The secret messages hidden in these well-known images will blow your mind

 

  What can you notice about this image?

 

THE Creation of Adam is one of the most famous artworks in the world.

The fresco painting, created by Michelangelo in the early 16th century, depicts a classic biblical scene that appears to illustrate God breathing life into Adam.
But for centuries, worshippers, historians, and art scholars all failed to notice the hidden message that may or may not have intentionally been placed in the artwork.


Need a hint?

The painting actually shows the human brain with detail.Source:Supplied

 It wasn’t until 1990 that American physician Frank Lynn Meshberger noted that the shapes and figures on the side representing God also make up an anatomically accurate figure of the human brain.
The spinal cord, the cerebellum, the vertebral artery - they’re all there in some shape or form.
Does it matter? Depends on how far into the interpretation you’re willing to go. On one hand, Michelangelo could have just been suggesting that our brain is an extension of God, or that God gave us intelligence.
On the other hand, he could be suggesting that God is the creation and projection of the human brain — a man-made concept. Yeah, try and get away with saying that in the 1500s.
From ancient artworks to present-day advertising, here are some of the most famous symbols you may have seen a million times, but completely missed.
‘THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST’, 1710
This artwork was painted by Dutch artist Aert De Gelder.
As the title suggests, it’s a religious painting signifying the baptism of Jesus Christ.
But many paranormal enthusiasts claim to see a depiction of something extraterrestrial in the background.
Some claim the round figure at the top of the painting is actually a UFO shining beams of light down on Jesus.

Is that a UFO in the sky?Source:Supplied

However, if you look closer, it’s more likely to be an image of a dove — a recurrent bird in biblical texts and artworks symbolising purity.

When you get right up close, it may be a dove.Source:Supplied

Well, that or a very fast painter managed to capture alien forces from Neptune making a brief stopover as Jesus was baptised. Really, either option works.


FEDEX LOGO
FedEx, which specialises in shipping goods, is one of the most well-known logistics services companies in the world.
The current FedEx logo was created in 1974, and it’s since won over 40 awards internationally for its design.
You may have not noticed this before, but if you look between the ‘E’ and ‘X,’ you’ll notice an arrow pointing right.
Look closely:

See the arrow between the ‘E’ and the ‘X’?Source:Supplied

This was a deliberate move to represent company’s service.

‘THE ACCIDENT’, 1926
The painting below seems innocent enough, but there’s a dark meaning behind it.
It’s part of English artist L.S. Lowry’s “Matchstick Men” series, for which he is best known.
The distinctive series features urban landscapes littered with human figures, and generally portrays working-class life in England in the early 20th century.
This one, from 1926, is called The Accident. It looks totally innocent — just a group of people gathered in a town square, going about their daily business.

Just a casual workday, no?Source:Supplied

But the scene was actually inspired by an incident in Pendlebury, Manchester, where a woman committed suicide by drowning. The townspeople are all gathered to watch the corpse floating in the water.
If you look carefully towards the lower right-hand corner of the scene, you can make out a river, where various figures are crowding around the victim.
This gives the title of the painting an ironic twist: her death was clearly no accident.

TERRACE AT NIGHT, 1888
This is one of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous paintings.

Does this painting look a bit familiar to you?Source:Supplied

An oil on canvas painting from the 19th century, it depicts a group of anonymous patrons enjoying the evening cafe scene in Arles, France.
But many critics believe this was actually Van Gogh’s way of depicting the Last Supper.
Van Gogh was a deeply religious man, and critics believe many of his paintings represented Christian imagery.
In this one, there are clearly 12 people seated down to eat, with a long-haired figure in a long white robe standing between them.

Fashionable French people out for an evening bite, or Jesus and his twelve disciples?Source:Supplied

Notice the similarities?Source:Supplied

You could go a step further and suggest the ominous shadowy figure on the left represents Judas, the disciple who subsequently betrayed Jesus in the Bible.
Of course, it could all just be a giant coincidence, and maybe we should just let these no-namers enjoy their croissants in peace.
But with Van Gogh’s liberal use of religious symbolism in other works, the theory is quite possible, nay probable.

