En nuestra sede del centro contamos con un pequeño rincón de arte. A continuación tienes las obras expuestas junto con algunas curiosidades sobre las mismas:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Mona Lisa. 1503-1506. Oil on poplar panel
Do you know why she doesn’t have eyebrows?
It was a sign of beauty. And since she has no eyelashes either, Mona Lisa was probably one of the most beautiful women from that time.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Bedroom in Arles. 1888. Oil on canvas
Van Gogh’s room was painted in Arles, the city where he lived . He told his brother Leo, in one of his letters, that he wanted to express the quietness and simpleness of his room, by using these colours.
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
The Siesta. 1889-1890. Oil on canvas
Van Gogh created this painting while he was interned in a mental asylum in St Remy de Provence. He told his brother Leo that he was trying to use another language. The painting was inspired by drawing Millet’s drawing called ‘Four Moments in the day’.
Did you know that Van Gogh used to place candles on his hat, so he could paint at night?
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Blue Water Lilies. 1916-1919. Oil on canvas
Monet painted more than 250 water lilies paintings.
Did you know that Monet served as a soldier in Algeria? And that he is the most celebrated Impressionist painters of all time?Did you know that before he became a painter he was a popular caricaturist?
Théophile Steinlen (1859-1923)
Le Chat Noir. 1886. Poster
Le Chat Noir was a nineteenth-century entertainment establishment, in the bohemian Montmartre, district of Paris.
Le Chat Noir is thought to be the first modern cabaret: a nightclub where the patrons sat at tables and drank alcoholic beverages while being entertained by a variety show on stage.
Perhaps best known now by its iconic Theophile Steinlein poster art.
The cabaret began by renting the cheapest accommodations it could find, a small two-room site located at 84 Boulevard Rochechouart, which is now commemorated by a historical plaque.
From its opening, Le Chat Noir was thought of as a meeting point for artists, with an interior design in the style of Louis XIII. In the beginning, poets, musicians, writers, and singers¡performed on the stage, but they were quickly replaced as the shadow play medium developed at Le Chat Noir and spread from there. The cabaret is still remembered for these.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Moulin Rouge: La Goulue. 1891. Engraving
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or Toulouse-Lautrec is the leader of a small group of bohemians.
Toulouse seems to make up for his very short stature by using long and educational words as well as having a long name.
The 19th-century French artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, is well-known for his works that show the nightlife in the Moulin Rouge, Paris.
Toulouse-Lautrec’s first poster could not have been destined for any other place but the Moulin Rouge, the temple of leisure in Paris, where one of the painter’s artworks was already on display. To promote the show, he would use his two main dancers: Louise Weber – known as La Goulue for her gluttony – and Jacques Renaudin – wine merchant during the day and night dancer nicknamed Valentin le Désossé, the boneless, for his agility. Both characters had already starred in ‘At the Moulin Rouge’. The poster was sensationally received by both the public and the critics, which served to encourage Toulouse-Lautrec. He used the silhouettes of the characters in shots, cropped on a background flat and silhouetted. The elevated point of view he adopted – following the ballerina’s dance – would be very common for the artist, who used Degas as a model.
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
The Thames below Westminster. 1871. Oil on canvas
In the autumn of 1870, Paris was under siege during the Franco-Prussian War, and Monet fled France with his young family. They settled in London, where he painted this misty view of the Thames the following spring.
During his stay in London, Monet searched for buildings to inspire him. Although the Houses of Parliament are Gothic in style, they had just been rebuilt after being reduced to rubble in the fire of 1834.
Work on the Victoria Embankment, which appears on the right in this scene, had also just been completed.
If you look closely, you can see that the figures on the dock are workers putting the finishing touches on the structure.
Monet uses the surface of the river to reflect the broken shadow of the pier. The short, angular brushstrokes give the impression that the water is in motion.
Monet once told the dealer Rene Gimpel: «I only love London in winter… without its fog London would not be a beautiful city. It is fog that gives it its wonderful breadth. Its massive, regular blocks become grandiose in this mysterious cloak’. He was fascinated by the London fog. In this painting, he transmits the sensation of the atmosphere through the cloudy sky, reflected in the water, and the ghostly silhouettes of buildings and boats.
It is evident that this sight caught the attention of Monet powerfully. When he returned to London years later, he painted the Houses of Parliament and Waterloo Bridge many times, at different times of the day and in different atmospheric conditions.
