Home Improvement Inside » Buying Paintings

Buying Yellow Paintings

Ed — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:24:36 +0000

I've been watching yellow paintings at an online auction site. I wonder where these yellow paintings will end up hanging. There were twenty bids on a painting of yellow daffodils. It was really pretty.

I really liked the painting titled Red Flowers Yellow Ochre Morning. It came in three panels that were each 20"X16". The picture online showed the painting above a bed and it just looked so clean and crisp. The medium for this painting was acrylic.

The smallest paintings that I found were on a panel bracelet. The paintings were of Indian and Near Eastern rulers. The paintings were put in an openwork gold frame set with seed pearls. This piece was created in the early twentieth century.

Another yellow painting that I liked was Yellow World by Karen Khachaturov. There were a lot of contrasting yellows in it. I could see yellow lemons and a beautiful yellow flower. The lemons were painted so realistically. This artist has paintings hanging in private galleries in over 40 countries.

I can only imagine that the oil painting of yellow roses by an unknown artist will hang in a lovely home. The painting has a nice quality to it. The petals of the yellow roses in the painting seemed to reach out as if they were still alive

There was a nice painting that had twenty bidders that was of a vase of yellow daffodils. The feel of the painting was that of one of the masters in impressionist art. The artist listed the item herself and she is also a poet and songwriter. I can close my eyes and see that painting hanging in someone's formal parlor. It is so very elegant.

The future home of the French chic painting of yellow, lavender and pink roses must be that of a very feminine woman. When I was looking at the painting, I could almost smell the roses. I thought that the sale price of two hundred dollars was disappointing. I think it should have sold for more.

My search for yellow paintings found a painting entitled Yellow Taking Over. I don't know why the artist titled his work like that. There was some yellow in this collage, but not much. The painting was done in 1956 by Nicholas Krushenick. It came from the personal collection of a famous photographer that works for the Village Voice. This would look good in someone's law office.

I wish that I could have purchased the antique oil painting of exotic yellow flowers. The auction said that it was painted in 1897. The pictures made the painting look like it was in great shape for being over one hundred years old. It would look good on the wall of my guest bedroom.

Artist Heidi Vaught had a listing for a painting she titled Ambiance numbered 10. The painting had only one bidder and sold for the opening bid, one hundred dollars. I think the winning bidder got quite a bargain. This painting was abstract with lots of teal and yellow.

Another painting by Heidi Vaught went for sixty five dollars. This was another bargain, if you ask me. The painting was entitled Yellow Squared and it had a really dizzy feeling to it. I liked it at first sight.

I have a friend that would have like the painting I found of a yellow cat. It looked just like her cat. The painting was an original acrylic contemporary painting in yellow ochre. It would have complemented her modern furnishings.

Yellow roses make a wonderful subject. I never tire of paintings of yellow roses. My favorite recently was done by Joan Cobb Mayer. The interpretation was stunning.

There was one other yellow rose oil painting that caught my eye recently. This one was painted by Berniece Meyers. The bloom extended to all sides of the canvas and the center seemed infinite. I felt good after viewing it.

Buying Paintings Gothic Art

Ed — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:29:48 +0000

Some of the most valuable early artwork comes from a point of time before the Renaissance had begun, and going on through the early Middle Ages, referred to as the period of Gothic art. During this particular time in history, the artwork took on telling narrative stories through pictures, and much of these pieces were Christian and secular in nature. Some of the earliest examples of Gothic art are sculptures found on cathedral and abbey walls, and the first real form of Gothic artwork began as architectural works in fact, even becoming the subject matter for many stained glass windows at the time.

The style of painting that further defined Gothic art wasn't produced until nearly fifty years after Gothic architecture and sculptures, and even though the break between Romanesque artwork and the Gothic styles has remained imprecise at best, the beginnings of Gothic artwork seems to occur in various areas at different but related intervals. The artwork began in England and France around 1200, and in other areas like Germany and Italy between 1220 and 1300. The paintings stayed just as narrative as the architecture on church walls during this time, and has stayed the territory of secular storytelling for a long time afterwards.

