Unearthly beauty: women in painting in different directions. The shocking masterpieces of classical painting "The Girls of Avignon" by Pablo Picasso

Gil Elvgren (1914-1980) was a major pin-up artist of the twentieth century. Throughout his professional career, which began in the mid-1930s and lasted over forty years, he has established himself as a clear favorite among collectors and pin-up fans around the world. And although Gil Elvgren is considered mainly a pin-up artist, he deserves the title of a classic American illustrator who was able to cover various areas of commercial art.

25 years of work for advertising Coca-Cola helped him establish himself as one of the great illustrators in this field. Coca-Cola ads included pin-up images of Elvgren's Girls, most of these illustrations depicting typical American families, children, teenagers - ordinary people going about their daily business. During World War II and the Korean War, Elvgren even drew military-themed illustrations for Coca-Cola, some of which became icons in America.

Elvgren's work for Coca-Cola depicted the American dream of a safe, comfortable life, and some magazine story illustrations depicted the hopes, fears, and joys of their readers. These images were published in the 1940s-1950s in a number of well-known American magazines such as McCall's, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Woman's Home Companion. Along with Coca-Cola, Elvgren has also worked with Orange Crush, Schlitz Beer, Sealy Mattress, General Electric, Sylvania and Napa Auto Parts.

Elvgren stood out not only for his paintings and advertising graphics - he was also a professional photographer who wielded the camera as deftly as he did with the brush. But his energy and talent did not stop there: in addition, he was a teacher, whose students later became famous artists.

Even in his early childhood, Elvgren was inspired by the pictures of famous illustrators. Every week he tore out sheets and covers from magazines with images that he liked, as a result of which he amassed a huge collection that left its mark on the work of the young artist.

Elvgren's work was influenced by many artists, such as Felix Octavius ​​Carr Darley (1822-1888), the first artist who managed to refute the superiority of English and European schools of illustration over American commercial art; Norman Rockwell (1877-1978), whom Elvgren met in 1947, and this meeting marked the beginning of a long friendship; Charles Dana Gibson (Charles Dana Gibson) (1867-1944), from whose brush came the ideal of a girl, which combined “neighbor” (girl-next-door) and “dream girl” (girl-of-your-dreams) , Howard Chandler Christy, John Henry Hintermeister (1870-1945) and others.

Elvgren closely studied the work of these classical artists, as a result of which he created the basis on which the further development of pin-up art was based.

So, Gil Elvgren was born March 15, 1914, grew up in St. Paul Minneapolis. His parents, Alex and Goldie Elvgren, owned a downtown store that sold wallpaper and paint.

After graduating from high school, Gil wanted to be an architect. His parents approved of this desire, as they noticed his talent for drawing when, at the age of eight, the boy was removed from school due to the fact that he painted the margins of textbooks. Elvgren eventually enrolled at the University of Minnesota to study architecture and design while attending art courses at the Minneapolis Art Institute. It was there that he realized that drawing interested him much more than designing buildings.

In the autumn of the same year, Elvgren married Janet Cummins. And now, for the New Year, the newlyweds move to Chicago, where there were many opportunities for artists. Of course, they could have chosen New York, but Chicago was closer and safer.

Upon arrival in Chicago, Gil tried to do everything to develop his career. He enrolled at the prestigious American Academy of Arts in downtown, where he befriended Bill Mosby, an accomplished artist and teacher who has always taken pride in seeing Gil develop under his guidance.

When Gil Elvgren came to the Academy, of course, he was talented, but he did not stand out from most of the students who studied there. But only one thing distinguished him from others: he knew exactly what he wanted. Most of all, he dreamed of becoming a good artist. In two years of study, he mastered a course designed for three and a half: he attended classes at night, in the summer. In his free time, he always painted.

He was a good student and worked more than others. Jill attended every course where he could get at least some knowledge of painting. In two years he made phenomenal progress and became one of the best graduates of the Academy.

Jill is an amazing artist that few can match. Strong in build, he looks like a football player; his large hands do not at all look like the hands of an artist: the pencil literally “burrows” in them, but the accuracy and painstakingness of his movements can only be compared with the skill of a surgeon.

During his time at the institute, Gil never stopped working. His illustrations already adorned the brochures and magazines of the academy where he studied.

There Gil met many artists who became his lifelong friends, such as: Harold Anderson (Harold Anderson), Joyce Ballatrin (Joyce Ballantyne).

In 1936, Jill and his wife returned to their hometown, where they opened their own studio. Shortly before that, he does his first paid commissioned job: a fashion magazine cover featuring a handsome man wearing a double-breasted jacket and light-colored summer pants. Immediately after Elvgren sent his work to the customer, the director of the company called him to congratulate him and order half a dozen more covers.

Then came another interesting commission, which was to draw the five twins Dionne (Dionne Quintuplets), the birth of which became a sensation for the media. The client was Brown and Biglow, the largest calendar publisher. This work was printed in the calendars of 1937-1938, which were sold in millions of copies. Since then, Elvgren began to draw the most famous girls in America, which brought him great success. Other companies began to invite Elvgren to cooperate, for example, Brown and Biglow's competitor Louis F. Dow Calendar Company. The artist's works began to be printed on booklets, playing cards and even matchboxes. Then many of his life-size paintings made for Royal Crown Soda appeared in grocery stores. The same year becomes especially important for Elvgren, as he and his wife had their first child, Karen.

Elvgren continues to take orders and decides to return to Chicago with his family. He soon met Haddon H. Sundblom (1899-1976), who was his idol. Sandblom is a huge influence on Elvgren's work.

Thanks to Sundblom, Elvgren became an advertising artist for Coca-Cola. Until now, these works are icons in the history of American illustration.

Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Elvgren was asked to paint pictures for the military campaign. His first drawing for this series was published in 1942 in Good Housekeeping magazine under the heading “She knows what “freedom” really is” and depicted a girl dressed in a Red Cross officer's uniform.

In 1942, Jill Jr. was born, and in 1943 his wife was already expecting a third child. Elvgren's family grew, however, as did his business. Jill is engaged in advertising projects and also sells his old work. He enjoyed life, as he himself was already a respected artist and a happy family man. When the third child was born in his family, Elvgren was already receiving about $1,000 per painting, i.e. about $24,000 a year, which at the time was a huge amount. This meant that Gil could become the highest paid illustrator in the US and, of course, have a special place in Brown and Bigelow.

Before working exclusively for Brown and Bigelow, he took his first (and only) commission from the Philadelphia firm of Joseph Hoover. To avoid problems with Brown and Bigelow, he accepted the offer on the condition that the painting not be signed. For this work, called “Dream Girl,” he received $ 2,500, because. it was the largest he had ever painted (101.6cm x 76.2cm).

The collaboration with Brown and Bigelow allowed Elvgren to continue painting for Coca-Cola, although he could work for any other company that did not have conflicts with Brown and Bigelow. Thus began a collaboration between Elvgren and Brown and Bigelow in 1945 that lasted over thirty years.

Brown and Bigelow director Charles Ward made Elvgren's name recognizable. He also suggested that Gil make a nude pin-up, to which the artist agreed with great enthusiasm. This painting was of a naked blond nymph on a beach, under a lilac blue-purple moonlight. This illustration was released in a deck of cards, in conjunction with the work of another artist - ZoÎ Mozert. The following year, Ward commissioned another nude pin-up from Elvgren for more maps, but this time Elvgren did it entirely on his own. This project broke Brown and Bigelow sales records and was called "Mais Oui by Gil Elvgren".

The first three pin-up projects for Brown and Bigelow became the company's bestsellers after just a couple of weeks. These images were soon used for playing cards.

By the end of the decade, Elvgren had become the most successful Brown and Bigelow artist, thanks to the media, his work was widely known to the public, even magazines published articles about him. Companies he worked with included Coca-Cola, Orange Crush, Schlitz, Red Top Beer, Ovaltine, Royal Crown Soda, Campana Balm, General Tire, Sealy Mattress, Serta Perfect Sleep, Napa Auto Parts, Detzler Automotive Finishes, Frankfort Distilleries, Four Roses Blended Whiskey, General Electric Appliance and Pangburn's Chocolates.

Faced with such a demand for his work, Elvgren thought about opening his own studio, because there were already many artists who admired his work and the so-called “mayonnaise painting” (the so-called style of Sandblom and Elvgren because the colors on the works looked “creamy” and smooth as silk). But after weighing all the pros and cons, he abandoned this idea.

Gil Elvgren traveled a lot, met many influential people. His salary at Brown and Bigelow changed from $1,000 per canvas to $2,500 and painted 24 paintings a year, plus he received a percentage of the magazines that printed his illustrations. He moved with his family to a new house in the suburb of Winnetka, where he began building his studio in the attic, which allowed him to work even more productively.

Gil had excellent taste, and he was also witty. His works are always interesting in composition, color schemes, and carefully thought out poses and gestures make them alive and exciting. His paintings are sincere. Gil felt the evolution of female beauty, which was very important. Therefore, Elvgren was always in demand by customers.

In 1956, Gil moved with his family to Florida. He was completely satisfied with the new place of residence. There he opened an excellent studio, where he studied Bobby Toombs, who rightfully became a recognized artist. He said that Elvgren was an excellent teacher who taught him to use all his skills thoughtfully.

In Florida, Gil painted a huge number of portraits, among his models were Myrna Loy, Arlene Dahl, Donna Reed, Barbara Hale, Kim Novak. In the 1950s and 1960s, every aspiring model or actress would like Elvgren to draw a girl in her likeness, which would then be printed on calendars and posters.

Elvgren was always on the lookout for new ideas for his paintings. Although many of his artist friends helped him in this, he relied most of all on his family: he discussed his ideas with his wife and children.

Elvgren worked in a circle of artists whom he taught or, conversely, from whom he studied; who were his friends with whom he had much in common. Among them were Harry Anderson, Joyce Ballantyne, Al Buell, Matt Clark, Earl Gross, Ed Henry, Charles Kingham and others.

Gil Elvgren lived life to the fullest. As an avid hiker, he loved fishing and hunting. He could spend hours in the pool, was fond of racing cars, and also shared his children's passion for collecting antique weapons.

Over the years, Elvgren had many assistants in the studio, most of whom went on to become successful artists. When Elvgren had to turn down companies because of the sheer amount of work, the art directors agreed to wait a year or more just to have Jill work for them.

But all this success of Gil in 1966 was overshadowed by the terrible tragedy that overtook his family: Gil's wife, Janet, died of cancer. After that, he plunged into work even more. His popularity remains unchanged, he does not need to worry about anything except the result of his work. It was the best period of Elvgren's career, if not for the death of his wife.

Elvgren's ability to convey feminine beauty was unsurpassed. While painting, he usually sat in a wheelchair so that he could easily move around and look at the drawing from different angles, and a large mirror behind him allowed him to have an overall view of the picture as a whole. Girls were the main thing in his work: he preferred models of 15-20 years old who were just starting their careers, as they had an immediacy that disappears with experience. When asked about his technique, he said that he adds his touches: lengthens the legs, enlarges the chest, narrows the waist, makes the lips more plump, the eyes more expressive, the nose snub-nosed, thereby giving the model more attractiveness. Elvgren always carefully worked out his ideas from start to finish: he selected the model, props, lighting, composition, even the hair was very important. After all, he photographed the scene and started painting.

