A New Take on Starry Night

 

When I was in London the summer of 2025, I saw an exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts about an artist I had not heard of before.  His name is Anselm Keifer and the exhibit was about Keifer's journey into the life of Vincent Van Gogh.  He traveled to all the places Van Gogh lived or visited and he was inspired to create works based on some of Van Gogh's themes.  The above painting is called "Starry Night".  Keifer incorporates straw, sticks, clay and other natural materials into his monumental paintings. 

Domestic Life

 

Peter de Hooch (1629-1684) was a Dutch painter known for is paintings of domestic or household scenes.  This particular painting shows a woman and her maid in the courtyard of a home.  The maid appears to have taken a fish out of a cooking pot.  This style of painting gives insights into the every day lives of 17th century households. 

This painting is part of the collection at the National Gallery of Art in London.

Abstract Beauty

 

Eamon Ore-Giron is a multi-faceted artist based in Los Angeles. The painting above is called "Angelitas Negros" and it was part of an exhibit called Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.  You can see more of his amazing abstract paintings here.  Ore-Giron was born in Tucson in 1973.  His geometric paintings have been shown in a number of art museums and galleries.  It's a style that speaks to me.

The Earth is Man

 

Roberto Matta is a surrealist painter whose full name is Roberto Antonio Sebastian Matta-Echaurren.  He was one of Chile's best known painters in the 20th century.  The painting was created after the artist visited Mexico and gives the impression of a "cosmic" landscape.  The painting is said to represent the volatile nature of the planet.  It certainly has an explosive look to it. This painting was found at the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Fleeing Ghost

 

This painting is called "Fleeing Ghost" and it was created in 1929 by Paul Klee (1879-1940).  

Klee was an artist who had his own individual style but was influenced by expressionism, cubism and surrealism.  

This painting uses aspects of his idea of "polyphony".  He looked at the effects created by various layered formats.

This painting is part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tuba City Spaceport

 

This painting by Ryan Singer was on display in a special exhibit at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.  Ryan Singer is a Navajo artist who is known for mixing every day Native American scenes with elements of science fiction.  He is especially fond of characters from Star Wars.  If you look closely at this painting, you will see many Star Wars characters and equipment mixed in with this casual trading post scene.

You can read more about Ryan Singer here.

Tovrea Dreams

 

Last Monday I featured a painting of an Arizona landmark.  This week I'm featuring another painting this time of a Phoenix landmark.  I discovered this painting in the lobby of a downtown Phoenix office building hanging near the elevator bank.  It's called "Tovrea Dreams" and features  the well-known Phoenix landmark, Tovrea Castle.  Only this depiction has taken on a surrealistic tone with the castle sitting on the back of a giant turtle.

The artist is Rafael Navarro who is originally from Mexico City.  He is self-taught and finds his way through painting and sculpting.  This painting was part of a show by Modified Arts called "Visions of Phoenix: Reality and Surreality."  This painting fits the "surreality" description perfectly.

You can see more of Navarro's work here.  

Mission San Xavier Del Bac

 

The artist Kirk Randle lives and works in Bountiful Utah but I see him every year at the Celebration of Fine Arts which lasts from mid-January to the end of March.  His paintings span a wide range of scenes from landscapes to farm scenes to forests.  This recent depiction of the Mission San Xavier Del Bac caught my eye immediately.  Somewhere in my archives of photos I have a photograph of this beautiful building with stormy looking clouds hanging overhead.  He must have visited the mission on a similar day.

The White Horse

 

This painting is by the artist Mathieu Bassez.  It's Called "Prudence".  Mr. Bassez grew up in Ghent Flanders and started painting in his early teens.  At University he wrote a thesis about the Japanese artist Utamaro who painted every day scenes of Japanese life.  He ended up studying at Tokyo University of Fine Arts.  His recent works have revolved around the powerful form of both horses and women.  You can read more about him here.

I saw this painting in London at the Halcyon Gallery at Harrods.  

The Card Players

 

The Card Players is one in a series of paintings made be Paul Cezanne in the 1890's.  There are a total of five paintings in the series and the one shown above is at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.  There is a smaller version of this same painting at the Musee d'Orsey in Paris and yet another in a private collection.  There is also another painting depicting three card players at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia has a fifth painting which is another version of the painting with 3 card players.  Some experts say that Cezanne became obsessed with getting the perfect picture of his peasant card players.  

You can see photos of all five of the paintings on this Wikipedia page.