Though Gothic art in paintings has had a relatively short time as the medium of choice amongst the artists, there is evidence that the artwork falls into four particular styles of these paintings, and these were the most common forms during this time period. The fresco, the panel painting, the illuminated manuscript, and the artwork done on stained glass are all depictions of Gothic painting. Of these particular types, stained glass artwork had remained a strong reminder of those ages long past, and is still created by master artisans that learned their trade skills from these dark ages.

In the case of the other three particular forms of Gothic painting, frescoes continued to be used as the pictorial narratives on church walls in southern Europe, and were a consistent incorporation of early Christian and Romanesque traditions. In Italy, during the 13th century, the panel painting began and spread throughout Europe. With this proliferation, panel paintings became even more predominant by the 15th century, and becoming even more popular than stained glass at the time. Since not all monumental works have survived, illuminated manuscripts are the most complete record of Gothic painting, and provide a comprehensive account of styles that would otherwise perished.

As the state of the world began to change, so too did the interpretations of the artwork as a reflection of these changing times and attitudes, and the movement became known as International Gothic by the late 15th century. From there, it had evolved into an art form depicting not just secular stories and allegories, but also resulted in the occurrence of more illuminated manuscripts and paintings as increased trade and the rise of cities and universities grew. With this proliferation of growth, more people were literate, and lead to better records kept with this occurring. Leading up to many of the well-known medieval artists today.

The International Gothic style of artwork was developed in Burgundy, Bohemia, and northern Italy in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. During this period in Gothic art, artists traveled widely around the civilized world at the time creating a common aesthetic among the aristocracy of the time, and removing the concepts of contrary artistic styles. The main influences for this period in artwork were derived from northern France, the Netherlands, and Italy. It was during this time, that aspects of rational uses of perspective and setting became a common feature, and other features included flowing lines and rich coloring.

In the case of Gothic sculpture, it had evolved from the elongated forms of the Romanesque style, and became a more naturalistic expression in the early 12th and late 13th centuries. Influences from Greek and Roman statuary were incorporated into drapery, facial expressions, and poses. The sculptor Claus Sluter and the changing tastes for more naturalistic styles became a harbinger for the end of the Gothic period of art, and signaled the beginning of the evolution into Renaissance period at the end of the 15th century.

In a time period where upheaval was the normal occurrence of many of the people then, Gothic art fell into the broad scope of medieval artwork that included such disparate elements and styles as Viking art and Celtic art, but in varying degrees relied upon the artistic heritage of the Roman Empire and the early Christian Church. In fact, much medieval artwork has the history of these elements conjoining and converging into the remarkable artistic legacy we read about today, and have contributed over time to the outcome of many other forms of art from the Renaissance to the present day.

Buying Paintings Cubism

Ed — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 19:26:48 +0000

What started out as a rather avant-garde art movement has become one of the greatest examples of artistic forms breaking that mold of convention, revolutionizing European painting and sculpture up to the present century, and was first developed between 1908 and 1912 during a collaboration between Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso with influences from the works of Paul Cezanne and Tribal art. Though the movement itself was not long-lived, it began an immense creative explosion that has had long lasting repercussions, and focused on the underlying concept that the essence of an object can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously.

The movement had run its' course by the end of World War I, and influenced similar ideal qualities in the Precisionism, Futurism, and Expressionistic movements. In the paintings representative of Cubist artworks, objects are broken up and reassembled in an abstracted form, and the artist depicts the subject in a multitude of viewpoints instead of one particular perspective. Surfaces seemingly intersecting at random angles to produce no real sense of depth, with background and object interpenetrating with one another, and creating the shallow space characteristic of Cubism.

French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first used the term cubism, and it was after viewing a piece of artwork produced by Braque, the term was in wide use though the creators kept from using the term for quite some time. The Cubist movement expanded from France during this time, and became such a popular movement so quickly that critics began referring to a Cubist school of artists influenced by Braque and Picasso, many of those artists to Cubism into different directions while the originators went through several distinct phases before 1920.