A distinctive feature of Gil's work was that looking at the paintings, it seemed that the girls in them were about to come to life, say hello or offer to drink a cup of coffee. They looked pretty and full of enthusiasm. Always charming, armed with a friendly smile, even during the war they gave the soldiers strength and hope to return to their girls home.

Many artists dreamed of painting the way Elvgren did, and everyone admired his talent and success.

Each year he painted with greater ease and professionalism, his early paintings appearing more "tough" than later ones. He has reached the pinnacle of excellence in his field.

On February 29, 1980, Gil Elvgren, a man who had dedicated himself to making people happy with his art, died of cancer at the age of 65. His son Drake found in his father's studio the last unfinished, but nevertheless magnificent painting for Brown and Bigelow. Three decades have passed since Elvgren's death, but his art still lives on. Without a doubt, Elvgren will go down in history as an artist who made a great contribution to twentieth-century American art.

The world history of fine arts remembers many amazing cases related to the creation and further adventures of famous paintings. This is because for real artists, life and work are too closely connected.

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Year of creation: 1893
Materials: cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel
Location: National Gallery,

The famous painting "The Scream" by the Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch is a favorite subject of discussion for mystics around the world. It seems to some that the canvas predicted the terrible events of the 20th century with its wars, environmental disasters and the Holocaust. Others are sure that the picture brings misfortune and illness to its offenders.

The life of Munch himself can hardly be called prosperous: he lost many relatives, was repeatedly treated in a psychiatric clinic, and was never married.

By the way, the artist reproduced the painting “The Scream” four times.

There is an opinion that she is the result of a manic-depressive psychosis from which Munch suffered. One way or another, the sight of a desperate man with a large head, an open mouth and hands attached to his face still shocks everyone who examines the canvas today.

"The Great Masturbator" Salvador Dali

Year of creation: 1929
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: Reina Sofia Center for the Arts,

The general public saw the painting “The Great Masturbator” only after the death of the shocking master and the most famous surrealist Salvador Dali. The artist kept it in his own collection at the Dali Theater Museum in Figueres. It is believed that an unusual canvas can tell a lot about the personality of the author, in particular about his painful attitude towards sex. However, we can only guess what motives are actually hidden in the picture.

This is akin to solving a rebus: in the center of the picture there is an angular profile looking down, similar either to Dali himself or to a rock on the coast of a Catalan city, and a naked female figure rises in the lower part of the head - a copy of the artist's mistress Gala. The picture also contains locusts, which caused Dali an inexplicable fear, and ants - a symbol of decomposition.

"Family" by Egon Schiele

Year of creation: 1918
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: Belvedere Gallery,

At one time, the beautiful painting of the Austrian artist Egon Schiele was called pornography, and the artist was imprisoned for allegedly seducing a minor.

At such a price he was given the love of the model of his teacher. Schiele's paintings are one of the best examples of expressionism, while they are naturalistic and full of frightening despair.

Schiele's models were often teenagers and prostitutes. In addition, the artist was fascinated by himself - his legacy includes a wide variety of self-portraits. Schiele wrote the canvas “Family” three days before his own death, depicting his pregnant wife who died from the flu and their unborn child. Perhaps this is far from the strangest, but definitely the most tragic work of the painter.

"Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" by Gustav Klimt

Year of creation: 1907
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: New Gallery,

The history of the creation of the famous painting by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" can rightfully be called shocking. The wife of the Austrian sugar magnate Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer became the artist's muse and mistress. Wanting to take revenge on both of them, the wounded husband decided to resort to an original method: he ordered a portrait of his wife from Klimt and harassed him with endless nit-picking, forcing him to make hundreds of sketches. In the end, this led to the fact that Klimt lost his former interest in his model.

Work on the painting lasted several years, and Adele watched her lover's feelings fade away. Ferdinand's insidious plan was never revealed. Today, the "Austrian Mona Lisa" is considered a national treasure of Austria.

Black Supermatic Square by Kazimir Malevich

Year of creation: 1915
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery,

Almost a hundred years have passed since the Russian avant-garde artist Kazimir Malevich created his famous creation, and disputes and discussions do not stop until now. Appearing in 1915 at the futuristic exhibition "0.10" in the "red corner" of the hall intended for the icon, the picture shocked the public and forever glorified the artist. True, today few people know that supermatic paintings are non-objective painting, in which color rules the ball, and the “Black Square” is actually not black and not at all square.

By the way, one of the versions of the history of the creation of the canvas says: the artist did not have time to finish the work on the painting, so he was forced to cover the work with black paint, at that moment his friend came into the workshop and exclaimed: “Brilliant!”.

"The Origin of the World" by Gustave Courbet

Year of creation: 1866
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: Musee d'Orsay,

The painting by the French realist painter Gustave Courbet was considered extremely provocative for a very long time and was not known to the general public for more than 120 years. A naked woman lying on a bed with outstretched legs, and today causes an ambiguous reaction from the audience. For this reason, in the Musee d'Orsay, one of the employees guards the painting.

In 2013, a French collector announced that he had stumbled upon the part of the painting in which the head of the model is visible in one of the antique shops in Paris. Experts confirmed the assumption that Joanna Hiffernan (Joe) posed for the artist. While working on the painting, she was in a love affair with Courbet's student, the artist James Whistler. The picture provoked their separation.

"Man and woman in front of a pile of excrement" by Joan Miro

Year of creation: 1935
Materials: oil, copper
Location: Joan Miro Foundation,

A rare viewer, looking at a painting by the Spanish artist and sculptor Joan Miro, would have an association with the horrors of the civil war. But it was precisely the period of pre-war unrest in 1935 in Spain that served as the subject of the picture with the promising title "Man and Woman in front of a pile of excrement." This picture is a premonition.

It depicts a ridiculous "cave" couple who are drawn to each other, but cannot budge. Enlarged genitals, poisonous colors, scattered figures on a dark background - all this predicted, according to the artist, approaching tragic events.

Most of Joan Miro's paintings are abstract and surrealist works, and the mood they convey is joyful.

"Water Lilies" by Claude Monet

Year of establishment: 1906
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: private collections

The cult painting of the French impressionist Claude Monet "Water Lilies" has a bad reputation - it is no coincidence that it is called "fire hazardous". This string of suspicious coincidences continues to surprise many skeptics. The first case happened right in the artist's studio: Monet and his friends were celebrating the end of work on the painting, when a small fire suddenly broke out.

The picture was saved, and soon the owners of the cabaret in Montmartre bought it, but less than a month later, the institution also suffered from a strong fire. The next “victim” of the canvas was the Parisian philanthropist Oscar Schmitz, whose office caught fire a year after the “Water Lilies” were hung there. And again the picture managed to survive. This year, a private collector bought Water Lilies for $54 million.

Girls of Avignon by Pablo Picasso

Year of creation: 1907
Materials: oil, canvas
Location: Museum of Modern Art,

“It feels like you wanted to feed us tow or give us gasoline to drink,” said Georges Braque, a friend of Picasso, about the painting “Girls of Avignon”. The canvas really became scandalous: the public adored the old, tender and sad, works of the artist, and a sharp transition to cubism caused alienation.

Female figures with rough male faces and angular arms and legs were too far from the graceful "Girl on the Ball".

Friends turned away from Picasso, Matisse was extremely dissatisfied with the picture. However, it was the “Girls of Avignon” that determined not only the direction of development of Picasso’s work, but the future of fine art in general. The original title of the canvas is “Philosophical Brothel”.

"Portrait of the Artist's Son" by Mikhail Vrubel

Year of creation: 1902
Materials: watercolor, gouache, graphite pencil, paper
Location: State Russian Museum,

The brilliant Russian artist of the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, Mikhail Vrubel, succeeded in almost all types of fine arts. His first-born Savva was born with a "cleft lip", which deeply upset the artist. Vrubel portrayed the boy on one of his canvases frankly, not trying to hide his congenital deformity.

The gentle tones of the portrait do not make it serene - shock is read in it. The baby himself is depicted with a strikingly wise, unchildish look. Shortly after the completion of the painting, the child died. From that moment in the life of the artist, who was having a hard time with the tragedy, a "black" period of illness and insanity began.

Photo: thinkstockphotos.com, flickr.com

Your naked body should belong only to someone who loves your naked soul.

Charlie Chaplin

“Beautiful female legs turned more than one page of history,” say the French. And they are right: after all, it is not only about the scale of the state. In the personal history of the outstanding Spaniard Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, this is exactly what happened. The artist’s contemporaries who knew about his love of love and fickleness, they assured: everything changed when the maestro met the beautiful Duchess Maria Teresia Cayetana del Pilar de Alba, heiress of an ancient aristocratic family. Some admired her unearthly beauty, called the queen of Madrid, compared with Venus, assuring: “Everyone wanted her men of Spain!” "When she walked down the street, everyone looked out of the windows, even the children threw their games to look at her. Every hair on her body aroused desire, "the French traveler echoed them. Others envied beauty and wealth, cursing for the freedom of morals. But The Duchess preferred not to pay attention to all this excitement. She herself chose friends and enemies. Especially lovers, not at all embarrassed by the presence of a husband. Apparently, the husband did not attach much importance to his wife's love affairs. Therefore, she considered her new hobby as a court painter an ordinary whim. By the way, the couple jointly patronized Goya, because in addition to a turbulent personal life, she was engaged in patronage and charity... It was on the basis of art that Cayetana met Francisco.

Their relationship has withstood the test of time and the artist's serious illness, which resulted in hearing loss. He painted her portraits, capturing the woman he loved in different angles and outfits. One of them - "Duchess Alba in black" - according to some, clear evidence of their close relationship. The fact is that after the restoration of the painting, carried out in the sixties of the twentieth century, an engraving with the names of Alba and Goya was found on the rings of the beauty. The graceful finger of the duchess points to the sand, where an eloquent inscription is visible: “Only Goya”. It is believed that the author kept this painting at home “for personal use” and never exhibited it. Just like Alba herself, two others, even more piquant, were born after the death of her legal husband. There is an opinion that, having buried her husband, the “saddened” widow went to be sad in one of her estates in Andalusia. And in order not to feel lonely at all, she invited Goya to keep her company. It was then that “Makha naked” and “Makha dressed” were written. (Mahami at that time was the name given to all coquettishly dressed girls from the lower strata of society.)

True, the fact that the person depicted on both canvases is the outrageous duchess herself is still in doubt for many. It is believed that the magnificent lady in the nude style is one of the mistresses of the Prime Minister Queen Marie-Louise Manuel Godoy: in his collection, “Machs” appeared in 1808. Other sources claim that this image is collective, and only others have no doubt that Goya's muse is Cayetana, whom he painted naked in order to annoy when he realized that Alba was passionate about another. Be that as it may, the depiction of nudes in Spain in the 18th century could have cost anyone else their lives: having discovered the canvases in 1813, the morality police, represented by the vigilant Inquisition, immediately called them “obscene.” The author, who appeared before the court, was sent to prison, but did not reveal the name of his model. Who knows how his fate would have turned out if it were not for the intercession of a high-ranking patron ...