TOYOTA LOGO
Toyota’s classic symbol of three intertwined ovals looks simple enough, but there’s more to it than meets the eye.
If you look closely at them, you’ll see that the logo itself spells out the word ‘TOYOTA’.

Look closely. Like, really, really closely.Source:Supplied

Can’t quite see it? Here’s a bit of help:

Mind blown.Source:Supplied

OK, so it’s not really a hidden message when it’s just spelling out the name of your brand, but it’s still pretty cool.

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Top 10 Now Famous Artists Who Died Poor and Unknown

 Few true artists pursue their passion with the goal of being famous; however, the importance of having your work read or experienced by the public is of great importance. The greater the audience one’s work reaches, the greater impact the artist can have on thought and the public’s opinion. Seminal artists have the ability to evoke the emotions and feelings of others and sometimes even change the way they look at the world. Having one’s work known and experienced is of utmost importance to an artist, and that’s why their relative anonymity of our list of artists before their death is heartbreaking. Here are our top ten list of artists who died underappreciated and poor.

10. El Greco

Domenikos Theotokopoulos was nicknamed “El Greco” after working as an icon painter in the Eastern Orthodox tradition in Italy and Spain. His nickname came from his origins, born on the island of Crete. El Greco left his homeland to study western style painting in Venice. There he was influenced by “the likes of Titian and Tintoretto embracing their style of rich colors and free, sketchy manner of painting.” Another major influence was the works of Michelangelo who introduced and developed a mannerist style in which realistic portrayals of the physical world were disregarded in favor of a more subjective view. Despite Michalengelo’s clear influence on his work, El Greco would say, “Michelangelo was a good man, but did not know how to paint.” His dismissive views on the Italian icon would cause problems for El Greco in Rome. He would fail to win any major commissions in Italy and was forced to move again to Spain. It was the central town of Toledo, Spain where El Greco produced his most famous works. However, even his success in Spain would come with hardship. El Greco won several commissions in Toledo: the Allegory of the Holy League and Martyrdom of St. Maurice. However, the king did not like these works and placed the St Maurice altarpiece in the chapter-house rather than the intended chapel. He gave no further commissions to El Greco, and while the exact reasons for the king’s dissatisfaction remain unclear, some scholars argue that Philip did not like the inclusion of living persons in a religious scene. Others claim that El Greco’s works violated a basic rule of the Counter-Reformation – the image in the content was paramount rather than the style. He did not die a poor man by any means, but his legacy following his death was of great disdain by critics. It was not until the 18^th century when his work was fully re-examined that he began to get the credit that he deserved.

9. Emily Dickinson

An example of the backwards nature of the time hurting an artist is the case of Emily Dickinson. Although Dickinson produced a great number of works in private, fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime. Additionally, the poems that were published during her lifetime were altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time.
Known as an eccentric, some suggest that it was through her own volition that her voluminous collections of poems were kept away from the public until after her death. Dickinson was known for her reluctance to greet guests or even leave her bedroom. It got to the point where many of her friendships continued simply by letter correspondence. Her great talent however cannot be denied and neither can her novel style.
Dickinson’s poems contained short lines while often using slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. In her letters to friends, the themes of death and immortality constantly occurred which seemed to translate to her poems. Emily Dickinson died in 1886 after a series of deaths shook her family.
It must not have come as too much of a surprise, to the friends that knew her best, when in 1886 Lavinia, Dickinson’s younger sister, discovered her collection of poems revealing the great cache of works to the public.
Emily Dickinson’s first collection of poetry was published in 1890, and after initially meeting criticism, her works firmly place her amongst the best American poets.


