That was until I found out that in order to graduate, you needed to speak and translate a foreign language. A what?! The only thing I could say in another language was Donde esta el bano and Donde esta cerveza frio? I could see that art history wasn’t in the future for me. But I decided to stick out the two semesters I had already invested. I’m glad I did. I gained an appreciation for art pieces that I would have otherwise never known about. Here are those pieces I have come to love.

Frederic Church

Twilight in the Wilderness (1860) Oil on canvas

This painting is my favorite out of all the paintings I have ever seen in my life. And that’s a lot folks. While the computer image does not do the painting justice, to see the real piece is quite breathtaking. Church was one of the most famous American landscape painters of the mid-nineteenth century. He intently studied the Americas for inspiration to his paintings. His works portray radiant panoramas with vibrant colors that deal with the awesome beauty of nature. While this landscape doesn’t portray any real location per-se, the sunset in itself is a tranquility of brilliant floating clouds that almost brings peace to the soul.

Theodore Gericault

The Raft of the Medusa (1819) Oil on canvas

Many artists of the 19th century had depicted human tragedy on a grand scale. While their depictions were meant to define the human struggle in a more heroic light, Gericault turned it into a haunting tale of horror. The Medusa was a French frigate that wrecked off the African coast in 1816. The six lifeboats on the ship were inadequate to hold all the passengers. After 3 days, 150 people were left behind, forced to face survival on a jerry-made wooden raft. Only 15 people survived. Cannibalism, insanity, mutilation, hunger, and thirst were commonplace on the raft. It is here that Gericault depicts the 13 days of horror felt by the surviving members of the doomed Medusa.

Vincent Van Gogh

Japonaiserie: The Actor (after Keisai Yeisen) (1888) Oil on canvas

My last semester of art history, I undertook the task of writing an extensive research paper on Van Gogh. I admit, he is one of my favorite artists, and one cannot help but fall in love with his more vibrant works. Many of his works are familiar; with the exception of his Japonisme pieces. Van Gogh loved to paint Oriental works (mainly Japanese) because they entailed what was real, passionate, and serene to him. Oriental art contained the soaring lines of Van Gogh’s ideal art. He appreciated Oriental art so much, that he copied prints by Keisai Yeisen and Hiroshige. It was through the assimilation of Japanese art that Van Gogh began to appreciate color, thus abandoning the dark styles he was once fond of using. The use of rich colors would eventually take precedence over how Van Gogh would paint later in his life.

Sir John Everett Milais

Ophelia (1851-1852) Oil on canvas

This piece recounts Ophelia’s descent into madness before the finality of her death. She is at a loss over the death of her father and the revoked love of Hamlet. Milais’s portrayal shows Ophelia singing as she floats into oblivion. Certainly haunting, if not disturbing. The piece was done at two different time. Milais first painted the landscape, and then painted in his muse, Elizabeth Siddal. At it’s first showing, it grew strong distaste. It is now considered to be one of the best examples of Pre-Raphaelite art, with it’s depiction of Ophelia in an almost martyr like position, surrounded by the decay of nature.

Paul Signac

Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones and Colors, Portrait of M. Felix Feneon in 1890 (1890) Oil on canvas

While the title is a mouthful, the painting is an absolute awesome array of colors. Using what is known as pointillism (using minute dots to make a picture), Signac created this playful piece as a spoof to a new theory called Theosophy. Theosophy was the idea that all religions are created to help individuals gain a higher perfection, and that each religion has an aspect of truth behind it. Feneon was a fellow theoretician who was painted as a modern day Merlin. Certainly flamboyant, but definitely one of my favorites.