What’s the connection between books, bottles, food, flowers and dead animals? The answer is that all have been popular subjects for still life paintings over many centuries. Continue reading
Fruit has been used as subject matter in paintings for centuries. From Caravaggio’s delectable fruit baskets and sensual pomegranate halves through to Cezanne’s citrus shades and Wesselman’s overtly political pears, fruit is traditionally used as a symbol of decay and the ephemerality of life. Here at Mark Mitchell Paintings we decided to take a closer look at fruit in art. Continue reading
Colour stimulates our emotions. It establishes the mood of a work of art and heightens our response. And it has done so since the dawn of civilisation. Even the prehistoric cave painters of Lascaux in France, more than 15,000 years ago, understood the impact of adding colour to their primitive depictions of animals. Continue reading
Animals have always been revered in human society. Be it for their beauty, their ability to carry out laborious tasks or their capacity to act as a resolute, determined and altogether loyal companion, people have always had a fondness for creatures great, small and covered in hair. Continue reading
The autumn months provide a chance for artists to consider the idea of transition and decay, along with constancy and plenty. The outside world provides rich golds, reds, yellows and browns which are a gift for a landscape painter, and the subject has been tackled masterfully by the likes of Monet in his magnificent rendering of leaves floating upon the Seine, as well as John Constable’s mournful depiction of Sir Joshua Reynold’s cenotaph. Continue reading
It seems the financial markets have less returns to offer investors every passing year, with interest rates plummeting and investment funds becoming an increasingly volatile way to save your money. However, there is another avenue to invest in that doesn’t depend as much on unstable financial markets and bank interest rates and that is art. Continue reading
Photorealistic painting strikes a stark contrast to what we have grown to know as modernism, the umbrella term referring to styles such as cubism, Dadaism and surrealism. Modernism has often sought to filter the world through the mind of the artist, producing symbolic, often strange depictions of reality. Continue reading
Still life paintings featuring inanimate objects have long been associated with the ephemeral nature of earthly existence and the inevitability of death and decay. Flowers, fruits, food and everyday household items are common themes, and, whilst caught in a moment of time, they convey a sense of material decline. Continue reading
Depictions of fruit in art can be dated back 3000 years to Ancient Egypt, where still life paintings of food could be found in the majority of Egyptian tombs. The common belief of the era was that these artistic representations would become tangible in the afterlife, permitting the deceased to feast upon them.
Architecture isn’t necessarily something that many people would consider an art form, but it may interest some to know that there is a very close relationship between those who appreciate and create fine art, and architects.
For decades, architects and fine artists alike have been collaborating and gaining inspiration from each other to fulfil their own art, even though the two appear to be very different.