Alba, of course, would have appreciated his brave act, but by that time she herself had been in another world for many years. The death of Cayetana, unexpected for everyone, and especially for Goya, shocked Madrid. The Duchess was found in her Buena Vista palace in the summer of 1802 after a magnificent reception given the day before in honor of the betrothal of a young niece (Alba had no children of her own). Francisco was among the guests. He heard Cayetana talk about paints, talk about the most poisonous of them, joke about death. And in the morning the rumor spread the sad news. It was then that everyone who knew the duchess personally remembered her words that she wanted to die young and beautiful, just like Goya's magic brush captured her.

After the city for a long time discussed the causes of Alba's death. It was assumed that she was poisoned: alas, this woman had many enemies. It was also said that she took the poison herself. But for Goya, this no longer mattered. He outlived his magnificent beloved by almost a quarter of a century, taking with him the secret of "Mahi". Even the descendants of Alba failed to solve it. To whitewash the name of Cayetana, they conducted a study, hoping to prove by the size of the bones: another lady is depicted on the canvas. But in the course of the “operation” it turned out only that the tomb of the duchess was repeatedly opened during the Napoleonic campaign, and therefore such an examination is absolutely meaningless ...

Enchanting and incomprehensible was called her by those who took on faith the enthusiastic stories of Dali about his muse, queen, goddess - Gala. Less gullible even today consider her a predatory Valkyrie who captivated a genius. Only one fact is beyond doubt: the mystery that surrounded the life of this woman has not been solved.

Salvador Dali "Atomic Leda" 1947–1949 Dali Theatre-Museum, Figueres, Spain

Since the artist Salvador Dali first saw her in 1929, a new era called Gala began in his personal history. Many years later, the maestro described the impressions of that day in one of his autobiographical novels. However, the words printed in typographical type on the white pages of books published in thousands of copies did not convey even a hundredth of the passions that raged in his soul on that sunny day: “I went to the window that overlooked the beach. She was already there... Gala, Eluard's wife. It was her! I recognized her by her bare back. Her body was as soft as a child's. The line of the shoulders was almost perfectly rounded, and the muscles of the waist, outwardly fragile, were athletically tense, like those of a teenager. But the curve of the lower back was truly feminine. The graceful combination of a slender, energetic torso, aspen waist and tender hips made her even more desirable. Decades later, he never tired of repeating to Galya herself that she was his deity, Galatea, Gradiva, Saint Elena ... And if the concepts of holiness and sinlessness did not correlate with Salvador's beloved, the name Elena had a direct bearing on her. The fact is that it was named so at birth. But, as the family legend says, retold more than once in the biographies of Elena Dyakonova - the future Madame Dali - the girl from childhood preferred to be called ... Galina.

So she introduced herself to the beginning French poet Paul Eluard when chance brought them together in one of the Swiss resorts. “Oh, Gala!” - as if he exclaimed, shortening the name and pronouncing it in the French manner with an emphasis on the second syllable. With his light hand, everyone began to call her that way - “a celebration, a holiday,” as Gala sounds in translation. After four years of correspondence and infrequent meetings, they, against the wishes of Paul's parents, got married and even gave birth to a daughter, Cecile. But, as you know, free morals, which are the basis of family relations, are not the best way to save a marriage. Four more years passed, and the artist Max Ernest appeared in the life of the Eluard couple, who settled in the house of the spouses as Gala's official lover. They say that none of them tried to hide the love triangle. And then she met Dali.

“My boy, we will not part again,” Gala Eluard simply said and forever entered his life. “Thanks to her unparalleled, bottomless love, she cured me from ... madness,” he said, singing in every way the name and appearance of his beloved - in prose, poetry, painting, sculpture. The difference of ten years - according to the official version, she was born in 1894, and he in 1904 - did not bother them. This woman became for him a mother, wife, mistress - alpha and omega, without which the artist could no longer imagine his existence. “Gala is me,” he assured himself and those around him, seeing his reflection in it, and signed the work only as “Gala - Salvador Dali”. It is difficult to say what was the secret of her magical power over this man: probably, he himself never tried to analyze, plunging into feeling, as into an endless sea. Just as it is impossible to understand who she really is and where she comes from: the data that was still listed in all reference books was recently called into question by researchers - and there are reasons for this. But is it really that important? After all, Gala is a myth created by Dali's imagination and her own desire to preserve it.

Gala is my only muse, my genius and my life, without Gala I am nobody.

Salvador Dali

In one of dozens of her nude portraits, the artist portrayed her beloved as a mythical heroine, breathing new meaning into a story as ancient as the world. Thus his “Atomic Leda” was born.

According to legend, Leda, the daughter of King Thestius, was married to the ruler of Sparta, Tyndareus. Captivated by her beauty, Zeus seduced the woman, descending to her in the form of ... Swan. She gave birth to the twins Castor and Polydeuces and a daughter, the beautiful Helen, known as Helen of Troy. With such a comparison, the magician Dali reminded others of the unearthly charm of his beloved Gala Elena: Salvador himself did not doubt the exclusivity of her external data for a minute, considering his wife the most beautiful among mortals. This is probably why this portrait of Gala, which was number one, was made in accordance with the “divine proportion” by Fra Luca Paccoli, and mathematician Matila Ghica made some calculations for the painting at the request of the master. Unlike those who believed that the exact sciences are outside the artistic context, Dali was sure that every significant work of art should be based on composition, and therefore on calculation. It is worth noting that he scrupulously verified not only the ratio of objects on the canvas, but also the inner content of the drawing, depicting passion in accordance with the modern theory ... of “non-contact” of intra-atomic physics. His Leda does not touch the Swan, does not lean on a seat hovering in the air: everything flies over the sea, which does not come into contact with the shore ... “Atomic Leda” was completed in 1949, elevating Gala, according to Dali, to the level of “the goddess of my metaphysics ". Subsequently, he never missed an opportunity to announce her exceptional role in his life.

However, in their declining years, their relationship cooled. Gala decided to settle separately, and he gave her a castle in the Spanish village of Pubol, which he did not dare to visit without first obtaining written permission from his wife. And in the year when she died, Dali also died: although after her departure he remained on Earth for seven long years, existence lost its meaning, because the holiday of his life was over.

Karl Bryullov "Bathsheba" 1832 State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The story of the intricacies of the fate of the charming Bathsheba has attracted the attention of historians, poets and even astronomers for centuries: an asteroid is named in her honor. One way or another, but it was the outstanding external data that became the cause of all sorrows and joys for her. Some accused Bathsheba of unworthy behavior, others believed that the only crime of this woman was only that she was unacceptably beautiful.

And this story began, which completely changed the life of the heroine, around the year 900 BC... and that woman was very beautiful. And David sent to find out who this woman was. And they said to him, This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sent servants to take her; and she came to him ... ”- this is how the Book of Books describes the moment of their acquaintance. As you can see, the king was not embarrassed by the news that the person he liked was married to his commander. What feelings possessed Bathsheba herself, history is silent. In order to eliminate her husband, David ordered "to put Uriah where the strongest battle would be, and retreat from him so that he would be struck down and die." No sooner said than done. Soon the ambassador informed David that his will had been done. This means that nothing more prevents him from taking Bathsheba as his legal wife.

After the due date, she gave birth to a son to the king. The prudent ruler calculated everything, carefully clearing the way to marital happiness. I did not take into account only one thing: violation of the commandments entailed punishment. He and his beloved answered in full for their sins - their firstborn lived only a few days. The second heir of the couple was Solomon, whose name is associated with many myths and legends. But that's a completely different story.

The plot was not ignored by the painters, who in every way beat the fateful moment for a woman. Among them is the “Great Karl”, as Bryullov was called by his contemporaries. True, the master of “light and air” was attracted not so much by the biblical narrative as by the opportunity to show off his “decorative gift”. An illuminated silhouette, water at lovely feet, a barely noticeable dragonfly with transparent wings near the arm... “The figure of a black servant sets off the marble whiteness of the skin, bringing a slight touch of eroticism to the picture,” art historians write about her. And remember about sensuality ...

There is an assumption that the model for this canvas, which remained unfinished, was the beautiful beloved of the artist Yulia Samoilova, a shocking countess, there are no less legends about her than about the participants in this historical epic. “Fear her, Carl! This woman is not like the others. She changes not only attachments, but also the palaces in which she lives. But I agree, and you will agree that you can go crazy with her, ”they say, so Prince Gagarin, in whose house the acquaintance took place, warned Bryullov: he is dealing with fire. However, the flame of Yulia Pavlovna, which scorched the hearts of others, in the case of Karl turned out to be life-giving. Over the years, they supported each other, remaining, among other things, close friends. “I love you more than I know how to explain, I embrace you and will be sincerely devoted to you to the grave. Yulia Samoilova” - such messages were sent by the eccentric millionaire to “dear Brishka” from different countries to where he himself was at that moment. And he gave eternity the appearance of his beloved, endowing her with the features of the most beautiful women on his numerous canvases. Perhaps only Samoilova managed to restrain the sharp, quick-tempered temper of the maestro - for him, it seems, there were no other laws. “Behind the appearance of the young Hellenic god, there was a cosmos in which hostile principles were mixed and either erupted with a volcano of passions, or poured with a sweet brilliance. He was all passion, he did nothing calmly, as ordinary people do. When passions boiled in him, their explosion was terrible, and whoever stood closer got more, ”wrote a contemporary about Bryullov. Karl himself did not care about what was said about the character, because his talent was not in doubt.

By the way, Mrs. Samoilova is one of the few who supported him at a moment of despair, when, after an absurd marriage, the forty-year-old artist found himself in the center of everyone's attention and unkind curiosity. Eighteen-year-old Emilia Timm, the daughter of the mayor of Riga, became his wife. “I fell passionately in love ... The bride's parents, especially the father, immediately made a plan to marry me to her ... The girl played the role of a lover so skillfully that I did not suspect deception ...” - he later said. And then they “slandered me in public...” The real reason for the “tiff” with the newly-minted wife was a dirty story in which she was involved. “I felt so much my misfortune, my shame, the destruction of my hopes for domestic happiness ... that I was afraid to lose my mind,” he wrote of the consequences of a marriage that lasted only a few months. At that moment, Julia appeared to once again tear “Brishka” away from gloomy thoughts and drag her into the whirlpool of balls and masquerades that Count Slavyanka gave in her beloved estate. Later, she sold the "Slavyanka" and set off towards new love and new adventures. Bryullov also did not stay long in his homeland: Poland, England, Belgium, Spain, Italy - he traveled a lot and painted, painted, painted ... During the next trip, he died - in the town of Manziana near Rome.

Julia survived Karl by twenty-three years, buried two husbands - the ex-wife of Count Nikolai Samoilov and the young singer Peri. “Eyewitnesses who saw her during this period of her life said that widow mourning was very suitable for her, emphasizing her beauty, but she used it in a very original way. On the longest train of a mourning dress, Samoilova planted the children, and she herself ... rolled the children laughing with delight on the mirror parquets of their palaces. Some time later, she remarried.

It is not known what the legendary beauty Virsavia promised to heaven or people, whose name is translated as “daughter of an oath”, but we can say with confidence: Yulia Samoilova, in her youth, made a promise to herself not to lose heart and kept it.