8. Claude Monet 


One of the most tragic cases on our list goes to the founder of French Impressionism: Claude Monet. The great works that now don hallways and mantelpieces around the world were first deemed to be “formless, unfinished and ugly.” As a result, Monet and his family were forced to experience abject poverty for much of their lives.
The form and technique that he developed created a sense of atmospheric light with his depictions of landscape scenes in a particular moment. He would go on to say, “a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life.” His seminal work “Impression, Sunrise” coined the new school, but it was not until the 1880s that his works began selling, nearly a decade after creating his best works. Even the modicum success came with detractors as many painters accused him of commercialism. Claude Monet would eventually go partially blind with his paintings consisting of great bursts of color without any particular shape

7. Johan Sebastian Bach

One of the most unique cases on our list presents a situation where an artist was accepted for one talent but not another. Even the most ardent opponent of classical music would be hard pressed to say that Johan Sebastian Bach was not at least a talented composer. However, during his lifetime, Bach was successful as an organist while his works as a composer were widely disregarded. Born into a musical German family, Bach learned multiple instruments with his brother serving as a great guide and mentor after his parents’ early death.
Bach would earn several appointments as an organist and was intimately involved in the musical scene, even winning acclaim for his work, but somehow his work as a composer continued to go unrecognized. Bach would die as a great organist and it was not until a revival of interest in the Baroquean period during the early 19th Century that his musical compositions finally came to light. His legacy now credits him with bringing Baroque music to its pinnacle by adapting the style and making it his own. Bach managed to bring in musical elements from Italy and France enriching his German style. While it took some time, Johan Sebastian Bach has now had his worked listened to on all corners of the planet, which is ultimately what every artist wants.

6. Franz Kafka

“I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.”

     Franz Kafka had a truly unique way of looking and experiencing the internal and external world. Like many artists, Kafka’s writing was largely the result of his experiences. Kafka had a difficult relationship with his domineering and strict father, and his mother worked long hours which left the young Kafka alone with servants and maids for much of his youth. He managed to succeed in school, studying law, but eventually settled as an insurance officer. The long hours greatly upset Kafka and he quit his job to give himself more time to write. Further embarrassing his father, Kafka would quickly accept a job in investigating worker’s compensation inquiries and would soon die at the young age of 40. Franz Kafka would die a complete unknown (without a single work published), and if it wasn’t for some good fortune he may have stayed one.

Dying of starvation brought on by tuberculosis, a feeble Kafka asked his close friend to burn all of his works when he died. His friend’s refusal has gifted us the great works like “The Trial” and has led to the creation of the term “Kafkaesque.”

5. Henry David Thoreau

While Henry David Thoreau was certainly too busy with his own musings to pay much attention to the public’s view of him, it’s disappointing that such a great thinker and influencer of the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi would be so poorly received. It would be an understatement to say that Thoreau was not widely known or read during his own time. The nature of his works and his social activism made him an outsider in most communities. That did not matter to Thoreau, who enjoyed the company of nature the most which was the theme for the now widely read work: Walden. However life was difficult for the writer, as he could not find a publisher for many of this works, and in one case took money out of his own pocket to publish, ultimately only selling a fraction of those that he printed.
Thoreau died having only published two of his works which were not even well-received by the larger public. For all of his life Henry David Thoreau was an unknown in the literary world and now he is a titan with works like “Civil Disobedience” serving as an inspiration for great leaders, while his meditations on nature calling artists and thinkers to reevaluate the importance of nature and the simple things in life.

4. Johannes Vermeer

The artist on our list that had the longest wait after death to have his work recognized was Johannes Vermeer. Born in Holland, little was known of the early life of Johannes Vermeer for some time. He was baptized in 1632 and was the son of an art dealer. When Vermeer’s father died, he took over the family art business. It is unknown whether he apprenticed as an artist or whether simply his experience around the business allowed him to study the techniques and forms of others. Nonetheless, Vermeer began producing his own work, but was never commissioned by the church or the nobility. Instead, Vermeer’s genre of painting was catered to the provincial middle class, and consequently in 1675 Vermeer borrowed money in Amsterdam, using his mother-in-law as a co-signer. Sure enough, he was unable to pay back the loan because of a lack of sales and left his family in debt.
Johann Vermeer’s paintings were overlooked by art historians for two centuries after his death. And while a select number of connoisseurs in the Netherlands did appreciate his work, sadly many of his works were misattributed to better-known artists such as Metsu or Mieris. If it was not for German museum director Gustav Waagen who saw “The Art of Painting” in the Czernin gallery, Vermeer may have never been given credit for his work. The respective painting had been attributed to Pieter de Hoch at the time which led to further research being done and the creation of a catalogue of his work. Vermeer would go on to inspire many other painters and artists with the likes of Salvador Dali painting his own versions of Vermeer’s work.

