I accept Bosch is profoundly peculiar but I don't find him depressing. He's too involving for that. He doesn't give you the time or space for introspection. Your senses are bombarded and the detail is extraordinary. There are a hundred dramas enacted in every canvas. Viewing his paintings is entirely voyeuristic. Its not threatening, its appalled fascination.
I like Bruegel too. Unfortunately Christmas cards have done to his works what on-hold call centre music has done for Vivaldi. But few painters offer such intimacy with a folkloric past. His hectic crowd scenes are more alive than photographs. You feel you could just lean in and smell the cooking, join in the talk, share the joke. I love his three dimensional use of the colour white. It makes his paintings glow. Look at the animation he's got into the grubby white apron of the woman in the centre foreground.
Yeah art is a confusing concept, I mean if you can't fill it with fuel and red- line it away from the lights, then its just not worth discussing right?
Excellent painting, I see what you mean about almost being able to walk among the characters. The men's cod pieces are a little.. Erm.. Small though!
I visited Salvador Dali's house in Roses, Spain. The man was crackers! Amongst all the pieces of art and stuff he'd collected to fill his home was a very small cage nailed to a wall, and In it he would keep a cricket because he enjoyed it's chirping! When it died he'd have a man catch a new one and replace it! The museum in Figuares is worth a visit also.
Yes, codpiece man in the foreground with the white pants looks like he's photo-bombed the painting. He's the one character who seems aware of the artist's presence and returns his gaze. He looks out at us and seems to cavort for our benefit. Its his gaze (not his codpiece) that takes the viewer into the painting and makes us part of it. Its a clever and humorous touch. If his head was turned away from us even slightly, it would be a different painting.
Guildhall Art Gallery - Guildhall Galleries - City of London I saw these Pre-Raphaelites at the Guildhall Art Gallery, in the heart of the City of London. Sorry about the poor photos, snapped on my phone.