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn “Danaë” 1636 Hermitage, St. Petersburg

For centuries, the ancient Greek beauty Danae has attracted the attention of artists. The Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn did not stand aside either, endowing the mythical princess with the features of two of his favorite women at once.

This story began in ancient times, when the ancient Greek gods were like people in everything and easily communicated with them, and sometimes even started romantic relationships. True, often, having enjoyed the charms of the earthly enchantress, they left her to the mercy of fate, returning to the top of Olympus, in order, surrounded by divine friends, to forget forever about their fleeting passion. This is exactly what happened to Danae, the daughter of the king of Argos Acrisius.

Subsequently, the most talented men considered it their duty to tell the world about the ups and downs of her life: the playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides dedicated dramas and tragedies to her, and even Homer mentioned in the Iliad. And Titian, Correggio, Tintoretto, Klimt and other painters depicted on their canvases. And no wonder: it is impossible to be indifferent to the fate of a girl who has become a victim of fate. The fact is that once an oracle predicted her father's death at the hands of his grandson - the son that Danae would give birth to. To protect himself, Acrisius took everything under strict control: he ordered his daughter to be imprisoned in a dungeon and assigned a maid to her. The prudent king took everything into account, except for one thing - that not a mere mortal would fall in love with her, but Zeus himself - the main of the Olympic gods, for whom all obstacles turned out to be nothing. He assumed the form of golden rain and entered the room through a small hole... The moment of his visit was the most attractive moment in this complicated story for the artists. The result of the rendezvous of Zeus and Danae was the son of Perseus, whose secret of birth was soon revealed: grandfather Acrisius heard crying coming from underground chambers... Then he ordered to put his daughter and baby in a barrel and throw them into the open sea... But this did not help him avoid prediction: Perseus grew up, returned to his homeland and, participating in a discus throwing competition, accidentally landed them in Acrisia ... “Fatum ...” - witnesses of the incident sighed. If only they knew that the fate of “Danaë” itself, born by the brush of Rembrandt, would be no less dramatic!..

“Which of the paintings in your collection is the most valuable?” They say that it was with this question that a visitor addressed the caretaker of one of the halls of the Hermitage on the morning of June 15, 1985. “Danae” by Rembrandt,” the woman answered, pointing to the canvas depicting a luxurious naked lady. When and how the man pulled out the bottle and splashed the liquid onto the picture, she did not know: it all happened suddenly. The employees who came running to the scream saw only how the paint bubbled and changed color: the liquid turned out to be sulfuric acid. In addition, the perpetrator managed to stab the painting twice... The fact that 48-year-old Lithuanian Bronyus Maigis was later recognized as mentally unbalanced and sent for treatment did not alleviate the gravity of his crime. “When I saw her for the first time during the restoration process, I could not hold back my tears,” admitted the director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky. - Largely because it was a different “Danae”. Although after the restoration, which lasted twelve years, the canvas returned to the museum, 27 percent of the image had to be completely recreated: entire fragments, made by the maestro's brush, were irretrievably lost. But it was this portrait that he painted with special love: the adored woman, his wife Saskia, served as a model for him. Their marriage lasted a little over eight years: having given birth to her husband four children, of whom only one survived - Titus - she died. A few years later, Rembrandt became interested in the governess of his son Gertier Dirks. There is an assumption that it was to please her that “Danae” acquired new features that have survived to this day: the face and posture have changed, the “protagonist” of the plot, the golden rain, has disappeared. But this circumstance was revealed only in the middle of the 20th century, when, with the help of fluoroscopy under a layer of paint, an earlier image of Saskia was found. Thus, the artist combined the portraits of both women. However, this curtsy to Gertier did not help save relations with her: she soon filed a lawsuit against Rembrandt, accusing him of violating a marriage obligation (allegedly, contrary to promises, he did not marry her). It is believed that the real reason for the gap was the young Hendrikje Stoffels, his new maid and lover. By this time, the affairs of the once successful, popular and wealthy painter went wrong: there were fewer orders, the fortune melted, the house was sold for debts. "Danae" remained with him until the sale in 1656, then her trace was lost...

The loss was discovered only in the 18th century - in the collection of the famous French collector Pierre Crozat. After his death in 1740, she, along with other masterpieces, was inherited by one of the three nephews of the connoisseur of art. And then, on the advice of the philosopher Denis Diderot, it was acquired by the Russian Empress Catherine II, who at that time was selecting paintings for the Hermitage.

“He was an eccentric of the first class who despised everyone ... Busy with work, he would not agree to accept the very first monarch in the world, and he would have to leave,” the Italian Baldinucci wrote about Rembrandt, whose name was preserved in history only because that he happened to become the biographer of the “eccentric” Rembrandt.

Amedeo Modigliani “Seated nude on a sofa” (“Beautiful Roman woman”), 1917, Private collection

This picture, exhibited almost a century ago in one of the Parisian galleries, among other works by Modigliani depicting naked beauties, caused a huge scandal. And in 2010 it became one of the most expensive lots of the most prestigious auction.

"I'm ordering you to take down all this crap immediately!" - with these words, Commissar Rousseau met the famous gallery owner Berta Weil, who he called to the station on December 3, 1917. “But there are experts who do not share your opinion,” Berta noted, in whose gallery a few hours ago the first exhibition of the thirty-three-year-old Amedeo Modigliani opened and already Leopold Zborowski, a Pole, Modi's friend and discoverer, who became Modi's new art agent and initiator of this vernissage, was counting on this as the main lure for visitors: no matter how nudity, What Leo didn't consider was that there was a police station in the house across the street, and that its inhabitants would be very interested in the reason for such a gathering of people. the commissar shouted indignantly, while Berta, with difficulty suppressing a smile, thought: “What an idyll: every policeman with a beautiful nude in his hands!” However, she did not dare to argue and immediately closed the gallery, and the guests there helped her remove “obscene” canvases from the walls. connoisseurs of painting recognized them as masterpieces and called them “a triumph of nudity.” However, even then all of Paris started talking about the exhibition, and some French and foreign collectors were seriously interested in the work of the “homeless tramp” Dodo, as his acquaintances called him.

Although in fairness it must be said that by that time he was not homeless: in the summer of 1917, Amedeo and his beloved young artist Jeanne Hebuterne, whom he met shortly before the events described, rented a small apartment - two empty rooms. “I am waiting for the only one that will become my eternal love and which often comes to me in a dream,” the artist once admitted to one of his friends. Those who knew Modi personally said that after meeting with Jeanne, dream and reality for Amedeo merged. A portrait in a hat, against the background of a door, in a yellow sweater - there were more than twenty canvases with her image in the four years lived together. Dodo himself called them "declarations of love on canvas." “She is an ideal model, she knows how to sit like an apple, without moving and for as long as I need it,” he wrote to his brother.

Jeanne fell in love with Amedeo for what he was - noisy, unrestrained, sad, reckless, unsettled - and resignedly followed him wherever he called. Just as subsequently, without hesitation, Modi accepted any decision: should he paint three dozen naked enchantresses, staying with each of them face-to-face for days on end? So, it is necessary! “Just imagine what happened to the ladies at the sight of the handsome Modigliani walking along the Boulevard Montparnasse with a sketchbook at the ready, dressed in a gray velor suit with a palisade of colored pencils sticking out of each pocket, with a red scarf and a big black hat. I don’t know a single woman who would refuse to come to his studio,” recalled Lunia Chekhovska, a friend of the painter. They served as models for the outrageous exhibition.

Later, Amedeo more than once returned to his favorite topic - portraits of friends and random models who posed for him in Eve's costumes - for the passion for which he was scolded by the townsfolk. But he did not attach any importance to this, because it seemed to Modi himself: it is obvious that he was attracted not by the surface of the “corporeal structure”, but by its inner harmony. Can beauty be shameless? By the way, on this basis, Dodo had a conflict with the elderly genius Auguste Renoir, who, as a master, undertook to give advice to a young colleague: “When you paint a naked woman, you must ... gently, gently brush the canvas, as if caressing.” To which Modigliani flared up and, speaking sharply about the old man's voluptuousness, left without saying goodbye.

The “unique tormenting temptation” and “erotic content” of his paintings will be discussed later, when the singer of naked flesh is no longer alive. Having escorted the author to another world, grateful descendants will finally see the works of the “poor Dodo” and begin to evaluate them in millions of dollars, arranging auction battles for the right to pay more than competitors. A similar stir was caused by “Seated Nude on the Sofa” (“Beautiful Roman Woman”). It was put up for sale in New York on November 2, 2010 at the famous Sotheby's and went into a private collection for almost sixty-nine million dollars, "setting an absolute price record." “The name of the new owner, as usual, is not advertised

“Why don’t you try to somehow influence him, because he is dying from drunkenness, from progressive tuberculosis?” one of the couple's close friends asked Hebuterne, realizing how ill Amedeo was. “Modi knows he must die. That will be better for him. As soon as he dies, everyone will understand that he is a genius,” she replied. The day after Modigliani's death, Jeanne followed him into eternity, stepping out of a window. And some of those who came to say goodbye to the artist and his muse remembered the words of the master: "Happiness is a beautiful angel with a sad face." etsya”, - dryly reported the media, following the elite trades.

Pierre Auguste Renoir Nude 1876 ​​Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

“The singer of women, nudity, the ruler of the ladies' kingdom” - this is how one of the biographers dubbed the artist for his virtuoso ability to convey nudity on canvas. However, the maestro's favorite theme was not to the taste of all his contemporaries.

“I didn’t know how to walk yet, but I already loved to paint ladies,” Auguste often repeated. “If Renoir said: “I love women,” there was not the slightest playful hint in this statement, which people began to put into the word “love” XIX century. Women understand everything very well. With them the world becomes very simple. They bring everything to its true essence and know very well that their laundry is no less important than the constitution of the German Empire. You feel more confident around them! It was not difficult for him to give me an idea about the comfort and sweetness of the warm nest of his childhood: I myself grew up in the same affectionate environment, ”the famous French director Jean Renoir wrote in his memoirs about his father, assuring that his rich love experience led his father to the fact that at the end of his life he created his own the original “concept of love.” Its essence boiled down to the following: "You do stupid things while you are young. They do not matter if you do not bear any obligations."

Renoir Sr. knew what he was saying: he himself first married at the age of forty-nine and since then, according to the stories of relatives, he has become the most exemplary husband and caring father for three sons, whom his beloved woman Alina Sherigo gave birth to. When they met, the girl was a little over twenty, and the artist was preparing to celebrate his fortieth birthday. The pretty dressmaker Alina, whom he met every day in a cafe near his home, turned out to be absolutely to his taste: fresh young skin, rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, beautiful hair, juicy lips. And although Sherigo did not understand painting, and the maestro himself was neither rich nor handsome, besides, she had to wait almost ten years for an official proposal, this did not prevent the beauty from seeing in him her future husband - the one and only. And for Renoir himself to find in her not only a devoted wife, but also the best model in the world - she often posed for Auguste, confessing: “I didn’t understand anything, but I liked to look at how he writes.” “Renoir was attracted to cat-type women. Alina Sherigo was perfection in this genre,” wrote their son Jean. And the misogynist Edgar Degas, seeing her at one of the exhibitions, said that she looked like a queen visiting wandering acrobats.