3. Edgar Allan Poe

The dark nature of most of Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories and poetry is truly a reflection of his troubled and painful life. Born in 1809 to Elizabeth and David Poe – travelling actors, the young Poe would see his father abandon the family and his mother die of tuberculosis. Soon after, his father would die as well. Death seemed to follow Poe, with his brother’s death serving as the catalyst for his career as a writer. However, he found it extremely difficult to survive as a writer with the lack of international copyright law. Another cause of pain in his life would come from the marriage of his cousin, Virginia. Edgar Allan Poe was 26 and she was only 13, but she would die a mere four years later, also of tuberculosis. Her death seemed to have a profound effect on the writer. His pain and anguish was evident in the highly successful poem “The Raven,” which chronicled a talking raven’s mysterious visit to a distraught lover, following the man’s fall into madness. Despite the poem’s success, Poe was only paid $9 for its publication.
Edgar Allan Poe would die after unsuccessful attempts to start a journal, with his alcohol issues and troubles becoming fully apparent for those who knew him. He would be found unconscious in a Baltimore gutter and pronounced dead by unknown causes.

2. Herman Melville

The author of one most beloved books of the 20^th century saw failure after failure after the initial success of his debut work. Ironically, it was only his first book “Typee,” inspired by his experiences in the Polynesian Islands, that seemed to generate some appeal by his contemporaries while his best works would languish away accumulating dust. Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” was out of print at the time of his death and his other novels did not receive great reviews nor did they provide financial security. Sadly, Melville was forced into going on the lecture circuit, which was lucrative at the time, while still managing to continue his writing through the poetic form. Melville died at his home in New York City with some accounts stating that the obituary misspelling his name. With the rediscovery of his works, Herman Melville’s name will live on forever.

1. Vincent Van Gogh

It’s amazing that a name that is now synonymous with art could have only sold a single painting during his lifetime. We are unaware what the origins of Van Gogh’s mental illness were, but the struggles and pressures of creating great work that would ultimately never sell must have had an impact on his psyche.

    Born in 1853 in the Netherlands, Vincent Van Gogh was the oldest surviving son of Anna and Theodorus van Gogh, a reformed minister. Van Gogh managed to experience other cultures with his travels to London and Paris. It was in Paris where he discovered French Impressionism, which would have such a profound impact on his artwork. After moving to the south of France, Van Gogh’s paintings began to go grow brighter, as he seemed inspired by the region’s strong color and sunlight, a stark contrast to what would be considered one of his seminal earlier works, “The Potato Eaters.” While staying in the South of France, Van Gogh produced over 2,100 artworks, 860 of which were oil paintings. Vincent Van Gogh would commit suicide at the young age of 37. It is difficult to speculate on what led to his decision, but it is without question that the world lost one of its greatest artists.

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9 Famous Paintings & Their Background Stories That Make Them Special

 

 

Each stroke has a thought behind it. Each expression has a feeling behind it. And each scene has a whole story behind it. Following is a list of some of the most popular art works and the stories behind them, that make the paintings all the more special in the eyes of the viewers.

1. “Mona Lisa” was commissioned in order to celebrate the birth of a baby boy!

 

Back story-  Now while the mysterious smile of the gorgeous lady has always been enigmatic to the viewers, the story behind the painting makes it all the more special. The lady in the painting was a certain Lisa del Giocondo, who was a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a wealthy Florentine silk merchant. It is alleged that the family had commissioned that the painting be made to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea.
Before settling on this fact, scientists had developed many speculations behind the subject of the painting. It is also suggested that more than one version of the painting were created, one of them being of Isleworth Mona Lisa. This particular version had stayed locked up in Swiss Bank vault for as many as 40 years and was unveiled to public recently on Sept 27, 2012! 
Interesting fact- Experts have suggested that by magnifying the eyes of “Mona Lisa” under microscope, tiny letters and numbers can be seen, somewhat resembling the real Da Vinci code! In the right eye, letters LV can be seen while in the other eye, many barely defined symbols can be seen.

