ St. Anthony ’s Fire , ” which was stimulate by consuming texture contaminated by ergot fungus . Eating the fungus causedhallucinations(it was finally used in the twentieth one C tocreate LSD ) , so one interpretation of the house painting is that Bosch created it while he was experiencing the after - effects of Claviceps purpurea poisoning , which could account for some of the more outlandish scenes in the picture .
Mona Lisa(1503/1519) // Leonardo da Vinci
Arguably one of the most famous painting ever , theMona Lisahas been subject to numerous rendition and arguments , ranging from the fix of the subject to whether Leonardo paintedmore than one versionof it . But one of the most notable is the argument that the subject field is not , as commonly assume , the Florentine woman Lisa del Giocondo ( whose husbandcommissionedthe painting ) , but actually aself - portraitof the artist . Using computer comparing of theMona Lisaand a known self - portrait of Leonardo to create a study she dubbedMona / Leo , scholar Lillian F. Schwartz hasarguedthat he based the typeface of the Mona Lisa on his own . She even choose her breakthrough toUnsolved Mysteries ; you may watch the segmenthere .
Laura(1506) // Giorgione
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco — substantially known by his professional name , Giorgione — is an creative person surrounded by so much doubt that a book , 2021’sGiorgione ’s Ambiguities , was written on the subject . So it should n’t be a surprise that the intent of one of his most famous picture are still debate .
The painting most unremarkably have a go at it asLaura , which is housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna , never distinctly identified its subject — but it has been indicate that the woman in question could be Laura de Noves , who isbelievedto be the same Laura who inspired many of the love poems of Petrarch . Another interpretation is that the Arthur Stanley Jefferson Laurel in the background was used tosymbolizethat the woman was faithful and dead on target ; it ’s possible this symbolism was requested by the valet de chambre who commissioned the painting .
Das Eismeer(1823-24) // Caspar David Friedrich
The art of 19th - century mountain lion Caspar David Friedrich often explore humanity’srelationship to nature . One of his most evocative work wasDas Eismeer(The Sea of Ice ) , which has been interpret as a stark work showing the exposure of humans in the face of born disaster . It portray a wreck in an icy sea , but with the ice rather of the wreck of the ship at the center of the image , symbolizing nature overwhelm the creations of humans . The jaggy slab of ice are also say to symbolise gravestones and the fatal event of the ocean trip . Friedrich was inspired by the Arctic geographic expedition happening in that geological era , especially William Edward Parry’sNorth - West Passage expeditionin 1819 - 20 . While Parry returned home safely from his ocean trip , the fit in this paintingshowsan excursion that terminate in disaster , as so many polar voyage did . But the work has also been interpreted as a form ofpolitical symbolismsupposedly expressing the artist ’s unhappiness about the state of Germany itself and the confinement on political exemption that were taking place at the time .
The Starry Night(1889) // Vincent van Gogh
The Starry Nightis one of a issue of paintingsVan Goghmade ofthe world at Nox . In this 1889 employment , Van Gogh overdo certain factor in this picture — including the color and pattern of the stars in the sky — more than he did in other nighttime works , which has lead to much surmisal as to why .
Some have interpret the painting — which was created during his time at Saint - Paul - de - Mausole asylum in the late eighties — as a augury of Van Gogh ’s mental health crisis . One related rendering is that the whirl of yellow in the picture could be the aftermath of Van Gogh having taken ( and been overmedicated with ) the drug digitalis ; those who took a luck of the drug reported “ seeing yellow smirch surround by coronas,”according toa newspaper issue in theWestern Journal of Medicine .
The Scream(1893) // Edvard Munch
With its delineation of a serviceman yelling against the background of a flaming - colored sky , The Screamis one of the mostfamous imagesin the history of artwork . There has been much discussion aboutwhat causedthe red sky that Munch paint : Some argue that it was breathe in by the artist ’s memory of find out the vivid skiescreatedby corpuscle in the atmosphere after a volcanic eruption , while others suggest it ’s more consistent with the show ofnacreous clouds .
Étant donnés(1946-1966) // Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was know for his playful overture to artwork — and arguably one of his greatest effort was get out off the creation of his last work , Étant donnés : 1 ° la chute d’eau / 2 ° le gaz d’éclairage(or , in English , Given : 1 . The Waterfall , 2 . The Illuminating Gas … ) in full secret during a period when it was accept that he had return up art and was spending his time wager cheat [ PDF ] . By peeking through hole in a threshold , viewers can see a view showing the trunk and leg of a naked woman lying on twigs and leaf ; in her hand , she hold a lamp , and there ’s a bring waterfall in the background .
The creative person ferment on the assemblage for 20 years and will no explanation as to what it means ; some have go so far as tospeculatethat the workplace is an allusion to the slaying of Elizabeth Short , also known as theBlack Dahlia . ( However , curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art , where the piece of work rest , refutethat interpretation , channelize out that Duchamp had started onÉtant donnésin 1946 , the year before Short was murder . )
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