The model has to be there to fire me up, to make me invent things that wouldn't have crossed my mind without it, to keep me in line if I get too carried away.

Pierre Auguste Renoir

“I feel sorry for the men who conquer women. They have a hard job! Day and night on duty. I knew artists who did not create anything worthy of attention: instead of painting ladies, they seduced them, ”the settled down Renoir once“ complained ”to his colleagues. He preferred to remain silent about what kind of relationship he had in his youth with numerous Palettes, Cosettes, Georgettes. Nevertheless, it was they who, not burdened by the excessive scrupulousness of the inhabitants of Montmartre, often posed for the painter. One of them - Anna Leber - was brought to his studio by a friend, and after a while he easily recognized the familiar features in the painting “Nude in the Sunlight”: the artist exhibited this canvas at the second exhibition of the Impressionists. Some art historians believe that Anna became a model for the famous "Nude" - she is also called the "Bather" and, due to the special color reproduction, "Pearl". If the guesses of pundits are correct, then the fate of this luxurious woman “in the very juice” turned out to be unenviable: having contracted smallpox, she died in the prime of life and beauty ...

However, in 1876, neither Anna nor Auguste, who had not yet met Alina, knew what awaited them in the future. Therefore, he could peer without hesitation day and night into the curves of the lines of her body in order to give the portrait (that is how this work is called) tangibility. No wonder he was frank: “I continue to work on nudes until I feel like pinching the canvas.”

By the way, “picturesque symphonies” and “masterpiece of impressionism”, which included “Nude”, his paintings began to be called only years later. At the vernissage of those years, the art critic Albert Wolff, seeing one of Renoir's nudes, burst into an angry tirade on the pages of the Figaro newspaper: “Inspire Mr. Renoir that the female body is not a heap of decaying flesh with green and purple spots that indicate that that the corpse is already decaying at full speed!” The master himself, endowed with a happy trait of character to perceive the world in bright colors, did not attach much importance to his attack and continued to write in his own manner to the delight of admirers - present and future. Indeed, in addition to love for the family, only one passion owned his soul until the end of his days - painting. And even when, as a result of illness, his fingers could not hold the brush, he continued to draw, tying it to his hand.

“Today I learned something!” - they say that the seventy-eight-year-old Renoir uttered these words before setting off on his last journey - to meet his adored Alina, who had gone to another world four years earlier.

Diego Velázquez Venus with a Mirror (Venus Rokeby) 1647-1651 The National Gallery, London

Contemporaries of Diego Velasquez considered him a darling of fate: the artist was not only lucky in all his endeavors, but was also lucky to avoid the fire of the Inquisition for depicting female nudity. But his scandalous canvas failed to escape "retribution"...

"Where's the painting?!" - exclaimed the French romantic poet Theophile Gauthier, admiring one of the paintings of the Spaniard Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez. And Pope Innocent X remarked: “Too truthful.” However, the courage and ability not to embellish reality, which eventually became the hallmark of the Master, not everyone liked it: the entourage of King Philip IV, who appreciated the divine gift of Diego, considered him an arrogant and narcissistic upstart.But Velazquez, passionate about his art, did not waste his energy on word disputes, which made the quality of the work only win, and his education was admired For example, one of the biographers, Antonio Palomino, wrote that even in his younger years, Diego “took up the study of belles-lettres and in knowledge of languages ​​​​and philosophy surpassed many people of his time. " Already the first portrait, for which the powerful courtier and Duke de Olivares, a native of Seville, liked the ruler so much that he offered the twenty-four-year-old Velasquez to become a court painter. And he, of course, agreed. Soon, friendly relations were established between them. The painter and art theorist Francisco Pacheco, whose student Diego was in his youth, later wrote that “the great monarch turned out to be surprisingly generous and supportive of Velasquez. The artist's studio was located in the royal apartments, where a chair was installed for His Majesty. The king, who had the key, came here almost every day to oversee the work.” How Pacheco reacted to the fact that his talented ward has since begun to leave his family for a long time, going to other countries as a courtier, history is silent. Although very little is known about Velazquez's wife Juan Miranda - and only the fact that she was Pacheco's daughter is undeniable. Juana gave her husband daughters Francisca and Ignacia. By the way, Francisca repeated the fate of her mother - she also married her father's favorite student, Juan Batista del Mazo. True, in the lives of loved ones, apparently, Diego took much less part than in state affairs.

“A wonderfully educated and well-mannered man who had a sense of his own dignity,” the Venetian artist and writer Marco Boschini said about him. Such a messenger was an excellent representative of the Spanish court outside his homeland. Although Philip reluctantly let go of his pet, Velasquez had a chance to go on long trips abroad more than once. The first time he went on a trip to Italy in 1629 and with admiration discovered the whole world of Italian painting. The second trip to this country lasted from 1648 to 1650: on behalf of Philip, Diego was engaged in the selection of works of art for the royal collection. It is believed that the appearance of one of the most famous and amazing paintings of Velasquez is connected with this trip: the paintings of the great Italians Michelangelo, Titian, Giorgione, Tintoretto inspired the creation of a “shameless” masterpiece, allegedly capturing the charms of nude mythical beauties with their inherent courage.

“Venus and Cupid”, “Venus with a Mirror”, “Venus Rokeby” - as soon as the canvas has been called for centuries! But its uniqueness is not only in the skill of the author: this is the only surviving nude of Velazquez. As you know, the great inquisitors, whose cruelty and uncompromising attitude towards those who violated the laws established by them, gained notoriety, considered such liberties unacceptable. “Creating voluptuous nude figures on canvas, painters become the devil's guides, supply him with followers and inhabit the realm of hell,” said one of the ardent preachers of the faith, Jose de Jesus Maria. In this case, the beauty - with or without a mirror - was the best illustration of what was said. And Diego would burn, if not in hell, then certainly at the stake, if all the participants in the “crime” did not keep secret everything that concerned this image. It is possible that the highest patronage saved its creator from punishment. Presumably, the work was commissioned by one of the noblest people in Spain, and the first mention of it dates back to 1651: it was discovered during an inventory of the collection of a relative of the influential Olivares, the Marquis del Carpio. About which of the ladies served as a model, they still argue. According to one version, Diego was posed by the famous Madrid actress and dancer Damiana, who was the mistress of the Marquis, a passionate collector, connoisseur of art and pretty women. According to another assumption, an Italian woman gave her body to Venus. Perhaps Velasquez's secret lover became her: they say that the romance really took place, which supposedly has evidence. As well as evidence that shortly after the artist left for Spain, he had a son, for the maintenance of which Diego sent funds.

And this is not the last mystery of Venus. Lovers of mysticism assure: each subsequent owner went bankrupt and was forced to put the painting up for sale. Thus, she wandered from hand to hand until she found herself in the English estate of Rokeby Park, in Yorkshire, which gave her one of the names. And in 1906, The National Gallery in London acquired the painting: on March 10, 1914, the following story took place there...

Where is the painting? Everything seems real In your picture, as in mirror glass.

Francisco de Quevedo

An unremarkable girl entered the hall where the canvas was located. Approaching the masterpiece, she drew a knife from her bosom and, before the guards could stop her, struck seven blows. During the investigation, Mary Richardson explained her act as follows: “Venus with a mirror” became an object of desire for men. These sexists look at her like a pornographic postcard. The women of the world are grateful to me for putting an end to this!” Later it turned out that Miss Richardson was a suffragette - a member of the movement for the granting of ladies suffrage. And in such an unoriginal way, she tried to draw public attention to the fate of Emmeline Pankhurst, the head of this movement, who once again was in prison, where she went on a hunger strike.

And “Venus” was restored: three months later she returned to the gallery. And there, like centuries ago, he admires his reflection.

Edouard Manet "Olympia" 1863 Musée d'Orsay, Paris

This painting, painted exactly 150 years ago, is today considered a masterpiece of impressionism, and many collectors dream of having it in their collection. However, her first appearance at an authoritative vernissage in the 19th century caused one of the loudest scandals in the history of art.

Probably anticipating not the best reception, Edouard Manet was in no hurry to put his work on public display. Indeed, in the same 1863, he already managed to distinguish himself by presenting to the jury “Breakfast on the Grass”, which was immediately ostracized: his model was accused of vulgarity, calling it a naked street girl, shamelessly located between two dandies. The author himself was accused of immorality and nothing worthy was expected from him. But friends, among whom was the famous French poet and critic Charles Baudelaire, convinced the master that his new creation would not be equal. And the poet Zachary Astruc, admiring Venus (it is believed that the work was written under the influence of Titian’s “Venus of Urbino” and originally bore the name of the goddess of love), immediately called the beautiful Olympia and dedicated the poem “Daughter of the Island”. Lines from it were placed under the canvas, when two years later, in 1865, Manet nevertheless decided to show it at the Paris Salon exhibition - one of the most prestigious in France. But what started here!

“As soon as Olympia wakes up from sleep,

Black herald with a bunch of spring in front of her;

That is the messenger of a slave that cannot be forgotten,

Turning the night of love into the flowering of days,

the first visitors read the caption to the picture. But as soon as they looked at the image, they departed in indignation. Alas, the poetic lace, which aroused their favor, did not in the least affect the attitude towards the work itself. “Laundress of Batignolles” (Edouard’s workshop was located in the Batignolles quarter), “sign for a booth”, “yellow-bellied odalisque”, “dirty quirks” - such epithets turned out to be the softest of all that the offended crowd awarded Olympia. Further - more: “This brunette is disgustingly ugly, her face is stupid, her skin is like that of a corpse”, “A female gorilla made of rubber and depicted completely naked”, “Her arm seems to be cramping obscenely,” came from all sides. Critics excelled in wit, assuring that "art, which has fallen so low, is not even worthy of condemnation." It seemed to Manet that the whole world turned against him. Even those who were benevolent could not resist commenting: “the queen of spades from a deck of cards, just

out of the bath,” called her colleague Gustave Coubret. “The tone of the body is dirty, and there is no modeling,” the poet Theophile Gautier echoed him. But the artist just followed the example of his beloved painter, recognized by all Diego Velazquez, and conveyed different shades of black ... However, the coloristic tasks that he set for himself and brilliantly solved did not bother the public much: the rumor about who served as a model for his work , caused such a wave of general anger that the "Olympia" had to be guarded. Time later, the management of the exhibition hall was forced to raise it to a height where the hands and canes of the “virtuous public” would not reach. Art historians and painters were outraged by the departure from the canons - ladies in the nude style were usually depicted as exclusively mythical goddesses, and their contemporary was clearly guessed in Edward's model, besides, the author allowed himself free treatment of color and encroached on aesthetic norms. The French inhabitants were worried about something else: the fact was that a rumor spread around the city, picked up by the crowd with pleasure, that the famous Parisian courtesan and mistress of Emperor Napoleon III, Marguerite Bellanger, gave her appearance to Olympia. By the way, Napoleon himself, a connoisseur of art, acquired in the same 1865 the “main painting of the Salon” - “The Birth of Venus” by the meter and academician Alexander Cabanel. As it turned out, his model did not embarrass the emperor with anything more than a frivolous pose or blurry forms, because it fully complied with the laws of the genre. Unlike the disgraced "Olympia" with its scandalous "biography".