2. “The Last Supper” reflected the shock of apostles on Jesus’s prediction that he will be betrayed

Back story- Another Da Vinci marvel, this one was created on the request of the Duke of Milan. It adorns the walls of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan. The thought behind this one is special because it depicts a famous scene from the life of Jesus. It shows his disciples dismayed, shocked and lost in thoughts, contemplating, after Jesus predicts that one of the present apostles is about to betray him.

Interesting fact- It is a gigantic mural painting. At a whopping 180 x 360 inches, it is so huge that only a church roof could possible accommodate it!

3. Munch had sensed “The Scream” as he walked down along a path one evening

Back story- Edward Munch’s “The Scream” is the name given to describe each of four versions created by the Expressionist artist. In one of the entries in his diary dated Nice 22 January 1892, Munch described the inspiration behind the art. He wrote, “One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.”
Interesting facts- a) While each of the three versions of “The Scream” (two painted versions and one pastel version) grace the walls of three renowned museums, the fourth pastel version was sold at Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art auction on 2 May 2012 to a financier Leon Blac for a staggering $119,922,600, thus becoming one of the most expensive paintings in the history of art.
b) Its immense popularity can be well judged by the fact that it has been a target of many high-profile thefts. The version in National Gallery was stolen in 1994 but recovered several months later. In 2004, the painted version of “The Scream”  went missing along with another Munch painting Madonna, from the Munch Museum. Both were recovered after 2 years.

4. Van Gogh created “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” in appreciation of the doctor whose place he stayed at, after coming out of the asylum

Back story- Vincent Van Gogh was a story in himself and his most popular of art works describe the agony, anxiety and frequent and severe bouts of mental sufferings that this young talent battled in his short life. The story behind “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” goes that, when Theo, Van Gogh’s brother, was searching for a comfortable home for his brother after his release from the asylum, he came to know of Gachet’s interests of working with artists. And so, he sent his brother over to Dr. Gachet’s.
Initially Vincent was not a fan of Dr. Gachet and he wrote to Theo expressing his thoughts. He said, “I think that we must not count on Dr. Gachet at all. First of all, he is sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much, so that’s that. Now when one blind man leads another blind man, don’t they both fall into the ditch?”
But over the time, he grew fond of Dr. Gachet and just two days after he sent out the first letter, he sang praises of the doctor to his sister through a letter that read, “I have found a true friend in Dr. Gachet, something like another brother, so much do we resemble each other physically and also mentally.”
And consequently, his friendship with doctor grew deeper and he ended up creating the famous “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”.
Interesting fact- There are two authenticated versions of “Portrait of Dr. Gachet”. They both show Gachet leaning on his right arm but, clearly differ in colouration and style.

5. “Guernica” reflects the aftermath of the Bombings of Guernica city

Back story- Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Maria de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso, A.K.A, Pablo Picasso is the master hand behind “Guernica”. One of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso created “Guernica” to reflect the aftermath that the Guernica city suffered following the attack of German and Italian war-planes on 26th April 1937. Today, “Guernica” is seen as a powerful symbol, warning humanity against the wide scale suffering and devastation that war brings about.
Interesting fact- The painting was showcased around the world in a brief tour with the motive of bringing the worldwide attention towards the deadly Spanish Civil War.

6. “The Starry Night” was actually the outside view from the window of Van Gogh’s asylum room

Back story- “The Starry Night” is famous as one of the finest works of Vincent Van Gogh and, as one of the most recognized monuments in the history of modern culture. The story that goes behind this marvel is grabbing too. The painting was created during the day time in his ground floor studio, allegedly from memory. However, this theory is debated a lot concerning the fact that the view he painted captures the outside view from the east facing window of his asylum room, just before sunrise. Van Gogh depicted the view in as many as 21 versions, one of which is “The Starry Night”.
Interesting fact- Contrary to the immense popularity of “The Starry Night”, Vincent Van Gogh himself was not very much satisfied with his work. In one of his letters to Theo (his brother), he expressed that it was not one of the best art pieces made by him.