As Braque and Picasso worked to further to advance their concepts along, they went through a few distinct phases in Cubism, and which culminated in both Analytic and Synthetic Cubism. With Analytic Cubism, a style was created that incorporated densely patterned near-monochrome surfaces of incomplete directional lines and modeled forms that play against each other, the first phases of which came before the full artistic swing of Cubism. Some art historians have also pegged a smaller "Hermetic" phase within this Analytical state, and in which the work produced is characterized by being monochromatic and hard to decipher.

In the case with Synthetic Cubism, which began in 1912 as the second primary phase to Cubism, these works are composed of distinct superimposed parts. These parts, painted or pasted on the canvas, were characterized by brighter colors. Unlike the points of Analytical Cubism, which fragmented objects into composing parts, Synthetic Cubism attempted to bring many different objects to create new forms. This phase of Cubism also contributed to creating the collage and papier colle, Picasso used collage complete a piece of work, and later influenced Braque to first incorporate papier colle into his work.

Similar to collage in practice, but very much a different style, papier colle consists of pasting materials to a canvas with the pasted shapes representing objects themselves. Braque had previously used lettering, but the works of the two artists began to take this idea to new extremes at this point. Letters that had previously hinted at objects became objects as well, newspaper scraps began the exercise, but from wood prints to advertisements were all elements incorporated later as well. Using mixed media and other combinations of techniques to create new works, and Picasso began utilizing pointillism and dot patterns to suggest planes and space.

By the end of the movement, with help from Picasso and Braque, Cubism had influenced more than just visual art. The Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was inspired by Cubism in some examples of his music that reassembled pieces of rhythm from ragtime music with the melodies from his own country's influence. In literature, Cubism influenced poets and their poetry with elements parallel with Analytical and Synthetic Cubism, and this poetry frequently overlaps other movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism.

Buying Folk Art Paintings

Ed — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:56:48 +0000

Buying folk art paintings has become a passion of mine. I've been looking for them everywhere it seems. I found a bunch of folk art paintings recently and I am having trouble deciding which one to buy.

There was a folk art painting by Rev. Howard Finster that is titled Howard in 1944. This is an all enamel folk art painting that was painted in 1988. The smile on this portrait is very engaging and makes me smile just as big.

I am also really taken by a folk art painting that was painted by painter Bill Dodge in Oct 1962. The title of the painting is First Trolley To Van Nuys. The painting is on board and depicts the center of town with all the people in town. They are in the windows and on the street. The town market, bakery, Hotel Van Nuys, an ice cream parlor and the Wing Lee Laundry are all depicted in vibrant color. The women in the foreground are against the Trolley and their signs say "Ban the Monster" and "Keep Van Nuys rural".

Thomas Chambers is one of America's foremost folk artists. I found a piece by him that I just don't like very much. It is a bit austere for my tastes. The subject is a fishing scene with villagers and boats. I don't think that I will purchase this folk art painting because I just don't like it.

There was a folk art painting I found called Alligator Fisher that was painted in 1940 that I really like. The blue of the bayou is very calming and the trees give it a very Southern feel. There is a swamp house in the painting and I like this one very much. It reminds me very strongly of Louisiana.

My mother started this passion of mine for folk art paintings. She had a folk art painting by John Roeder in our parlor growing up. I used to spend hours just staring into it. The trees were so relaxing to lose myself in. I have asked her to give me this wonderful folk art painting many times, but she says that I will have to wait until after her funeral!

I found one folk art painting during my journey that I felt sad every time I looked at. The name of the painting is A Letter from My Mother. The look in the girl's face is so serious and sad. I have no idea where this folk art painting should hang. The painting itself is magnificent; it just makes me feel sad.

There is a whole subset of folk art paintings that represent black Americana. I don't usually buy any of these pieces as they don't speak to my experience. I did find one piece that I purchased for a collector friend of mine that loves this type of art. The folk art painting had a whimsical feel to it and a woman relaxing in a hammock. He hung this in his hallway and has loved it for a long time.

