When I was 19 my sister and I took a trip to Europe {compliments of Mom & Dad} to celebrate her college graduation. It was January & rainy & she is a true art lover (while other girls were doing their nails, she was digging into gigantic ancient art history tomes). So, we spent much of our time looking at art. I was out of shape and in a bad mood about spending hours trecking to and from art museums, and didn’t appreciate my knowledgeable, personal tour guide adequately…But now, 14 years later, the thing that stands out most in my mind from the trip were a few works of art that really moved me (both at the Musée d’Orsay). The first was this gorgeous piece, The Floor Scrapers, by Gustave Caillebotte:
The next was the only piece I actually looked forward to seeing because I had already fallen in love with the beautiful work, The Angelus, by Jean-François Millet (his painting the gleaners is also breath-taking). Seeing it in person did not disappoint. It is a stunning, serene painting:
I think there is a glimmer of the magnificence of God in truly great Art. That is the allure of seeing these gorgeous works in person. However, we can’t all own these, so we must settle for more earth-bound art that pleases us and gives us daily satisfaction to look at.
Art taste is one of the totally unpredictable things about a person. You can’t look at someone and guess what kind of art they would like, you can’t even always look at their home and guess. It is such an individual thing – because art that can “speak” to some people, is something another would walk by without notice. I’m not really sure how tastes are shaped, it’s just so individual. That being said, we are living in a super accessible time for every taste in art, primarily due to the etsy craze. Lots of art is still out of reach, and some people don’t love any art enough to spend real money on it. My sister, on the other hand, has made it her only investment. She has good taste and can spot trends (has since we were tiny, really) but mostly she just buys what she loves. Not Sotheby’s material, sometimes Saturday market finds, lots from etsy. It may never be worth anything, but she will have a lifetime of enjoyment out of it nonetheless.
My art taste is all over the map (as you will see), but I always know it when I see it. The first piece of art we bought was something we saw in a coffee shop exhibition in our neighborhood. It is by the artist Nat Meade. The truth is what we loved was a little painting of cumquats, but it was already sold. So, for my birthday my husband surprised me and bought a different still-life by him, that we have loved ever since. It has some oddly shaped avocado/nose suck bulb item that we have never been able to identify, which makes for a conversation piece:
We bought these sweet prints (over the crib – for a better look click on the link) by marisa at creative thursday for our daughter’s nursery. She has so many adorable & affordable prints:
Here are some more favorite artists and pieces we hope to own someday (if you follow the links you will get to some great sites to browse and discover what speaks to you):
In the depths, by Lisa Golightly
The Road, by Daniel Robinson
{love, love, love his work + he lives and works in Oregon & paints many places my family has lived}
Book of poems, by Anna Magruder
Bison Buffalo, Lucy Snowe Photography
{I have had a mild obsession for years with finding a close-up of a Buffalo in black & white. The one I dream of is so close that it is just a head shot and it’s taken on a cold day so you can see the Buffalo’s breath – this is the closest I’ve come, & it is stunning. I may give up on the one in my head and buy this one}
I also love her photo entitled Ewe in the Fog:
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Blue Door New Orleans Number 1, Lesha
The Loved Home 