7. “Whistler’s Mother” originally was envisioned to be a portrait of a model

Back story- Whistler’s Mother is one of the most notable pieces of art by the American born, British-based painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler. While there are many interesting stories revolving around how this particular painting was conceived, one of the most talked about ones is that the painting features Anna McNeill Whistler, James’s mother. It is believed that Anna Whistler posed in replacement of a model who did not show up. James had initially envisioned painting the model standing up, but since his mother found it uncomfortable to keep standing for a long period of time, he captured the essence by painting his mother relaxing in a sitting position.
Interesting fact- “Whistler’s mother” is often described as an American Icon and a Victorian Mona Lisa.

8. The Night Watch- The famous target of vandalism

Back story- One of the many masterpieces of Rembrandt, “The Night Watch”, was commissioned by the Captain Banning Cocq and seventeen members of his Kloveniers (civic military guards). Rembrandt was paid 1,600 guilders for this painting, with each person paying 100 guilders, a great sum at that point of time. The painting shows a total of 34 characters marching out. A drummer was also added to the painting, for which Rembrandt took no charge.
Interesting fact- On January 13, 1911, a man slashed the painting with a shoemaker’s knife. After several years again on September 14, 1975, an unemployed school teacher attacked the painting with a bread knife, resulting in several zig-zag slashes. While the damage was restored successfully after four years, scratches can still be seen up close. On April 6 1990, The Night Watch again became a target of vandalism when a man sprayed acid onto the canvas. The security people intervened and sprayed water on the canvas in a quick action. Since the acid had penetrated only till the varnish layer of the painting, it was restored soon enough.

9. Van Gogh’s last self-portrait, “Self Portrait Without Beard”, was a birthday gift for his mother

Back story- Van Gogh was prolific at making self-portraits. He is known to have painted himself over 43 times between the years 1886 and 1889. “Self Portrait Without Beard”, as the name suggests, is one of the most distinguishing ones of all because he does not sport a beard in this one. It is also highly cherished owing to the fact that it was Van Gogh’s last self-portrait, which he gave to his mother as a birthday gift.
Interesting fact- At that time, it was the third most expensive paintings. As of today, it remains one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for a whopping $71.5 million in 1998 in New York.

10. “The Goldfinch” by Carel Fabritius, who was the student of Rembrandt, is one of the few paintings that managed to survive the explosion

Back story- “The Goldfinch” is one of the many masterpieces created by Rembrandt’s student, Carel Fabritius. Fabritius painted “The Goldfinch” in a style different than that of Rembrandt’s.  Fabritius died as a result of a gunpowder store explosion in Delft city. In the explosion, a quarter of the city, including his studio and many of his paintings were destroyed. Only a dozen of his paintings, including “The Goldfinch” have survived.

Interesting Fact- “The Goldfinch” is one of the only three paintings he made in the year that he died, which was 1654.

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The Top 10 Most Important Paintings of All Time

It’s a well known fact that paintings and art, in general, are inherently subjective things.  Sure, we can talk about “famous” art, but fame does not equal quality; at the end of the day, all talks about the best or worst art of any kind come down to one basic question:  what IS art anyway?  No one has the definite answer and, if they claim to, then they are filthy, filthy liars and what do we do with liars?

That’s right, maple syrup enemas, but we’re getting off track.  The point is that it’s impossible to talk about the Top 10 Paintings of All Time without judging each one in its own respective category.  So… that’s exactly what I did?  And… here they are, I guess?

10. No. 5, 1948 (Jackson Pollock)

 

 

 

The most: Expensive

Pollock’s abstract,
almost violently expressionist, style tends to divide people into two large groups: those who think that he ran the greatest long con in history by disguising paint drippings as art, and those who think that he was just really untalented and most of his paintings were meant to be bowls of fruit.  There however is a third, tiny group of people who genuinely admire Pollock’s work and are ready to pay big money for it. 156.8 million (adjusted for inflation), real American dollars, to be exact, which is what Pollock’s No. 5, 1948 fetched in 2006 after being sold to an anonymous buyer.   Remember kids, if you’re rich then it is “eccentric” instead of “batcrap retarded.”