My brother likes folk art paintings as much as I do. He prefers animals to be the subjects of paintings he purchases. I found a lovely clouded leopard folk art painting for him last Christmas and he has asked that I keep my eyes open for more like it. He said that he will buy any art I find for him because he trusts that I know and understand his tastes.

I have kept my eyes open for animal themed folk art paintings for my brother, but I just can't seem to find any as nice as the leopard that I got for him. The grand extent of animal themed folk art paintings I've found recently was a painting of two owls on a limb and I know that he would not like it. Ever since we were kids, owls totally freak him out.

Religious Paintings For My Gallery

Ed — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:14:48 +0000

I have a gallery that a local businessman financed. He wanted a place on the town square that featured religious paintings. I've been busy buying religious painting for several years. I have found some very nice pieces and I have a lot of people purchase paintings that I've found.

One of my favorite artists is someone that I actually stumbled across when I was buying religious paintings. He was not famous, but he had some of his pieces at a local show. I found that he primarily paints and sells his work on the internet.

It is hard to describe all of the feelings that I had when I saw his first piece. I really liked that he used the scripture Psalm 139:14 and made it gently legible within the layers of fresco colors. I thought that this was an excellent choice for my gallery. Buying religious paintings is very rewarding.

When my painting arrived, it was on gallery wrap 3/4 inch stretcher frames and was ready to hang. My patrons came to a private preview of the piece and were so happy with my success at buying religious paintings. The piece was actually five original canvases, each 15" X 30" with black painted gallery wrap edges so that no frames were needed.

The title of the piece was long, but appropriate. The title was "I will praise thee for I am fearfully made marvelous are Thy works and that my soul knoweth right well". One of my patrons wanted to buy it and hang it in his home. I had to convince him to let me show it for four months before he did that. It is hard work finding and buying suitable religious paintings.

In all the time that I've spent looking at and buying religious paintings, I am starting to feel like an expert. I try to find paintings in a variety of mediums to keep the gallery feeling fresh and vibrant. My favorite religious paintings use fresh earth minerals, pigments, oil glazes and acrylic varnish.

I actually have no preference if an artist signs his canvas or not. Most of my patrons, however, want their religious paintings signed. So, when I am buying religious paintings, I try to find ones that the artist signed.

The artist that I decided was my personal favorite uses the lost language of symbolism in his original paintings. He told me that his religious paintings are inspired by the ancient storytelling frescoes of Pompeii, Italy. He has a trademark style that he calls Religious Graffiti.

I get a lot of requests for certain subjects in the religious paintings that I buy. I have been looking for religious paintings of Mary and Jesus and also painting of Mary and Angel Gabriel. I have several families that have wanted these classic images in their homes. I have another family that wants me to find an oil Madonna with Child to hang in her church.

There was one religious painting that I bought that was very sweet. The image of Our Lady, Jesus and St. Giovannino was very provocative and it hung prominently in the gallery for six months before I let it go. I get attached to the religious paintings that I buy and then get to view every day. I have a policy that no painting will leave the walls of the gallery for four months.

My new favorite piece is an abstract triptych that I found while I was in Atlanta buying religious paintings. The piece was called Guardian Angel and I love it. My patrons fell in love with it as well. They have asked me to track down the artist and see if he has anymore religious paintings available.

The only religious paintings that I actually do not buy are ones that reflect the image of Jesus on the cross. I don't have a problem with them, some of them are extremely well done and would more than likely sell well, but my investors made it very clear when they financed the gallery that I would not put that image into it.

Buying Paintings Expressionism

Ed — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:49:48 +0000

When speaking on buying paintings of the Expressionist movement, it is always a good idea to review what elements make Expressionism unique, and to gain an understanding of some of the artists representative of this particular artistic movement. The agreed upon intention of Expressionist artwork is not reproduce a subject accurately, but to instead portray the inner state of the artist, with a tendency to distort reality for an emotional effect. The movement is closely associated with its' beginnings in Germany, and has a few different but overlapping schools of thought within.

