There are works of art that seem to hit the viewer over the head, stunning and amazing. Others draw you into thought and a search for layers of meaning and secret symbolism. Some paintings are shrouded in secrets and mystical mysteries, while others surprise with exorbitant prices.
We carefully reviewed all the major achievements in world painting and selected two dozen of the strangest paintings from them. Salvador Dali, whose works completely fall within the format of this material and are the first to come to mind, were not included in this collection on purpose.
It is clear that “strangeness” is a rather subjective concept and everyone has their own amazing paintings that stand out from other works of art. We will be glad if you share them in the comments and tell us a little about them.
"Scream"
Edvard Munch. 1893, cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel.
National Gallery, Oslo.
The Scream is considered a landmark expressionist event and one of the most famous paintings in the world.
There are two interpretations of what is depicted: it is the hero himself who is gripped by horror and silently screams, pressing his hands to his ears; or the hero closes his ears from the cry of the world and nature sounding around him. Munch wrote four versions of “The Scream,” and there is a version that this painting is the fruit of manic-depressive psychosis from which the artist suffered. After a course of treatment at the clinic, Munch did not return to work on the canvas.
“I was walking along the path with two friends. The sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red, I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned against the fence - I looked at the blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and city. My friends moved on, and I stood, trembling with excitement, feeling an endless scream piercing nature,” Edvard Munch said about the history of the creation of the painting.
“Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?"
Paul Gauguin. 1897-1898, oil on canvas.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
According to Gauguin himself, the painting should be read from right to left - three main groups of figures illustrate the questions posed in the title.
Three women with a child represent the beginning of life; the middle group symbolizes the daily existence of maturity; in the final group, according to the artist’s plan, “the old woman, approaching death, seems reconciled and given over to her thoughts,” at her feet “a strange white bird ... represents the uselessness of words.”
The deeply philosophical painting of the post-impressionist Paul Gauguin was painted by him in Tahiti, where he fled from Paris. Upon completion of the work, he even wanted to commit suicide: “I believe that this painting is superior to all my previous ones and that I will never create something better or even similar.” He lived another five years, and so it happened.
"Guernica"
Pablo Picasso. 1937, oil on canvas.
Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid.
Guernica presents scenes of death, violence, brutality, suffering and helplessness, without specifying their immediate causes, but they are obvious. It is said that in 1940, Pablo Picasso was summoned to the Gestapo in Paris. The conversation immediately turned to the painting. “Did you do this?” - “No, you did it.”
The huge fresco painting “Guernica,” painted by Picasso in 1937, tells the story of a raid by a Luftwaffe volunteer unit on the city of Guernica, as a result of which the city of six thousand was completely destroyed. The painting was painted literally in a month - the first days of work on the painting, Picasso worked for 10-12 hours, and already in the first sketches one could see the main idea. This is one of the best illustrations of the nightmare of fascism, as well as human cruelty and grief.
"Portrait of the Arnolfini couple"
Jan van Eyck. 1434, wood, oil.
London National Gallery, London.
The famous painting is completely filled with symbols, allegories and various references - right down to the signature “Jan van Eyck was here”, which turned the painting not just into a work of art, but into a historical document confirming the reality of the event at which the artist was present.
The portrait, supposedly of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife, is one of the most complex works of the Western school of Northern Renaissance painting.
In Russia, over the past few years, the painting has gained great popularity due to Arnolfini’s portrait resemblance to Vladimir Putin.
"Demon Seated"
Mikhail Vrubel. 1890, oil on canvas.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
"The hands resist him"
Bill Stoneham. 1972.
This work, of course, cannot be ranked among the masterpieces of world painting, but the fact that it is strange is a fact.
There are legends surrounding the painting with a boy, a doll and his hands pressed against the glass. From “people are dying because of this picture” to “the children in it are alive.” The picture looks really creepy, which gives rise to a lot of fears and speculation among people with weak psyches.
The artist insisted that the painting depicted himself at the age of five, that the door represented the dividing line between the real world and the world of dreams, and the doll was a guide who could guide the boy through this world. The hands represent alternative lives or possibilities.
The painting gained notoriety in February 2000 when it was put up for sale on eBay with a backstory saying that the painting was “haunted.” “Hands Resist Him” was bought for $1,025 by Kim Smith, who was then simply inundated with letters with creepy stories and demands to burn the painting.
As the proverb says, even the sun has spots. There is nothing perfect in the world, and if you set yourself a goal, you can find small and not so small sins in absolutely everything!
Now you will learn about five masterpieces of world painting that contain glaring errors. Could the artists really have made such a big mistake? Or did they decide to deliberately distort reality?