9. The Arnolfini Wedding (Jan van Eyck)

 

 

 

The most: Easter Egg-y

This 1434 oil painting is believed to show an Italian merchant with his wife and one of the pimpest hats in the history of pimping which, as I’m sure you know, ain’t easy.  Looking at it, it’s easy to dismiss this portrait as just another piece of old art featuring dead rich folks but, if you go all CSI on it and zoom in on the small, round mirror in the back you will see a map pointing to the location of the HOLY GRAIL!
OK, not really, but the mirror does show two additional characters standing in the room in front of the Arnolfinis, one of them allegedly van Eyck himself.  Scholars assume that the artist used a magnifying glass to paint the fine details on this completely unnecessary part of the scenery thus creating one of the first Easter Eggs in art history and an early documented example of Facebook mirror photography.
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8. Black Square (Kazimir Malevich)

The most: Simple
The Ukraine-born Malevich is credited as the creator of Suprematism which, to my surprise, is an actual name of a real art form.  The basics of Suprematism boil down to “simple geometric shapes” and Black Square might be the style’s greatest example.  It’s bold, yet timid.  Passionate, yet lifeless.  Square, and yet round…
Fine, so it’s just a black square, but even though looks more like a parody of a real painting, don’t let it fool you; almost every work by Malevich is worth upwards to a million dollars. You are free to let that totally depress you.

7. Composition 8 (Vasily Kandinsky)

The most: Artsy
Though no one has a definite answer to the question of “What is art?” many people may agree on something like “Whatever is created to convey a message from the author” and, in this regard, Kandinsky out-arts all the other suckers in the business.
Kandinsky spent his life trying to find the perfect combination of shapes and colors to show people just how he saw and experienced the world.  Now, looking at Composition 8, you’re in your rights to think that he was obviously a dangerous loon with at least three schizophrenias, but modern researchers believe Kandinsky was in fact suffering from synesthesia, a condition which sort of mixes one’s senses.  A person with synesthesia might thus actually hear color and see music and, if that was the case with Kandinsky, then that man lived in a colorful, melodious universe that us mere mortals can only dream of ever understanding.
Composition 8 does at least try to explain it though, making it a true example of “art” if there ever was any.
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6. The Third of May 1808 (Francisco Goya)

The most: Gritty
Goya’s The Third of May 1808 is…disturbing, to say the least.  It shows a Napoleonic firing squad killing a bunch of Spanish guys who participated in the resistance against Bonaparte’s army.  It’s not heroic, it’s not inspiring, and you can clearly see dread and pants-wetting fear in the eyes of the guy with the outstretched arms as he’s on his knees, waiting for the painful, hot lead death that is coming in the next 2-3 seconds.  Geez, you can almost picture Goya with heavy eyeliner, listening to industrial metal while painting this.  But that’s the thing: no one has done this before.  Up until then all paintings of war were about glory and honor, which you’d expect from people who obviously have never seen a real war.Goya put an end to it.  He gave the entire war painting genre a gritty reboot, which technically makes The Third of May 1808 the Batman Begins of the art world.
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5. Guernica (Pablo Picasso)

The most: Trippy

You can’t really see it here, but Picasso’s Guernica is HUGE, measuring 11×25.6ft .  It features humans, animals and buildings, all depicted in that famous Picasso style which I still claim was an inside joke of his that got out of hand, but let’s move past that.  Guernica is definitely one of the most all-encapsulating Picasso works, but what really sets it apart from the others is its message.  Examining it, you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. The twisted faces, the solemn colors…it’s all a little…unnerving.  And that’s the point, because the painting was meant to represent the horrors of war.
Not only does Guernica perfectly capture the weird style of Picasso it also conveys his anti-war message like no other painting could.  Plus, if you do acid in front of it, you will see things that man was never meant to see.
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4. American Gothic (Grant Wood)