The term Expressionism was first used to describe the movement in the magazine produced in 1911 called "Der Sturm", and was usually linked to paintings and graphic work that challenged academic traditions at the time. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche later helped to define the area of modern expressionism better by clarifying the movement's links to ancient art before any more modern interpretation had, and applied his own unique philosophy to the movement. He has been quoted stating that disordered and ordered elements are present in all works of art, but that the basic traits of Expressionism lay in the mainly disordered aspects.

The Expressionist point of view was usually conveyed through the use of bold colors, distorted forms, and a lack of perspective. Generally, a piece of expressionistic art is one that is expressive of intense emotion, and much of this kind of artwork occurs during times of social upheaval. Though it can be argued that an artist is expressive by nature, and that all artwork is truly expressionist, there are many who consider the movement particularly communicative of emotion. Later on, artists like Kandinsky changed 20th century Expressionist work through the formation of Abstract Expressionism.

The art historian Anton

Musical Themed Paintings

Ed — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:29:48 +0000

Musical themed paintings can be fun to find and fun to buy. I have a musician friend that recently purchased a new home. She bought new furnishings and asked me to find a new painting for her. I found her a fabulous creation by Osnat. It was an enormous, gallery size painting.

My friend's new furnishings were very contemporary and the Osnat musical themed painting I bought for her was breathtaking when all five parts were mounted. The musical staff ran the length of the painting with musical notes painted on it. The painting had pretty shades of yellows and oranges. It looked so elegant.

I found a still life musical themed painting of a guitar to buy for a friend. He always has had beautiful pieces of art in his home and he wanted to change some of the pieces he had grown tired of. The abstract piece that I found really struck a cord with my friend and he ended up buying another painting from the same artist.

I found a painting that was called Music of Fire that didn't really seem to have a musical theme. I showed it to a friend and she told me that the flames looked like they were dancing. She told me that I was using a very narrow definition of musical themed paintings when I was buying art.

Abstract guitars really seem to be my favorite musical themed paintings. I like to buy them when they jump out at me. There is an artist named Slazo that is very prolific with his musical themed guitar paintings. He has had a lot of exhibitions in Florida.

A friend of mine asked me to find artwork by an Armenian named Aram Koupetzian. I was able to find a musical themed painting called Rondo by this artist. It was really intriguing. I've never purchased a painting in the Cubist style before. The exact style of this musical themed painting was Synthetic Cubism. I liked it a lot. There is a lot to look at in the painting.

A couple of years ago, a good friend of mine graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a degree. He had a double major of music and education. He got a job as an assistant band director at a middle school in Austin. As a combination graduation and new job present, I bought him a musical themed painting.

The musical themed painting that I chose was painting by Tilo Rothacker that depicted a jazz musician playing a trumpet. It was so very colorful and it felt a lot like New Orleans. My friend and I had visited the French Quarter several times together. This musical themed painting celebrated his life changes and our friendship perfectly.

My younger sister is quite the accomplished violinist. She moved to New York and went to Juilliard. Her path changed after a couple of years in New York. She stopped pursuing the violin as a career, but her love for her music never waned. I bought her a musical themed painting when she bought her apartment. It was a contemporary abstract with brilliant rich jewel tones that depicted a woman violinist.

I was looking for musical themed paintings one day when I found Melody of Sunset for sale. I'm not sure why this painting bothered me so much. The woman was playing the piano, but she seems disembodied and strange. Her eyes were closed. This musical themed painting just did not strike a cord with me and I did not buy it.

My favorite musical themed painting in a long time was The Sound of Jazz. It was painted by Sarah Kinan and it is gorgeous. It is hard for me to not smile when I'm looking into this painting. The background looks like confetti and the foreground is filled with musical instruments. This musical themed painting can be described as feeling like a party.

Buying Abstract Paintings

Ed — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:36:48 +0000

Buying and collecting abstract painting can be a labor of love. I love abstract paintings. I think that my favorite medium is gouache. I recently purchased a work from Oscar Bluemner. The person I bought the abstract painting from had it in storage for over twenty years. I am going to hang this piece in my office.