According to the official version, it was not Marguerite at all who posed for the picture, but Manet's favorite model Quiz-Louise Meuran: she did not hesitate to undress for "Breakfast on the Grass", and appeared on his other canvases. Other artists also often invited her as a model, thanks to which the Quiz is captured in the paintings of Edgar Degas and Norbert Gonett. True, this girl did not differ in good temper and chastity: it was not for nothing that one of her acquaintances called her “a wayward creature who spoke like Parisian street women.” Over time, she said goodbye to the dream of becoming an actress, and then an artist (several of her talented works were preserved), became addicted to alcohol, started an affair with a certain Marie Pellegri, in her declining years she acquired a parrot, with whom she walked through the streets of the city, singing songs with a guitar for alms, - that's what she hunted.

Who sculpted you from the darkness of the night, What kind of native Faust, the fiend of the savannah? You smell of the musk and tobacco of Havana, Midnight child, my fatal idol...

Charles Baudelaire

And ridiculed, accused of vulgarity and shamelessness, "Olympia" began an independent life. After the closure of the Salon, she spent almost a quarter of a century in Manet's workshop, where only Edward's acquaintances could admire her, because museums, galleries and collectors did not see artistic value in her and flatly refused to purchase. Public opinion was not influenced by any defense in the person of a prominent art critic and journalist Antonin Proust, who, as a friend of his youth, wrote: "Eduard never managed to become vulgar - he felt the breed." Nor the conviction of the writer Emile Zola, who noticed in one of the articles published in a Parisian newspaper that fate had prepared for her a place in the Louvre. Nevertheless, his words came true, but the beauty had to wait almost half a century. By that time, the author himself had not been in this world for a long time, and his favorite brainchild almost went away, along with other works, to an American art lover. The situation was saved by the master's friend Claude Monet: so that the masterpiece - and he had no doubts about it - would not leave France forever, he organized a subscription, thanks to which twenty thousand francs were collected. This amount was enough to buy the canvas from the widow Manet and donate it to the state, which had refused such an acquisition for so many years. Officials from the arts accepted the present and were forced to exhibit it, but not in the Louvre (as possible!), But in one of the halls of the Luxembourg Palace, where the picture stayed for sixteen years. It was transferred to the Louvre only in 1907. Exactly forty years later, in 1947, when the Museum of Impressionism opened in Paris (on its basis the collection of the Musée d'Orsay was subsequently created), Olympia settled there. And now connoisseurs freeze in admiration before the woman, whom, in the words of Zola, the artist "threw onto the canvas in all her youthful beauty."

Raphael Santi "Fornarina" 1518-1519 Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica. Palazzo Barberini, Rome

It is believed that it was Raphael who captured her in the image of the famous “Sistine Madonna”. True, they say that in life Margarita Luti was not at all sinless ...

By the time this woman appeared in the fate of Rafael Santi, he was already famous and rich. Regarding the exact date of their meeting, art critics and historians still do not agree, but legends are transmitted in writing and orally, which over the past centuries have been supplemented with many details. Some of the artist's biographers claim that they met quite by accident when one evening Raphael was walking along the banks of the Tiber. It is worth noting that it was during this period that he worked on the order of Agostino Chigi, a noble Roman banker, who invited the eminent painter to paint the walls of his Farnesino palace. The plots of "Three Graces" and "Galatea" have already adorned them. And with the third - "Apollo and Psyche" - a difficulty arose: Raphael could not find a model for the image of the ancient goddess. And so the opportunity presented itself. "I found her!" - the artist exclaimed, seeing a girl walking towards him. It is believed that it was with these words that a new era began in his personal life. It turned out that the young beauty was called Margherita, and she was the daughter of the baker Francesco Luti, who moved from small sunny Siena to Rome many years ago. “Oh, yes, you are a beautiful fornarina, a baker!” - said Raphael (translated from Italian fornaro or fornarino - baker, baker) and immediately invited her to pose for a future masterpiece. But Margarita did not dare to give consent without securing the permission of her father. And he, in turn, is the fiance of Tomaso's daughter. As experience has shown, the solid amount given by Rafael to Luti's father had an effect more eloquent than any words: having received three thousand gold pieces, he gladly allowed his girl to serve art day and night. Margarita-Fornarina herself obeyed her parental will with pleasure, because although she was very young (it is believed that she was barely seventeen), female intuition suggested that the famous and wealthy artist was in love with her. And soon the girl moved to a villa (presumably on Via di Porta Settimiana), which Rafael rented especially for her. Since then, they say, they have not parted. By the way, now the Relais Casa della Fornarina hotel is located at this address, the website of which claims that Raphael's beloved lived here in the 16th century. True, not for long: since the desire to spend time in her company interfered with work, Chigi suggested that the master settle Margarita next to him in Farnesino. And so he did.

Cupid, die blinding radiance

Two wondrous eyes sent down by you.

They promise either cold or summer heat,

But they do not have a small drop of compassion.

As soon as I knew their charm,

How to lose freedom and peace.

Rafael Santi

Today it is difficult to say what is true and what is fiction in this story, because according to some sources, it began in 1514, that is, almost half a millennium ago. There is also no confirmation of whether this woman is depicted on other canvases of the artist, for example, “Donna Valeta”. Although students took part in the creation of many of Raphael's monumental works, it can be assumed that he wrote Fornarina, like the Sistine Madonna, personally. Probably, therefore, standing in front of the “Madonna” many years later in the hall of the Dresden Art Gallery, the Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky remarked: “Once a human soul had such a revelation, it cannot happen twice.” One can only guess that the canvas was painted from Margherita Luti, as many sources say: in the “Biographies”, compiled by the authoritative biographer of the Renaissance, Giorgio Vasari, this name is not mentioned. There is only such a phrase: “Marcantonio made many more engravings for Rafael, which he presented to his student Baviera, who was assigned to the woman he loved until his death, whose most beautiful portrait, where she seems alive, is now with the noblest Matteo Botti, a Florentine merchant; he treats this portrait as if it were a relic, out of love for art and for Raphael in particular.” And more - not a word. Centuries later, one of Vasari's readers wrote in the margin opposite these lines that her name was Margarita: the lady was christened Fornarina in the 18th century.

But the rumor cannot be stopped. “Beautiful as Raphael's Madonna!” - and now say those who want to describe the true beauty. But Raphael's contemporaries assured that the charmer in question was not distinguished by chastity: in those days when the maestro busy with work was absent, she easily found a replacement for him, while away the time in the arms of one of his students or the banker himself. The fellow citizens of the master were convinced, and then assured the whole world of this, that Rafael died right in her arms from heart failure. It happened on April 6, 1520, the artist was only thirty-seven years old.

Like it or not, it is unlikely to know. But it is known for certain that Raphael did not respond to the proposal of his friend Cardinal Bernardo Divizio di Bibbiena, who, according to Vasari, had been begging him for many years to marry his niece. However, Raphael, “without refusing to directly fulfill the desire of the cardinal, dragged out the matter. In the meantime, he slowly indulged in more than he should have indulged in love pleasures, and then one day, having crossed the borders, he returned home in a violent fever. The doctors thought that he had caught a cold and inadvertently bled him, as a result of which he became very weak.” Medicine was powerless.

“Fornarina” set off on an independent voyage: for the first time, a work depicting a naked woman is mentioned from the words of a person who saw her in the collection of Sforza Santa Fiora. On her left shoulder is a bracelet with the inscription “Raphael of Urbinsky”, which gave rise to the identification of the model with the legendary lover. It has been in the funds of Palazzo Barberini since 1642. X-ray studies showed that this canvas was later “corrected” by Raphael's student Giulio Romano.

“Raphael would have achieved brilliant success in coloring, if his fiery addition, which incessantly attracted him to love, had not caused him an untimely death,” wrote one of the admirers of his work. “Here lies the great Raphael, during whose life nature was afraid to be defeated, and after his death she was afraid to die,” says the epitaph carved on his tombstone in the Pantheon.

Gustav KLIMT “Legend” 1883 Wien Museum Karlsplatz, Vienna

Gustav Klimt is famous for his bizarre depictions of naked ladies: at the beginning of the 20th century, his paintings, distinguished by frank eroticism, shocked the refined Viennese public, and the guardians of morals called them pornographic.

But this was not always the case: one of the first orders that the novice artist received from the publisher Martin Gerlach - to make illustrations for the book “Allegories and Emblems” - was done by young Gustav on his own and, probably, in full accordance with his requirements and ideas about beauty. In any case, information about complaints from Gerlach has not been preserved. Although the center of the plot is a nude beauty. Such nudity critics called almost chaste. “Even in his early paintings, Klimt gave a place of honor to the Woman: since then, he has never stopped singing her. Obedient beasts are placed to decorate at the feet of an amazing, sensual heroine who takes their obedience for granted,” they reveled in their own eloquence. And they clarified, they say, the author needed the animals only in order to show this first voluptuous Eve in the most favorable light. Fable - this is the name of the picture in the original. In Russian translation, it is known under different names: “Legend”, “Fairy Tale”, “Fable”. The only thing that remains unchanged is the reaction of the audience, who find it hard to believe that it belongs to the brush of that very Gustav Klimt - an outrageous erotomaniac, a genius and a “perverted decadent”, as his fellow citizens called him. But a lot has changed since that time - including his artistic style.

“He himself looked like a clumsy commoner who could not connect two words. But his hands were able to turn women into precious orchids emerging from the depths of a magical dream, ”recalled one of the artist’s acquaintances. True, not all of Klimt's contemporaries shared her opinion. After all, it was the “obscene” image of the female nude that caused one of the loudest scandals in art. It took place in Vienna seven years after the creation of Fable, on the eve of 1900, when the young painter presented to the public, and most importantly, customers - respected professors of the University of Vienna - the paintings "Philosophy", "Medicine" and "Jurisprudence": they were supposed to decorate the ceiling of the main building of the Temple of Sciences. Looking at the canvases, pundits were shocked by the “ugliness and nudity” and immediately accused the author of “pornography, excessive perversion and demonstrating the triumph of darkness over light.” The egregious case was discussed even in Parliament! The exhortations of the art professor Franz von Wickhoff, the only person who tried to defend Klimt in the legendary lecture “What's ugly?” Nobody heeded. As a result, the canvases were not exhibited in the university building. However, this story helped Gustav to draw an important conclusion: creative independence is the only way to preserve originality. “Enough censorship. I'll manage on my own. I want to be free. I want to get rid of all these silly little things holding back my work and get my job back. I reject any government aid and orders. I give up everything,” he said a few years later in an interview. And he turned to the government with a request to allow him to redeem the disgraced work. “All the attacks of criticism hardly touched me at that time, and besides, it was impossible to take away the happiness that I experienced while working on these works. In general, I am not very sensitive to attacks. But I become much more receptive if I understand that the one who ordered my work is dissatisfied with it. As in the case when paintings are covered up, ”he explained in an interview with a Viennese journalist. His request was granted by the government. Later, the paintings ended up in private collections, but at the end of World War II they were burned by the retreating SS troops in the Immerhof castle, where they were then stored. Klimt himself did not know about this, because all this happened when the master was no longer alive.

Any art is erotic.