The most: Parodied
American Gothic is the perfect example of being in the right place at the right time.  When it first came out it certainly did OK.  Magazines and newspapers reprinted the painting while it hanged comfortably in the Art Institute of Chicago but, with the onset of the Great Depression, it became something more to the people.  It became a symbol of an unwavering spirit in the face of adversity, celebrating the struggling Midwestern Americans who held their own during desperate times.  So naturally, with time, it became the most satirized piece of popular culture in the U.S.
Name a franchise, character or location and chances are that there’s an existing American Gothic parody of it.  Yes, there’s a Muppet version.  Dexter?  Yeah, it exists.  Grim Fandango?  You betcha.  And yes, of course there’s a porn version of it.  That just goes without saying.
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3. Saturn Devouring His Son (Francisco Goya)

The most: Terrifying
Hey look, it’s our friend Francisco “Raven” Goya, with a solid helping of sanity-shattering nightmare fuel.  Look at that thing. Look at its bizarre hobo beard. Look at the huge anime-esque eyes and the bodybuilder physique.  LOOK AT IT TOTALLY EATING A GUY AND LETTING YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE NEXT.  Crap on a stick, that is some sick stuff. But it has a reasonable explanation.  That monster thing is Saturn, a Roman god said to devour his children because it was foretold that one of them will overthrow him.  It is pretty gruesome, but at least there’s some reason behind it.  However, why Goya decided to paint THAT in his dining room will remain a mystery to all of us who don’t constantly hear the crying of a thousand infants in our heads like Goya obviously did.
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2. The Birth of Venus (Sandro Botticelli)

The most: Easily used as a substitute for porn
Look, we’re all guys here (unless you’re a woman, in which case I’d like to apologize for how my gender behaves on the Internet).  Yes, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus is beautiful with the colors and the composition and all that other crap but here’s the thing: that Venus is totally hot.  Not too skinny, not too chubby, her hair might very well be blonde, red or light brown and ,though she’s naked, she only lets you see enough to kick-start your imagination into a wild frenzy.
In short, it’s everything that good pornography should be AND it’s socially acceptable to hang on your living room wall.  Hahaha, it’s almost as if the concept of pornography and erotica was retardedly arbitrary and subjected to constantly changing social norms. But that would be stupid.
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1. Campbell’s Soup Cans (Andy Warhol)

The most: Genre-defying
Warhol’s Campbell Soup series of paintings, of which there are 32, tell so much with so little, and I totally understand it if anyone out there just felt like punching me in the throat for that sentence.  But it’s true.  When you think of a non-surreal or non-abstract example of something that defied the concept of art being just pretty pictures and portraits, you think of Warhol’s paintings.  When you want a great example of truly modern art, you think of Campbell’s Soup, which also skillfully hail back to Warhol’s early days as a commercial artist.  And when you get down to it, it’s basically a parody of the boringly cliché bowl of fruit.  Not many other paintings manage to do all that while showing a tin can full of salty cat urine (oh you all know it’s true).
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BONUS: Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci)

The most: Likely to offend people if you don’t include it on a list of greatest paintings ever
There is almost nothing new anyone can say about Mona Lisa. You know the painting, you know the author, you’ve seen and puzzled over Liz’s half smile, which is like a ray of sunshine shining through a sea of gray clouds on a timid spring’s day, filling your soul with hope and happiness but also making you miserable at the same time because you know no real woman could ever compare to Mona Lisa so in your desperation you order a high-quality latex mask with her face on it and stick it on a mannequin made from three pillows stuffed inside women’s clothing which you’ve bought at a thrift store at three in the morning and…sorry, I forgot where I was going with this.
Anyway, like I was saying, it seems that everything that could have been said about Mona Lisa was said already, so you would need to start making some pretty bizarre claims about it to get the media to pay attention to you.  Bizarre stuff like how “she” might actually be a man. [Insert Austin Powers quote here]. At least, that’s what a bunch of Italian researchers are claiming – that Mona Lisa is actually based on Leo’s effeminate young artist friend, thus opening a possibility for a future Da Vinci Code/Crying Game crossover.

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