Great Paintings of the Western World

There may be more surveys of Western art in existence than paintings to populate them. In college classrooms across the world, millions of students study the history and criticism of art using these very surveys. However, in all of this study, there are a few things missing from the discourse about art. Instead of focusing on what art moves us, why it moves us, and why that makes it relevant to our everyday lives, art has become lost in a postmodern theoretical jumble.

Art has become much more about reading theory than about the visceral experience of viewing it. How can ordinary people be blamed for disregarding artistic achievement when all it can seemingly offer is a mass of terms, processes, and phrases that seem designed to confuse? For audiences without a foreknowledge of the theoretical background of new works (or even through intentionally obfuscating information about older work) paintings and other works can seem aloof, distant, and unnecessary.

Clearly, knowing a little about art and its processes can improve one's enjoyment of art. However, it is not my opinion that this should be a necessary component for an audience to experience a piece of art. Art should enact a visceral connection with the viewer outside of any theories, jargon, or confabulations on the part of the artist. Theory is all well and good, but it must serve the viewer, not the artist.

Because I believe these things, I have designed a list of what I consider to be some of the best paintings of the Western world. Working through a historical perspective, I have tried to choose pieces that have moved me as an end result, not that have overwhelmed me with theoretical or technical achievement. I have also tried to explain the paintings as I experience them, and why I was moved. I have attempted to find links to the paintings online so that you might view them for yourself.

Therefore, in no particular order....

1. Saint Matthew, Illustration from the Ebbo Gospels (Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo of Reims), c. 816-35

http://faculty.cva.edu/Stout/NorthernEuropean/MatthewEbbo.jpg

This painting conveys the passion of divine inspiration through hurried, sketchy lines that move through the painting as if accompanied by a rush of wind. Saint Matthew sits; his body filled with a tension conveyed by his hunched back, raised and tightened feet, and intense gaze. The painting is electrifying in its activity, and one can envision the rushing of the red quill across the parchment, moving faster than the mind that wields it. In few places is the powerful connection of man to the divine felt more strongly or with more fevered activity.

2. Descent from the Cross, Rosso Fiorentino, c.1521

http://home.psu.ac.th/~punya.t/Manner%20art/Ma%202e.jpg

In this Descent, the Mannerist influences are clear. A nightmarish composition of light and shadow outlines Christ's descent from the cross. The figures are sculpted and unreal. One's eyes move up the cross and towards the tragedy at its zenith, only to return again to the bottom, where Saint John has collapsed in grief. The contrast of unreal forms and real grief couple together to realize a true perspective of how people see and react to moments of crisis.

3. Jupiter and Io, Corregio, c.1530

http://retrokat.com/wedding/graphics/correggioiosa.jpg

This represents another Mannerist piece, but with an entirely different subject. Here the two mythic figures Jupiter and Io are engaged in a kiss. This painting's composition begins at the left foot of Io and follows the "s" curve of her body to the point of physical contact at the top of the painting. The ecstasy and eroticism of Io are apparent as she surrenders herself absolutely to Jupiter's embrace. The composition gives us Io's back, as if we were voyeurs on a sight not meant for our eyes, and which further heightens the eroticism.

4. Guernica, Picasso, 1937

http://www.terra.es/personal/asg00003/picasso/grguer2.jpg

In Guernica, Picasso depicts the chaos and horror of war as it speaks most strongly: in human suffering. The stark black and white canvas shows a harsh and twisted landscape where women scream over their dead sons, wounded horses rear in terror, and people are burned to death in the wrack of bombs. Picasso shows the result of war without the framing of political context and without any apology. In war, Picasso says, it is ordinary people who suffer and die. By far one of the most moving and terrifying protest pieces ever created.

5. The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg

This is Munch's harrowing vision of modern isolation. The lone figure in the foreground screams with a psychic pain borne of the frustrations, loneliness, and instability of modern, mechanized life. The only other people in the picture are shadowy and surreal abstractions. The background of the screamer moves in a torrent of blurred colors; colors that seem to emanate from the tortured scream itself. The piece speaks to the basic human condition as well as to the greater social context of Munch's work. In a time where much of humanity began the process of isolation via mechanization and urbanization, The Scream articulates the inner turmoil and loneliness that humanity then faced, and continues to grapple with.

6. The Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/starry-night/gogh.starry-night.jpg

The Starry Night represents another of the great visual images of the modern age, but in the course of this achievement has lost all meaning. With this painting, Van Gogh created a passionate vision of nature and our place in it. With swirling and fluid brush strokes, brilliant and vivid colors, Van Gogh grants the viewer a look at the splendor and pulsating energy of the world around us.

7. The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt, c.1668

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/1660/return-prodigal-son.jpg

This painting focuses on the power of forgiveness and redemption. The old man accepts his son back to his house as the son kneels in shame and sorrow. The painting's compositional focus is not on the son, but on the acceptance and forgiveness of the father. The painting is detailed with utmost care and patience; from the sole of the misshapen shoe that has fallen off the son's foot, to the self-portrait of Rembrandt himself looking on from the shadows of the background. The painting is the quiet and beautiful dénouement to a tumultuous story.

8. The Bride of the Wind, Oskar Kokoschka, 1914

http://web.nu-z.net/~wt_rosebud/kokoschka.jpg

In this ethereal work, Kokoschka celebrates his love with the widow of the great composer Mahler. The restless lines trace the contours of the two insubstantial lovers with calm, cool blues and whites. The energy of the painting gives a sense of calm excitement as the comfortable inhabitants of the wind are whirled up into the atmosphere. The piece gives the viewer a sense of both the eternal and unstable natures of love.

9. Nie Wieder Krieg. Kathe Kollwitz, 1924 http://www.bethel.edu/~letnie/KollwitzNeverAgain.html

This is not a painting, but I do feel very strongly about this work. With a few charcoal lines, Kollwitz has here produced a brilliant and powerful propaganda poster. The simplicity and starkness of the composition heightens the visibility of its yelling figure; a thin and hungry figure whose spirit has been broken by war. The complete conviction of the piece, its apolitical standing, and its simple message hit the viewer with profound weight. Kollwitz herself lost all three of her sons to the war.

10. The Old King, Georges Rouault, 1936

http://www.geocities.com/artedho/image/old_king.jpg

In this painting Rouault's vision of pathos rejects realistic forms for a more abstract approach. The forms are geometric and the colors are broken up by heavy black outline. The slightly bowed head and closed eyes of the old ruler give a sense of his suffering. The white flower in his hand represents a symbol of purity in an impure and pain-filled world. All in all, the piece brings to mind Shakespeare's quotation "heavy is the head that wears a crown."