"Sistine Madonna". Rafael Santi
Incredibly, flaws can be seen even on the famous “Sistine Madonna”! First of all, the attention of critics is drawn to the hand of Sixtus II depicted in the painting. At first glance, it looks like he has six fingers!
However, upon closer examination it becomes clear that Sixtus II still has five fingers. And the curve of the palm is mistakenly taken for the sixth finger.
But there is another interesting moment in the picture. If you look closely at Madonna's feet, you will notice an unnaturally thick little toe. Some even believe that the Mother of God was originally drawn with six fingers, but then the artist corrected this mistake.
"Birth of Venus" Sandro Botticelli
Logically, the goddess of love Venus should look like an ideal woman, but this is not observed in Botticelli’s canvas. The main character of the picture has an unnaturally long neck and a swollen left leg. And this despite the fact that the leading artists of the Renaissance were famous for the anatomical accuracy of their works!
Some art critics believe that Sandro Botticelli deliberately depicted Venus with such flaws. Allegedly, he believed that the goddess should be taken by personal qualities, and not just by appearance.
"Bar at the Folies Bergere." Edouard Manet
You don’t need to be an artist to notice that in the picture the arrangement of objects in the foreground differs from their reflection in the mirror. The bottles are mirrored in the wrong order!
Moreover, the lady is reflected in the mirror at the wrong angle! So how could a world-famous impressionist artist make such a mistake? Many art historians agree that Manet deliberately painted an incorrect reflection to show the illusory nature of our world.
"The Ninth Wave" Ivan Aivazovsky
Aivazovsky is rightfully considered one of the best marine painters, if not the best. But, despite his boundless love for the sea, in his paintings the artist often depicted it with errors!
For example, the huge wave in the painting “The Ninth Wave” is painted with a spectacular curving crest. But waves of this shape can only be found near the coast, and in the open sea they look like a cone! Of course, Ivan Konstantinovich painted his canvases from the shore and could not depict a real storm.
"Supper at Emmaus" Caravaggio
A meticulous observer can immediately find a number of inaccuracies on this canvas, the main one of which is the discrepancy between the fruit and the season. According to the plot, the action of the film develops on the eve of Easter, that is, in the spring. And at this time of year there can be no fresh grapes, apples and pears!
More attentive viewers correctly noticed that the fruit basket seemed to be floating in the air, whereas in real life it would have fallen off the table.
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Artists are those eccentrics, undoubtedly talented and who from time to time love to hide many interesting Easter eggs on their canvases for us, contemplators.
website shares with you interesting but subtle details in the paintings of famous artists that will surprise, make you laugh and make you reconsider your view of art.
1. Van Gogh's hidden paintings
For quite a long time, there have been disputes between eminent art historians regarding the authorship of the painting “Still Life with Meadow Flowers and Roses,” which has been kept in the collections of the Dutch Kröller-Muller Museum since 1974.
Only now, thanks to modern technology, have specialists been able to identify the author of the painting, and it turned out to be Van Gogh. During the examination, it turned out that hidden under the still life was another work by Van Gogh, which depicts two half-naked wrestlers. Scientists know that the artist quite often painted wrestlers, painting them over afterwards.
2. Hieronymus Bosch “The Garden of Earthly Delights”
In his triptych called The Garden of Earthly Delights, Bosch hid many different symbols for us. The picture is conventionally divided into Heaven, Hell and the Earthly Idyll, each panel of which contains many entertaining Easter eggs. But the man from the side of Hell who has music notes on his buttocks has gained particular popularity. These notes were “voiced” and called “Melody from Hell.”
3. Nude Mona Lisa
It is impossible not to notice the similarities between the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci and a little-known sketch called "Monna Vanna", which depicts a naked girl. Previously it was believed that the first painting was painted by the little-known artist Salai, a student of da Vinci. However, researchers from the Louvre, after a series of examinations, refuted this theory, proving that the canvas entirely belongs to the hand of the famous artist.
4. Michelangelo's Revenge
The Pope's master of ceremonies, while inspecting the almost completed Last Judgment, insulted Michelangelo's work, pointing to naked bodies and saying that such a place belongs only in taverns and public baths.
For this, the wounded Michelangelo depicted a man on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the form of the god of hell with donkey ears, which means stupidity, and with a snake biting in the groin.
5. Marc Chagall “Above the City”
In his painting “Above the City,” Marc Chagall depicted a couple soaring above the village - himself and his beloved Bella Rosenfeld, elevating his feelings above ordinary human needs. Imbued with romantic trends, the artist, however, did not forget, in the form of self-indulgence, to introduce notes of everyday prosaicism into his creation, as if comparing the sublime and the ordinary. So, in contrast to the lovers, a man appeared on the canvas, relieving himself.
