Portrait of the Artist’s Wife with Katherine and Philipp is the least famous but most poignant of Hans Holbein’s works. More historian than poet, Hans Holbein was the visual documentarian of his time.
Why Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef by Francis Bacon is such a famous painting:
• Bacon’s power, horror and Pope obsessions.
• Raw meat means vulnerability in Head Surrounded by Sides of Beef.
• People love Francis Bacon’s shocking, screaming Popes.
Foreboding waves crash The Undercliff painting. This makes literal and figurative sense. After all, Richard Parkes Bonington painted it one month before dying. He was twenty five years old with TB. It was 1828 and tuberculosis was known as the “robber of youth” at the time.
The painting EOW on Her Blue Eiderdown II presents us with seductive obscurity. Frank Auerbach was a true romantic and it shows here. This painting may seem blunt at first. But the piece demands a deeper look.
Flaming June sings to us with radiant color and elemental symbols. Many see this painting as simple. It’s a beautiful woman in a glorious dress. They’re not wrong. But as with most masterpieces, more levels of meaning resonate here.
Here Comes the Diesel by Leon Kossoff feels like a fight. Viewers must battle our way through the choppy chaotic brambles to even see the title’s train. Kossoff drives paint across the canvas like a barrage. It brings to mind the rush of a train, powering through forests and fields.