Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada FamíliaAntoni Gaudí (1882-ongoing)Altough I am not Catholic, I do absolutely adore Catholic architecture and La Sagrada Família is the most beautiful example of this. Highly recommend looking through images of the cathedral. |
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Christina's WorldAndrew Wyeth (1948)Christina's World is my favorite painting of all time; I'm not even entirely sure why. Something is this painting elicits a tremendous amount of bittersweetness in me. Is it knowing the struggle that it would take for her to reach the houses? The gazing over the fields? It's very beautiful, nevertheless. |
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Eclisse di sole alle Fondamenta NoveIppolito Caffi (1842)Not as famous as the other art on this list, but I love the opposition between the light and the dark from the eclipse. The geometry of the light is really cool, too. |
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Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581Ilya Repin (1883-1885)The face on Ivan the Terrible is absolutely HAUNTING. It looks like the viewer is right at the moment that Ivan realized what he had done. Has a pretty interesting history, too. |
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Madonna della PietàMichelangelo Buonarroti (1498-1499)The delicate scultiping of the marble to look like fabric is just... wow. Obviously, I'm not saying anything new by praising the statue but I mean... it's popular for a reason. |
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The Lament for IcarusHerbert Draper (1898)The wings are gorgeous. I love the lighting and just the overall presentation. |
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Opałka 1965 / 1 - ∞Roman Opałka (1965-2011)I've always been obsessed with this art project since watching Jacob Geller's The Shape of Infinity. The obsession and commitment to make this piece is... wow. I recommend checking out Geller's video. |
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The Portrait of Madame XJohn Singer Sargent (1884)This piece is included almost entirely due to the backstory behind it. The drama it caused... y'all wish you could be as messy as this painting was to the French art world. |
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The Roses of HeliogabalusLawrence Alma-Tadema (1888)Honestly, it's just really pretty. I love the ornatness and decadence of the peace. Elagabalus is also a very interesting figure to me, and I hope to write an essay about him at some point. |
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Saturn Devouring His SonFrancisco de Goya (c. 1820-1823)I think what intrigues me the most about Saturn Devouring His Son is that we actually don't know if this painting even depicts Saturn at all. This is just what we assume the painting to be. Being a part of Goya's Black Paintings, I wonder if this is, in a way, a self-portrait of Goya himself. |
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Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent XFrancis Bacon (1953)This image just go hard. The pure agony in the Pope's face is horrifying and the water-streak-like effects really add to the piece's horror. |