6. Jacques-Louis David “The Oath of the Horatii”
The heroes of David’s painting swear allegiance to their homeland, raising their hands in a gesture that is known to everyone as a fascist greeting, popularly called “zig”.
Therefore, art historians boldly suggest that Jacques Louis David is considered the “discoverer” of this gesture, which is made by the Horace brothers in his famous painting. Only after a while did Mussolini borrow this gesture from the French artist.
7. Norman Rockwell "People Read Stock Reports"
Norman Rockwell was a terrible workaholic and during his life he painted about 4,000 canvases about the life of average Americans.
However, when creating the painting “People Read Stock Reports,” he lost his vigilance and gave the man a third leg. Taking a closer look, you can see that both legs on the canvas are straight, and the half-bent one, on which the hand rests, turns out to be the third. The artist himself noticed the mistake only a few months later and was shocked by his inattention.
8. Portrait of Bill Clinton
20 years after painting the portrait of Bill Clinton, author Nelson Shanks admitted that the shadow over the fireplace symbolizes the events surrounding the sex scandal between the 24th President of America and White House employee Monica Lewinsky. While working on the painting, the artist took a mannequin dressed in a blue dress, which cast a shadow on the fireplace, as well as on Clinton's reputation.
On December 3, 1961, a significant event took place at the New York Museum of Modern Art - Matisse’s painting “The Boat,” which had been hanging upside down for 46 days, was properly rehung. It is worth saying that this is not an isolated funny incident associated with paintings by great artists.
Pablo Picasso painted one of his famous portraits in less than 5 minutes
Once, one of Pablo Picasso’s acquaintances, looking at his new works, sincerely said to the artist: “Sorry, but I can’t understand this. Such things simply don’t exist.” To which Picasso retorted: “You don’t even understand Chinese. But it still exists." However, many did not understand Picasso. Once he invited the Russian writer Ehrenburg, his good friend, to paint his portrait. He happily agreed, but before he could sit down in a chair to pose, the artist announced that everything was ready.
Ehrenburg expressed surprise at the speed of execution of the work, because not even 5 minutes had passed, to which Picasso replied: “I have known you for 40 years. And all these 40 years I have been learning to paint portraits in 5 minutes.”
Ilya Repin helped sell a painting he didn't paint
One lady bought at the market for only 10 rubles a completely mediocre painting, on which the signature “I. Repin” proudly flaunted. When the art connoisseur showed this work to Ilya Efimovich, he laughed and added “This is not Repin” and signed his autograph. After some time, an enterprising lady sold a painting by an unknown artist with the autograph of the great master for 100 rubles.
The bears in Shishkin’s famous painting were painted by another artist
There is an unspoken law among artists - professional mutual assistance. After all, each of them has not only favorite stories and strengths, but also weaknesses, so why not help each other. Thus, it is known for certain that for the painting “Pushkin on the Seashore” by Aivazovsky, the figure of the great poet was drawn by Repin, and for Levitan’s painting “Autumn Day. Sokolniki" the lady in black was painted by Nikolai Chekhov. The landscape painter Shishkin, who could draw every blade of grass and needle in his paintings, could not create bears when creating the painting “Morning in a Pine Forest.” That’s why Savitsky painted the bears for Shishkin’s famous painting.
A piece of fiberboard, over which paint was simply poured, became one of the most expensive paintings
The most expensive painting in the world in 2006 was Jackson Pollock's Number 5, 1948. At one auction the painting went for $140 million. This may seem funny, but the artist didn’t really “bother” with the creation of this painting: he simply poured paint over a piece of fiberboard laid out on the floor.
Rubens encrypted the date of creation of his painting using the stars.
For a long time, art historians and scientists could not establish the date of creation of one of Rubens’s most famous paintings - the painting “The Feast of the Gods on Olympus”. The mystery was resolved only after astronomers took a closer look at the picture. It turned out that the characters in the picture were located in exactly the same order as the planets were located in the sky in 1602.
The Chupa Chups logo was drawn by the world famous surrealist
In 1961, Enrique Bernata, owner of the Chupa Chups company, asked artist Salvador Dali to come up with an image for a candy wrapper. Dali fulfilled the request. Today this image, although in a slightly modified form, is recognizable on the company's lollipops.
It is worth noting that in 1967 in Italy, with the blessing of the Pope, it was released with illustrations by Salvador Dali.