I found an oil abstract painting that was dated 1947 that was painted by Louis Bassi Siegriest. I liked the composition, it felt oddly soothing. The artist signed the back of the painting. It was a little out of my price range, but I bought it anyway.

Trade Winds is the name of an abstract painting I bought from the artist Joanne Riddle while I was in Connecticut. The piece was huge and I had to have it sent by freight to my home. The blue in the painting was so vivid. The whole composition was absolutely inspired.

I bought an abstract painting for my sister-in-law last year. The artist of the piece was Leonardo Nierman and the medium he used was oil. I bought the piece unframed and took my sister-in-law to framer to choose the frame.

I tried to buy an abstract painting from the mayor of our town. I offered him two thousand dollars for the modernist abstract colorful figure. The artist used red, white and blue and I wanted to acquire this for my stepmother. She would have loved it, but the mayor was unwilling to part with it.

My mother has decorated her home in a style that she liked in Santa Fe. I bought a large abstract painting for her from her favorite artist, Lou Monti. She has seen his work in a number of homes and always raves about them. She was so happy when she saw the painting I bought for her hanging on the wall of her living room.

I dated a guy once that had a signed abstract painting by Robert Gilberg on his wall. I saw something different every time I saw it. That painting had an attraction that I just can't quite explain. He was always buying art and changing out abstract paintings on his walls, but this particular piece always stayed. I guess he was attracted to it as well.

The abstract painting that I bought for my older brother did not work in his apartment. I ended up buying a painting that was a little too large for the room it was intended for. The colors did not work in the only room that worked for its size.

I ended up selling that abstract painting the same place that I had bought it, on eBay! I ended up making a profit on the abstract painting. There was more information in my auction about the artist, Richard Diebenkorn, than there had been in the auction that I won. I think the extra hour of research I spent made the abstract painting's value increase.

I learned a long time ago that an abstract painting is worth exactly as much as someone is willing to pay for it. I have friends that just cannot be convinced of this basic truth. I think that if no one wants a particular abstract painting, then it is worth nothing.

My brother used the money from the sale of the unwanted abstract painting to find himself another abstract painting. He ended up with an abstract collage that was made in the late 1930s. I liked it when I saw it and it worked beautifully in his office.

Buying Paintings For Relatives

Ed — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:14:48 +0000

I have found that people buying paintings for relatives usually have a very specific thing in mind when they set out shopping. It is very rewarding to find just the right painting for a space that really needs it. Sometimes color is the only consideration.

Content is also very appropriate to consider. If you are buying a painting for someone that has very distinct tastes, it is important to keep that in the forefront of your mind. The painting of a rooster might be great for one relative but not for another.

Size constraints need to be taken into account when buying paintings for relatives. If your Aunt Eloise lives in a small apartment, buying a painting for her that takes up an entire wall is not a good idea. It is a good idea to take a look at the place the painting will go before purchasing one.

Color can be a big factor in the buying of a painting. If the color clashes with your relative's decor, they will probably not be very excited about hanging it. If the color is just right, it will hang on their wall for a very long time.

Religious themed paintings are difficult to buy for friends, but easy to buy for relatives. More than likely, you know what religion your relatives adhere to and what symbols are most relevant to it. Jewish symbolism is lost on a Christian family and vice versa.

Choosing to buy paintings for relatives based on the artist's previous work is also a good method of finding great art. If your relative already has purchased art from an artist that they like and that they hang prominently in their home, then it is a safe bet to buy another piece from the same artist.

Sometimes buying a nice painting for a relative has a point of inspiration, like a vacation. If your mom and dad just visited Paris, a nice painting of Paris might be a great choice. It is good to know what landmarks they enjoyed most and find an artistic representation of it.

I have some relatives that I've bought paintings for that were interested in the Middle Ages. I found some very nice reproductions of the work that was popular in that time period. Buying reproductions is acceptable if the painting is prohibitive in cost.

There is an aunt that I adore that is always buying painting for relatives. Her heart is in the right place, but she has a hard time picking paintings that are appropriate for the recipient. She bought her daughter a lovely painting that was Baroque and completely did not fit the feel of her home.