Adolf Loos

Fortunately, then, in the 1900s, the reaction of the public did not cool his ardor: he bet on the ladies - it was they who brought him the coveted freedom. Although the desire “to boldly paint Eve - the prototype of all women - in all conceivable poses, for which it is not the apple that is the subject of temptation, but her body”, he never disappeared, Gustav preferred to earn money by creating portraits of Viennese magnates' life partners. This is how the famous “Gallery of Wives” appeared, which brought Klimt not only money, but also fame: Sonya Knips, Adele Bloch-Bauer, Serena Lederer - the maestro knew how to please the prosperous citizens of Vienna. He portrayed their loved ones as infinitely charming, but with a touch of haughtiness. Having once given these traits to a lady from high society, he repeated the technique more than once. So “femme fatales, erotica and aesthetics” became Klimt’s hallmark.

Fortunately, the artist had no shortage of models - naked or dressed in luxurious clothes. Although legends were made about his loving nature, for twenty-seven years Gustav's faithful companion was Emilia Flöge, a fashion designer and owner of a fashion house. True, they said that they were connected only by a touching friendship, and the couple's relationship was exclusively platonic. And yet it is believed that it was her and himself that he captured in the famous “Kiss”.

Who inspired the features of the beauty from Fable will probably remain a mystery - one of those that Klimt loved to create so much. “Everyone who wants to know something about me as an artist - and that's all I'm interested in - should look carefully at my paintings,” he advised. Perhaps they really hide the answers to all questions.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti "Venus Verticordia" 1864-1868 Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, Bournemouth

Dante Gabriel Rossetti became famous as one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an original poet and artist who created a series of erotic portraits of women. And also - outrageous antics that blew up Puritan society.

“If you knew him, you would love him, and he would love you - everyone who knew him was passionate about him. He was completely different from other people,” said Jane Burden Morris about Rossetti, who throughout for many years she took the place of Dante's beloved woman and model, but not only she...

The story began in October 1857 when Jane and her sister Elizabeth went to London's Drury Lane Theatre. There she was noticed by Rossetti and his colleague Edward Burne-Jones. Contemporaries noted that Jenny - as her Pre-Raphaelite friends began to call her - did not differ in traditional beauty, but attracted attention with her dissimilarity to others. “What a woman! She is wonderful in everything. Imagine a tall, thin lady, in a long dress of muted purple fabric, of natural matter, with a shock of curly black hair falling in large waves over her temples, a small and pale face, large dark eyes, deep ... with thick black arched eyebrows . A high open neck in pearls, and in the end - perfection itself, ”one of the acquaintances admired. She was strikingly different from the “classical” secular young ladies - and this excited the imagination of the Pre-Raphaelites, who declared their unwillingness to follow the laws of academic painting. They say, noticing her, Rossetti exclaimed: “An amazing sight! Gorgeous!" And then he invited the girl to pose. Other artists appreciated his choice and vied with each other to invite Jane, nee Burden, to their sessions. It is easy to guess how the official muse of the Pre-Raphaelites Elizabeth Siddal, who for many years bore this title, reacted to this. After all, Lizzy was also the common-law wife of Rossetti: he promised to legitimize their relationship. Everyone knew about this passionate and painful romance for both. As well as the fact that the loving Dante all these years was “inspired” in the arms of other models. Experiences crippled the poor health of Siddal, which she in the full sense of the word sacrificed to art. It was said that, posing in 1852 for the famous painting by John Millais "Ophelia", she spent many hours in a row in a bath of water, depicting the drowned Ophelia. It happened in winter, and the lamp that heated the water went out. The girl caught a cold and became seriously ill. It is believed that she was prescribed an opium-based drug for treatment. To Dante’s credit, it’s worth saying that he kept his word to her by marrying Lizzie in May 1860. And in February 1862 she was gone. Elizabeth died of an overdose of opium, which she took to numb her pain: shortly before that, she had lost a child, and her relationship with Rossetti had gone wrong. It was not possible to find out whether her death was only a fatal accident.

But time passed: Jane Burden was nearby. And although she was already the wife of William Morris, the “tender” friendship with Rossetti continued. The legal spouse was above conventions and did not interfere with the relationship. Perhaps he himself “prophesied” them? After all, the only picture completed by Morris is Jane in the image of “Queen Ginevra”: as you know, this lady was the wife of King Arthur, who, according to one version, became the beloved of his knight Lancelot. Be that as it may, it was Jane who brought Dante back to life, awakening in him the desire to create. A few years later, he decided to publish his early poetic creations. Alas, there were no drafts of the sonnets left, and then he committed an act that the whole of London spoke about for a long time: he carried out an exhumation and brought to the light of day the once lost manuscripts. “His sonnets are imbued with mystical-erotic content,” critics responded, and readers accepted with delight.

Life went on, and now Jane, as once Elizabeth, appeared on almost every one of his canvases, thanks to which she entered the history of painting. However, whether the famous “Venus Verticordia” - “Venus that turns hearts” keeps her features, remains a mystery. By that time, Rossetti had another favorite model: the girl's name was Alexa Wilding, although everyone called her Alice. It is believed that in January 1868 this painting was repainted with Wilding's face, although the artist's housekeeper Fanny Cornforth posed for Venus. Is it so - a mystery, one of those that Rossetti took with him. Another thing is surprising: Venus Verticordia is the name of the ancient Roman cult and images of the goddess Venus, “turning” the hearts of people “from lust to chastity”. And the work of the same name is almost the only example of nudity in the work of Rossetti. By the way, Miss Alexa Wilding is also one of the few Dante muses with whom the maestro did not have a love relationship.

Titian Vecellio Venus of Urbino 1538 Uffizi Gallery, Florence

Venus Pudica - "Venus chaste", "shameful", "modest" - such images of the goddess of love were called by Titian's contemporaries. “A girl wearing only a ring, a bracelet and earrings from clothes, if she is a little embarrassed, then she is fully aware of her beauty,” they say about the beauty today. And this story began 475 years ago.

When Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere sent a courier to Venice in the spring of 1538, he received clear instructions not to return without paintings ordered from Titian. It is known from the duke's correspondence that it was a portrait of Guidobaldo himself and a certain la donna nuda, "a naked woman." As you can see, the servant did a good job - Guidobaldo, who later became the Duke of Urbino, acquired canvases, and the naked grace in the picture - a new name: “Venus of Urbinsky”.

In Venice - all the perfection of beauty! I give first place to her painting, whose standard-bearer is Titian.

Diego Velazquez

By that time, Titian Vecellio, who was about fifty years old, had long been known as the most famous master and bore the title of the first artist of the Venetian Republic. Eminent fellow citizens lined up, wanting to own their own portrait in his performance. “With amazing insight, the artist portrayed his contemporaries, capturing the most diverse, sometimes contradictory traits of their characters: self-confidence, pride and dignity, suspicion, hypocrisy, deceit,” art critics of the 19th century noted. “When you try to imagine Titian, you see a happy man, the happiest and most prosperous that has ever been among his kind, who received only favors and good luck from heaven ... He received at home kings, doges, Pope Paul III and all Italian sovereigns, bombarded with orders, widely paid, receiving pensions and skillfully using his happiness. He keeps the house on a grand scale, dresses magnificently, invites cardinals, nobles, the greatest artists and the most gifted scientists of his time to his table, ”the French historian Hippolyte Taine wrote about him at the beginning of the 19th century. This, probably, was the opinion of wealthy Venetians. They probably wondered why this darling of fate had so few love affairs. Indeed, during the long life of Titian, only three female names are associated with him. And even then two of them, most likely, only in order to create a beautiful romantic story. It is known for certain that his wife was only Cecilia Soldano, whom he married in 1525, having lived with her for several years before the wedding in a “civil marriage”. And in 1530 she died, leaving her husband children. It is difficult to say whether he painted portraits of Cecilia real or in the form of mythical beauties, but he kept the memory of this woman. It was to him, the illustrious and famous Vecellio, a love of life, wise by the experience of victories and losses, that Duke Guidobaldo addressed ...

For almost half a millennium that has passed since the birth of the Titian goddess, art historians have probably studied every stroke on her luxurious body, but they never found out who served as a model. Someone believes that the young wife of Guidobaldo Giulia Varano is depicted on the canvas. Others have no doubt: the maestro posed ... the mother of the Duke, Eleonora Gonzaga. In their assumptions, they refer to the similarity between "Venus" and the portrait of Eleanor by Titian and the fact that both canvases depict "the same dog curled up in a ball." Some of them put each element in the environment of the lady on the shelves, and all this, in their opinion, personifies the bonds of marriage. A bouquet of roses in the hand is an attribute of Venus, a dog at the feet is a symbol of devotion, and maids near the chest with clothes and a flower in the window opening - to create an atmosphere of intimacy and warmth. They also gladly dubbed the work “an allegorical portrait of a famous aristocrat - a “home goddess”, conveying Venetian luxury and sensuality. Probably, Titian wanted to tell in his picture about sexuality, combining exciting eroticism with the virtues of marriage and, above all, with the fidelity that the dog depicts, ”they argue. Others cynically assure, they say, on a bed in the interior of the ducal chambers - a lady of demimonde: a courtesan. Representatives of this profession in the 16th century occupied a high social position and through the efforts of painters often remained in eternity. But now it doesn't matter. Another thing is important: Titian's work gave rise to talented followers - Alberti, Tintoretto, Veronese. The Venus of Urbinskaya itself, 325 years later - in 1863 - inspired his younger colleague Edouard Manet to create the amazing Olympia. And the rest - and five hundred years later, admire the talent of a genius, kissed by God.

There are eternal themes in art. One of them is the theme of a woman, the theme of motherhood. Each era has its own ideal of a woman, the whole history of mankind is reflected in how people saw a woman, what myths surrounded her and helped her to create. Exactly one thing - in all ages and times The feminine character has attracted, attracts and will attract the special attention of artists.

The images of women created in portrait art carry the poetic ideal in the harmonious unity of its spiritual qualities and external appearance. From the portraits, we can judge how the appearance of a woman, her mental warehouse is influenced by social events, fashion, literature, art and painting itself.

We present you a variety of images of women in painting in different directions

REALISM

The essence of the direction is the most accurate and objective fixation of reality. The birth of realism in painting is most often associated with the work of the French artist Gustave Courbet, who opened his personal exhibition "Pavilion of Realism" in 1855 in Paris. It is opposed to romanticism and academism. In the 1870s, realism split into two main areas - naturalism and impressionism. Naturalists were called artists who sought to capture reality as accurately as possible, photographically.

Ivan Kramskoy "Unknown"

Serov "Girl with peaches"

ACADEMISM

Academism grew up following the external forms of classical art. Academism embodied the traditions of ancient art, in which the image of nature is idealized. Russian academicism of the first half of the 19th century is characterized by sublime themes, high metaphorical style, versatility, multi-figures and pomposity. Biblical scenes, salon landscapes and ceremonial portraits were popular. Despite the limited subject matter of the paintings, the works of the academicians were distinguished by their high technical skill.

