My Favorite Artists
I took an art history class in high school and that class changed my life forever. In that class, I learned about all the different types of artists and how to distinguish their signature styles. In a lot of ways, this was eye-opening for me. I grew obsessed with the individual behind the painting and that is still my favorite aspect of art. When you see emotion and feeling in the painting it can be inspiring and other-worldly. I have so many favorite artists but if I had to put a few on a short list, this is who I would put.
Vincent Van Gogh is an obvious choice for me. I try to emulate the late great the most when it comes to strokes and feeling in a painting. I have always loved Van Gogh’s landscapes as they are dreamlike and make me think of another place/time. It is crazy to me that a lot of his gorgeous landscapes/paintings were painted in a mental institution. Seeing the Van Gogh exhibit at the DIA was an unforgettable experience and nobody puts oil to canvas like Van Gogh.
Frida Kahlo is a huge inspiration for me. Frida paints about her life and what happens to her and that is something I have always wanted to follow. The movie Frida gave me some context into the pain and suffering she endured in her life and you can see it reflected in her art. One of my favorite paintings of all time is her self-portrait with cropped hair. This painting is so awesome because it contrasts her portrait with Diego Rivera as a woman who has recently been divorced and she sheds off the hair and the dress for a cropped haircut and a blazer because Diego loved her colorful dresses and long hair. You feel Frida’s pain when you view her work and there is something so haunting/beautiful about that.
Salvador Dali is the man with a pet ant-eater and that is so poetic. Salvador Dali is everything I love about art. He is eccentric, surreal, and his paintings tell a story like no other. A lot of his paintings deal with sexual repression and other themes that are underlying in all of his paintings. When it comes to being an artist I have always wanted to carry myself like Dali the most.
Henri Matisse means the world to me. Matisse means so much to me because he brings a child-like intuition to the canvas. His colors are bright and beautiful and every single one of his paintings is so full of life. Technically I think Van Gogh or Picasso might be the greatest but to me Matisse has so much style and individuality that makes him my favorite painter ever. Seeing Matisse’s Red Studio paintings in Moma last year was my favorite part about New York. Matisse is a magician because he created magic every time he painted.
Picasso is an obvious pick as well. He is the definition of creative genius as he takes other people’s work and blends it into his own to create something extraordinary. Warhol is very similar to me and he just did it in a whole different channel. Warhol was creating stuff that nobody could even fathom at the time and he is a creative icon as well. Want to mention artists like O’Keefe, Seurat, and Latrec as well as their signature styles are all so different yet so interesting.
Overall, all of these painters have had a big influence on how I want to make art. They are so different yet all share a similarity in the ability to create beautiful art. A lot of these artists are pillars that I look at when I work on my artwork.