Landscape paintings done in the Romantic style look so nice in my uncle's home. I bought him a reproduction of a Monet that he hung in his study. I enjoy watching him study that painting.

My little sister has requested that anyone buying her a painting should stay away from Van Gogh. She has equal dislike for Cezanne and Gauguin. I'm not sure why she feels so strongly about Modern and Contemporary art.

I happen to like cubist paintings by Kandinsky. My husband bought me a reproduction of a Kandinsky that I keep in my den. I can look into it and see so many different things. The painting comes to life and I feel so many emotions when I look into it.

Buying Paintings Neoclassicism

Ed — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:39:48 +0000

Between the 18th and 20th centuries, a few quite distinctive trends were absorbed into the category of Neoclassicism, and it during these times that the movement as a whole came to absorb the classical inspirations that created a revival of ideals. These ideals, though standards from ages past, were defined by the artists synthesis of these elements into new works of art. It does not recreate styles of art from scratch, but instead shows the artists control over a particular body of classical works. By drawing from the classics of the past, Neoclassicism was paying tribute to eras of awareness that perhaps slipped away, but to regain some sense of these classical influences.

In Europe, neoclassicism began as a reaction against the Baroque and Rococo styles, and a desired return to the art of Romanesque and Renaissance classicism. Each individual grouping of Neoclassicism, whether affecting architecture or the visual arts, has attempted to capture the ideas of times gone by to utilize them in forms of art that were considered modern at the time. In neoclassicist painting in particular, the subject matter seems to hearken back to those classical ideas by reviving those Greek to Renaissance themes, and forcing them into peculiar constraints that would recreate the elements into new formats.

The Neoclassical style of artwork was heavily present during both the American and French Revolutions, and revival in the interest of classical thought in the style of ancient Greece and Rome, at times affecting a more Byzantine stance in some countries. A counterbalance came in the form of the Romanticism movement, and it never replaced Neoclassicism so much as aided in the influencing of many artists throughout the 19th century and beyond. When the architecture began to dominate the main aspects of neoclassicism, and has been found to be academically selective of the best Roman models guided with self-restraint.

At first, the style had been grafted with other popular European forms of architecture, and this style became quite pronounced as neo-classically inspired furnishings were popular for the time. The style soon had international renown, and it was at this point that the architecture became strongly influenced by Roman designs after the discoveries at Pompeii, during excavations that took place at that time. Though all these designs seem a bit absurd and overcomplicated nowadays, there was a flush of Greek inspired work in the forms of busts and vases after 1800, and this was called the Greek revival.

Continuing to be a force after the turn of the 19th century, even as Romanticism and Gothic styles took favor, but it seemed anti-modern to influential critical circles by the late 19th century. In the mid-19th century, several European cities had grandiose examples of the neoclassical style of architecture, and even early American architecture reflected this movement in various national monuments, and some of those monuments were the Lincoln Memorial and the National Gallery in Washington D. C. Soon, however, World War II would shatter those preconceptions for the world round.

Covertly, there were many modernists that chose to express a neoclassical influence with subtle tribute here and there, and even Picasso played around with reincorporating neoclassical motifs into his work at one time. Even the Art Deco style was using these ideas on a very sly level of utilization, playing with classic Grecian lines and even breaking out in American culture through architecture and the dime by 1950, and became a strong ideology in the time between both World Wars. This literary and very literal side of the movement rejected the romanticism of Dada, for example, for the restraint of religion and reactionary politics.

It can be a difficult bout to sort through all these items to find the ideal artwork that you would enjoy, and there many whose catalogs are extensive to say the least, making it quite an effort to glimpse through all of those works to find the pieces that you would enjoy the most. Finding the particular classifications that art periods fall under, such as neoclassicism, can keep your interest guided by where you can find most amount of work that you can acquire. Keep in mind, however, that many of these pieces are quite priceless to many collectors, and that buying a print of a particular famed work mat be more cost-effective for your budget.