Bouguereau "Pleiades"

Bouguereau "Mood"

Cabanel "The Birth of Venus"

IMPRESSIONISM

Representatives of the style sought to capture the real world in its mobility and variability in the most natural and unbiased way, to convey their fleeting impressions. French Impressionism did not raise philosophical issues. Instead, impressionism focuses on superficiality, the fluidity of the moment, mood, lighting, or angle of view. Their paintings represented only the positive aspects of life, did not violate social problems, and bypassed such problems as hunger, disease, death. Biblical, literary, mythological, historical plots inherent in official academicism were discarded. They took subjects of flirting, dancing, staying in cafes and theaters, boat trips, on beaches and in gardens. Judging by the paintings of the Impressionists, life is a series of small holidays, parties, pleasant pastimes outside the city or in a friendly environment.

Boldini "Moulin Rouge"

Renoir "Portrait of Jeanne Samary"

Manet "Breakfast on the Grass"

Mayo "RosaBrava"

Lautrec "Woman with an umbrella"

SYMBOLISM

The Symbolists radically changed not only various types of art, but also the very attitude towards it. Their experimental nature, the desire for innovation, cosmopolitanism have become a model for most contemporary art movements. They used symbols, understatement, allusions, mystery, mystery. The main mood was often pessimism, reaching the point of despair. Unlike other trends in art, symbolism suggests the expression of "unattainable", sometimes mystical ideas, images of Eternity and Beauty.

Redon "Ophelia"

Franz von Stuck "Salome"

Watts "Hope"

Rosseti "Persephone"

MODERN

Art Nouveau strove to combine the artistic and utilitarian functions of the created works, to involve all spheres of human activity in the sphere of beauty. As a result, there is an interest in applied arts: interior design, ceramics, book graphics. Art Nouveau artists drew inspiration from the art of ancient Egypt and ancient civilizations. The most notable feature of Art Nouveau was the rejection of right angles and lines in favor of smoother, curved lines. Often, modern artists took ornaments from the plant world as the basis of their drawings.

Klimt "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I"

Klimt "Danae"

Klimt "Three Ages of Woman"

Fly "Fruit"

EXPRESSIONISM

Expressionism is one of the most influential art movements of the 20th century. Expressionism arose as a reaction to the most acute crisis of the first quarter of the 20th century, the First World War and subsequent revolutionary movements, the ugliness of bourgeois civilization, which resulted in the desire for irrationality. The motifs of pain, screaming were used, the principle of expression began to prevail over the image.

Modigliani. With the help of the bodies and faces of women, he tries to penetrate the souls of his characters. “I am interested in the human being. The face is the greatest creation of nature. I use it tirelessly,” he repeated.

Modigliani "Sleeping Nude"

Schiele "Woman in black stockings"

CUBISM

Cubism is a modernist trend in the visual arts (mainly in painting) of the 1st quarter of the 20th century, which highlighted the formal task of constructing a three-dimensional form on a plane, minimizing the figurative and cognitive functions of art. The emergence of cubism is traditionally dated to 1906-1907 and is associated with the work of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. In general, cubism was a break with the tradition of realistic art that developed during the Renaissance, including the creation of a visual illusion of the world on a plane. The work of the Cubists was a challenge to the standard prettiness of salon art, to the vague allegories of symbolism, and the fragility of impressionist painting. Entering the circle of rebellious, anarchist, individualistic movements, cubism stood out among them by its gravitation towards the asceticity of color, towards simple, weighty, tangible forms and elementary motifs.

Picasso "Weeping Woman"

Picasso "Playing the Mandolin"

Picasso "The Girls of Avignon"

SURREALISM

The basic concept of surrealism, surreality- the combination of dream and reality. To do this, the surrealists offered an absurd, contradictory combination of naturalistic images through collage and moving the object from non-artistic space to artistic space, due to which the object opens from an unexpected side, properties that were not noticed outside the artistic context appear in it. The surrealists were inspired by the radical left ideology, but they proposed to start the revolution from their own consciousness. Art was conceived by them as the main instrument of liberation. This direction was formed under the great influence of Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. Surrealism was rooted in Symbolism and was initially influenced by Symbolist artists such as Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon. Many of the popular artists were surrealists, including Rene Magritte, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Alberto Giacometti.

If you think that all great artists are in the past, then you have no idea how wrong you are. In this article, you will learn about the most famous and talented artists of our time. And, believe me, their works will sit in your memory no less deeply than the works of the maestro from past eras.

Wojciech Babski

Wojciech Babski is a contemporary Polish artist. He graduated from the Silesian Polytechnic Institute, but connected himself with. Lately he has been painting mostly women. Focuses on the manifestation of emotions, seeks to obtain the greatest possible effect by simple means.

Loves color, but often uses shades of black and gray to achieve the best impression. Not afraid to experiment with new techniques. Recently, he has been gaining more and more popularity abroad, mainly in the UK, where he successfully sells his works, which can already be found in many private collections. In addition to art, he is interested in cosmology and philosophy. Listens to jazz. Currently lives and works in Katowice.

Warren Chang

Warren Chang is a contemporary American artist. Born in 1957 and raised in Monterey, California, he graduated magna cum laude from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts. For the next two decades, he worked as an illustrator for various companies in California and New York before starting his career as a professional artist in 2009.

His realistic paintings can be divided into two main categories: biographical interior paintings and paintings depicting working people. His interest in this style of painting is rooted in the work of the 16th-century painter Jan Vermeer, and extends to objects, self-portraits, portraits of family members, friends, students, studio, classroom and home interiors. His goal is to create mood and emotion in his realistic paintings through the manipulation of light and the use of muted colors.

Chang became famous after the transition to traditional visual arts. Over the past 12 years, he has earned numerous awards and honors, the most prestigious being the Master Signature from the Oil Painters Association of America, the largest oil painting community in the United States. Only one person out of 50 is honored with the opportunity to receive this award. Currently, Warren lives in Monterey and works in his studio, he also teaches (known as a talented teacher) at the San Francisco Academy of the Arts.

Aurelio Bruni

Aurelio Bruni is an Italian artist. Born in Blair, October 15, 1955. Graduated with a degree in scenography from the Art Institute in Spoleto. As an artist, he is self-taught, as he independently “built the house of knowledge” on the foundation laid back in school. He began painting in oils at the age of 19. Currently lives and works in Umbria.

Bruni's early painting is rooted in surrealism, but over time he begins to focus on the closeness of lyrical romanticism and symbolism, reinforcing this combination with the exquisite sophistication and purity of his characters. Animate and inanimate objects acquire equal dignity and look almost hyper-realistic, but at the same time, they do not hide behind a curtain, but allow you to see the essence of your soul. Versatility and sophistication, sensuality and loneliness, thoughtfulness and fruitfulness are the spirit of Aurelio Bruni, nourished by the splendor of art and the harmony of music.

Aleksander Balos

Alkasandr Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. Born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he has been living and working in the USA, in the city of Shasta, California.

As a child, he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught artist and sculptor, so from an early age, artistic activity received full support from both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where his schoolteacher and part-time artist Cathy Gaggliardi encouraged Alcasander to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he studied painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin.

After completing his studies in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, Balos moved to Chicago to study at the School of Fine Arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Figurative realism and portraiture made up the bulk of Balos' work in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to highlight the features and shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.

The plot compositions of his paintings are intended to be independently interpreted by the viewer, only then the canvases will acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005, the artist moved to Northern California, since then the scope of his work has expanded significantly and now includes freer methods of painting, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help express the ideas and ideals of being through painting.

Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks is a contemporary American artist. She was born in 1977 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She became interested in painting when she was still a child. She attended The New School in New York and Montclair State University, and graduated from Boston College in 1999 with a bachelor's degree. At the same time, she studied painting at the Lorenzo Medici Academy in Florence.

Then she continued her studies under the program for a master's degree at the New York Academy of Art, in the Department of Figurative Art, graduating in 2001. She graduated from Fullerton College in 2006. She briefly lectured at universities and educational institutions around the country, and taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, as well as Montclair State University and Lyme Academy College of Art.

“Using filters such as glass, vinyl, water and steam, I distort the human body. These filters allow you to create large areas of abstract design, with islands of color peeking through them - parts of the human body.

My paintings change the modern look at the already established, traditional poses and gestures of bathing women. They could tell an attentive viewer a lot about such seemingly self-evident things as the benefits of swimming, dancing, and so on. My characters are pressed against the glass of the shower cabin window, distorting their own body, realizing that they thereby influence the notorious male look at a naked woman. Thick layers of paint are mixed together to mimic glass, steam, water and flesh from afar. Up close, however, the amazing physical properties of oil paint become apparent. By experimenting with layers of paint and color, I find the moment when abstract strokes become something else.

When I first started painting the human body, I was immediately fascinated and even obsessed with it and felt that I had to make my paintings as realistic as possible. I "professed" realism until it began to unravel and deconstruct itself. Now I am exploring the possibilities and potential of a style of painting where representational painting and abstraction meet – if both styles can coexist at the same moment in time, I will do it.”

Antonio Finelli

Italian artist - time watcher” – Antonio Finelli was born on February 23, 1985. Currently lives and works in Italy between Rome and Campobasso. His works have been exhibited in several galleries in Italy and abroad: Rome, Florence, Novara, Genoa, Palermo, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, and they can also be found in private and public collections.

Pencil drawings " Watcher of time” Antonio Finelli send us on an eternal journey through the inner world of human temporality and the rigorous analysis of this world associated with it, the main element of which is the passage through time and the traces it inflicts on the skin.

Finelli paints portraits of people of any age, gender and nationality, whose facial expressions indicate the passage through time, and the artist also hopes to find evidence of the ruthlessness of time on the bodies of his characters. Antonio defines his works with one general title: “Self-portrait”, because in his pencil drawings he not only depicts a person, but allows the viewer to contemplate the real results of the passage of time inside a person.

Flaminia Carloni

Flaminia Carloni is a 37-year-old Italian artist, the daughter of a diplomat. She has three children. Twelve years she lived in Rome, three years in England and France. Received a degree in art history from the BD School of Art. Then she received a diploma in the specialty restorer of works of art. Before finding her calling and devoting herself entirely to painting, she worked as a journalist, colorist, designer, and actress.

Flaminia's passion for painting arose as a child. Her main medium is oil because she loves “coiffer la pate” and also plays with the material. She learned a similar technique in the works of the artist Pascal Torua. Flaminia is inspired by the great masters of painting such as Balthus, Hopper, and François Legrand, as well as various art movements: street art, Chinese realism, surrealism and renaissance realism. Her favorite artist is Caravaggio. Her dream is to discover the therapeutic power of art.

Denis Chernov

Denis Chernov is a talented Ukrainian artist, born in 1978 in Sambir, Lviv region, Ukraine. After graduating from the Kharkov Art College in 1998, he stayed in Kharkov, where he currently lives and works. He also studied at the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts, Department of Graphics, graduated in 2004.

He regularly participates in art exhibitions, at the moment there have been more than sixty of them, both in Ukraine and abroad. Most of Denis Chernov's works are kept in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Italy, England, Spain, Greece, France, USA, Canada and Japan. Some of the works were sold at Christie's.

Denis works in a wide range of graphic and painting techniques. Pencil drawings are one of his favorite painting methods, the list of topics of his pencil drawings is also very diverse, he paints landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre compositions, book illustrations, literary and historical reconstructions and fantasies.