The most expensive painting Flour brings misfortune
Munch's "The Scream" was sold at auction for $120 million and is the artist's most expensive painting today. They say that Munch, whose life path was a series of tragedies, put so much grief into it that the picture absorbed negative energy and takes revenge on the offenders.
One of the Munch Museum employees once accidentally dropped a painting, after which he began to suffer from terrible headaches, which led this man to suicide. Another museum employee, who was unable to hold onto the painting, was involved in a terrible car accident just a few minutes later. And a museum visitor who allowed himself to touch the painting, after some time, burned alive in a fire. However, it is possible that these are just coincidences.
Malevich's "Black Square" has an "older brother"
“Black Square,” which is perhaps the most famous painting by Kazimir Malevich, is a canvas 79.5 * 79.5 centimeters, on which a black square is depicted on a white background. Malevich painted his painting in 1915. And back in 1893, 20 years before Malevich, Alphonse Allais, a French humorist writer, painted his “black square”. True, Allais’s painting was called “Battle of Negroes in a Deep Cave on a Dark Night.”
Christ and Judas in Da Vinci's painting have the same face
They say that the creation of the painting “The Last Supper” required titanic efforts from Leonardo da Vinci. The artist quickly found the person from whom the image of Christ was painted. One of the church choir singers took this role. But da Vinci searched for “Judas” for three years.
Once on the street the artist saw a drunkard who was unsuccessfully trying to get out of a cesspool. Da Vinci took him to one of the drinking establishments, sat him down and began to draw. Imagine the artist’s surprise when, having opened up his thoughts, the drunkard admitted that he had already posed for him several years ago. It turned out that this was the same singer.
A half-self-published book by Alexander Lozovoy about mistakes and inaccuracies in painting.
I accidentally bought this book in Moscow, and the feeling of randomness did not leave me even while reading it. The author accidentally wrote a book, placing in it in random order the mistakes of great masters, made by accident or not. In a word, there is enough spontaneity in the book; now it would be nice to have a little organization and logic.
Aivazovsky strove primarily for an illusory transmission of waves on canvas, photographic resemblance to reality, and absolute imitation of nature. But Aivazovsky sometimes made mistakes even in a realistic depiction of the sea, although this was precisely what he strived for.
He looked at the waves mostly from the shore of the Black Sea, in Feodosia. I looked at both the calm sea and the stormy one. The wave crests of the waves running onto the shore are wrapped, and a so-called “apron” is formed. Aivazovsky depicted precisely such swells and breaker waves in his paintings. Out of naivety and ignorance, he assumed that similar waves during a storm occurred throughout the sea.
His famous painting “The Ninth Wave” depicts a sinking ship during a storm far from the shore. But the waves in this part of the sea, not near the shore, are completely different from how the artist painted them. Waves in a storm in the seas and oceans have a cone-shaped, pyramidal shape and do not in any way resemble a coastal wave with an “apron” that occurs on the shallows.
The same error is present in another rather impressive-sized painting by Aivazovsky, “The Wave.” Almost forty years passed between the painting of two paintings. But during this time the artist did not delve into the essence of the raging elements.
The book contains quite a lot of such artistic goodies and descriptions of why corrections, smudges and extra strokes of paint appear in paintings. For example, before reading the book, I didn’t think about how difficult it really is to cover up an unnecessary element in a painting. It turns out that paints lose their brightness and color when mixed, so sometimes artists leave mistakes and inaccuracies on canvases rather than edit what they have already painted.
In one of his frescoes, Paolo Uccello depicted a chameleon in the form of a camel. The artist had never seen a chameleon, and he was misled by the consonance of the words: “cameleonto” (chameleon) and “camello” (camel). And in Surikov’s painting “Menshikov in Berezovo” the artist painted the ceiling in the hut so low that if Menshikov, sitting at the table, stood up, he would certainly hit his head on the ceiling.
The book is especially pleasant to read with an iPad in your hands, finding and examining all the pictures described. So the reading speed drops significantly, but interest increases. While reading a small book, I discovered many new paintings and even one new artist, Roerich.
Japanese art came to Europe completely involuntarily. Various small Japanese goods were wrapped in woodcuts (that is, prints from wooden boards) like wrapping paper. Most likely, these were rejected, unsuccessful prints, for which, in order not to be thrown away, they found a new use. It was they who aroused the first genuine interest in Japanese art.
Unfortunately, the book has several shortcomings. The most important thing is that you can’t buy it almost anywhere; even the network can’t find such a book. I suspect that my copy unexpectedly turned out to be a significant bibliographic rarity. In addition, “Mistakes” has a whole series of structural and semantic errors, attempts to spread over the tree, marking time and other proverbs. However, this is not the first time for an experienced reader to filter all this right on the go.
