Art Reflection – Van Gogh Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), an artist of fame and influence in Western Art, painted with a frantic technique and pace. He painted nature and people around him and often sowers. He considered sowing an honorable endeavor and completed 30 drawings and paintings on this theme. In this image he shares a mixture of reality and …

Art Reflection – Andrews Benny Andrews (1930-2026) was the son of a sharecropper and came up in poverty. He missed school often to help his father and used drawing to fill the gaps in his education, eventually studying at the Art Institute of Chicago. Benny Andrews is known as The People’s Painter, using a raw representational style to meet his …

Art Reflection – Sassoferrato This artist painted scenes imagined from scripture in the realistic style of his time. Here we see his classical treatment of fabric, of light and shadow, of landscape, and the human figure done in exactness and emotion. Sassoferrato paints a wobbly baby Jesus moving to kiss his exquisite and loving mother. This masterpiece pulls us to …

Art Reflection – Kandinsky Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was born in Moscow. He was trained in law and economics and a professor of both when at age 30 his passion for color changed his life. This passion was amplified while studying the brilliant colors of Russian folk art and architecture. He felt a brightly painted house, no matter how humble, could …

Art Reflection – Doig Scottish artist, Peter Doig, was born in 1959. He is world-renowned as a figurative artist, one who retains a strong reference to the real world in his modern abstraction. This artist paints magic realism as clearly seen in Reflection.  Here we see this blend in a realistic person referenced in a fanciful winter scene abstracted with …

Art Reflection – Picasso Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was born in Malaga, Spain. He spent most of his life in France in the company and influence of famous artists. The Blind’s Man Meal was painted during his Blue Period, 1901-1904. During these years of a major depression after the public suicide of his friend, Carles Casagemas, he painted monochromatic pieces of blue and …

Art Reflection – Strutt William Strutt (1825-1915) was an English painter. He was born into a family of artists and continued that tradition. Peace is his vision of Isaiah 11:6-7 done in the classical and romanticized style of his time. It hangs in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Brecon, Wales. As we view this precise and delicate painting with …

Art Reflection – Degas Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is a familiar French Impressionist. He followed his fascination with movement to paint dancers, scenes at racetracks and this scene of a hat maker. In The Millinery Shop, Degas pulls a simple, common scene of his day to the level of masterpiece with his perspective, color, and varied technique. Over a hundred years later, …

Art Reflection – Asawa Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) was an American artist of the Modernist Movement. Ruth is best known for her hanging, wire sculptures but currently an exhibit of her drawing, painting, and paper folding entitled Through Lines is at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Bentwood Rocker is part of this exhibit and is emblematic of her patient, persistent relationship with art. …

Art Reflection – Schiele Egon Schiele (1890-1918) was an Austrian artist and protégé of Gustav Klimt. He painted landscapes and portraits in the Modern Art Movement during his short life. He died of the Spanish Flu at age 28. This piece is part of the Belvedere Collection in Vienna, Austria. Schiele’s Four Trees is interesting in both technique and metaphor. Here we …