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Tag Archives: Painting

May 19, 2012 · 11:21 am

Sotheby’s sells Modigliani Painting for almost $69 Million

: Image via Wikipedia

Amedeo Modigliani‘s 1917 painting of “Nude Sitting on a Sofa” (The Beautiful Romanian) sold for $68,962,500 at Sotheby’s auction the first week of November in New York. This picture of a World War I era scantily-clad brunette set a high for the artist who lived between 1884-1920. Five buyers competed for the painting and bid up the price. The painting sold for $16.7 million in 1999, quite a nice return considering the economy.

Amedeo Modigliani’s “Nude Sitting on a Sofa”

“Blue-eyed Boy” by Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani (Photo credit: KUUNSTKUULTUR)

Portrait of Leopold Zborowski by Amedeo Modigliani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently saw his 1916 painting “The Blue-eyed Boy” at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. The elongated faces in his paintings are very distinctive. He was born in Livorno, Italy and moved to Paris in 1907 after studying art in Florence and Venice. He was influenced by the work of Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso and Paul Cesanne.

I find the portrait of Leopold Zborowski very interesting. Zborowski was Amedeo Modigliani‘s primary art dealer. This painting sold for $1,464,000 at Sotheby’s in 2003.

“Jeanne Hebuterne in red shawl”, painting by Amedeo Modigliani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Portrait de femme, painting by Amedeo Modigliani, c. 1917-18 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Signature of Amedeo Modigliani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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‘The Scream’ Sells for $119.9 Million at Sotheby’s (jdjournal.com)

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Filed under Amedeo Modigliani Italian Artist, Balboa Park, Italian art, Italy, San Diego, San Diego Attractions, San Diego Museum of Art

Tagged as Amedeo Modigliani, Arts, Auction, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Italian artists, Léopold Zborowski, New York, Painting, San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, Sotheby's

April 7, 2011 · 2:56 pm

The Incredible Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres Spain

Image via Wikipedia

Salvador Dali was born in the Catalan town of Figueres, north of Barcelona Spain. He was the greatest artist of the surrealist art movement. In 1970, he dedicated his energy into transforming the Municipal Theater of Figures Spain into a museum and art gallery. It officially opened in 1974.

He was born in Figueres and received his first art lesson when he was ten years old. One of his instructors was Ramon Pichot, a well-known impressionist artist and art professor at the Municipal Drawing School in Spain. Dali studied at the Royal Adademy of Art in Madrid. In 1928, he went to Paris where he met Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

Dali’s Surrealist art was based on the theory of Dr. Sigmund Freud and his craftsmanship is characterized by melting watches in his famous work “The Persistence of Memory” (shown below on the right). Loaves of bread also permeate much of his work. He was a great admirer of the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael.

Dali met his beloved Gala, a Russian immigrant who was ten years older than him when she was married to his friend Paul Eluard. They married in 1934 and he spent much of his career painting Gala. He was inspired by classical artists like Velasquez and Michelangelo.

Salvador Dali

The bust of Velasquez displays different characters on the face including a nun kneeling in prayer on the nose and the image of Las Meninas on the forehead.

Dali 1974

Step back after you admire the nude painting of Gala in the center of the museum looking at the sea. The same painting appears as President Lincoln at 18 meters away. I found this feature to be amazing!

I love the central courtyard with mannequins in the windows, the Dali Cadillac under Gala’s boat in the center and a carved figure that looks like Bacchus.