Art Kaleidoscope

Most expensive loss of world art. Vincent Van Gogh ‘Poppies’. Cost – about $ 50 million

Most expensive loss of world art. It is not a secret that on the black market sale of art objects is on demand, it’s inferior to trade in drugs, weapons and sexual services. Not surprisingly, the art world looses annually tens of thousands of paintings, sculptures, prints, collages, the value of which increases every year. Here is a list of the ten most expensive works of art stolen, whose fate remains a mystery. Dutch postmodernist painting by Vincent Van Gogh ‘Poppies’ was stolen in 2010 from the Cairo Mohamed Mahmoud Khalil Museum, which was about to be closed for repairs. Hoping to seize the painting intelligence agencies blocked airports, train stations, ports, but all efforts were in vain. A few years later the British experts made ​​a sensational statement that the real “Poppies” were stolen from the museum in 1977 and thieves risked freedom for forgery
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Star Maiden. The West Coast Weather Vanes art studio, California

For The West Coast Weather Vane art studio from California weather vane is not just an instrument for showing the direction of the wind, it is a real art. Each handmade copper weather vane has an interesting story or a myth behind it. The portfolio of The West Coast Weather Vanes team og artists consists of more than 600 unique, one of a kind an architectural ornaments ranging from aquatic to animal, human, and mythological and many more creative designs. The story of Weather Vanes studio began in the autumn of 1988 when a just married couple LizAnne and Ken Jensen went on their honeymoon to New England. While admiring the beautiful scenery, they spotted a shop selling copper weather vanes. The creative duo has recently celebrated 25 years of weather vane making and what is not less important “love what we do even more today than we did the day we started” (LizAnne & Ken Jensen).
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‘Las Meninas’. Spanish painter Diego Velazquez, 1656

Las Meninas reality and illusion. Las Meninas, or “The Maids of Honor” by Spanish painter Diego Velazquez is unique both as the product of master, and as the first image of the hidden life of the court. Court painter of King Philip IV – Diego Velazquez finished working on the painting “Las Meninas” in 1656. Art critics still argue what scene is depicted by the artist, raising questions about reality and illusion. Some of them state that the painting has no general plot and is a bit of instant photography. Much more common are two other points of view. According to the first, Velazquez painted the portrait of the time of the Spanish king and queen, when their daughter entered the studio – Infanta Margarita. The other version – the Infanta herself was a model of the artist, and her parents came to visit their daughter. There are philosophical interpretations, e.g. in the look of the artist is seen a devotional respect for his crowned lord.
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Masterpiece of architectural art Pena Palace

About this Masterpiece of architectural art Pena Palace – English poet Lord Byron in his “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” said “Perhaps this is the most amazing of all that I have seen in Europe”. Pena Palace or Palacio Nacional da Pena (in Portuguese) – one of the most “romantic” castles in the world and one of the main attractions of Portugal. The complex of buildings and landscaped terrain, covering several hundred acres, appeared here in the XIX century, during the reign of King Ferdinand II, who wished to have his summer residence on a high hill near Lisbon.
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Folk art of Rangoli

In India, since ancient times, there are many rituals designed to bring peace and harmony into the house. One of these rituals, which serves to scare away evil spirits, is drawing rangoli on the floor near the main entrance to the house. Rangoli is a folk art also known as kolam or Muggu. Rangoli art is more than just art, it is a traditional prayer, a certain mystery and timid process of creating colorful and vibrant ornamental drawings of flower petals, colored rice and rice flour. Rangoli is usually done during the Indian festivals of Diwali, Onam, Pongal and others. They are intended to refer to the sacred places of welcoming Hindu deities. Patterns of ancient symbols transmitted over the centuries from generation to generation, keeping the art form and tradition.
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La Madonna di San Sisto, painting by the Italian artist Raphael. 1512

Symbols encrypted in Sistine Madonna. In the painting the Madonna, holding the Christ Child and flanked by Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara, stands on clouds before dozens of obscured cherubs, while two distinctive winged cherubs rest on their elbows beneath her. “The genius of pure beauty” – said about the “Sistine Madonna” Vasily Zhukovsky. Pushkin later borrowed this image and devoted it to his earthly woman – Anna Kern. Rafael also painted the Madonna from a real person, probably his own mistress.
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Pomona – Roman goddess of gardens and fruit trees. 1872. Alice Liddell (1852–1934) – Lewis Carroll’s muse and frequent photographic model—posed for photographer Julia Margaret Cameron a dozen times in August and September 1872

English photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is considered one of the best photographers of the 19th century. With delicate aesthetic taste, she has created a lot of pictures of famous people blended an unorthodox technique, a deeply spiritual sensibility, and Pre-Raphaelite–inflected aesthetic. Her work has been almost two centuries remain the sample of Victorian portraitist. Photos of Julia Cameron feature a special spirituality, heroes on her pictures look romantic and dreamy. Her works are stylized traditional portraiture of the second half of the 19th century. Despite the fact that Julia Cameron was engaged in photoart for a short period of time, she was able to make significant progress and to master the skill. She first picked up a camera at age 48, and the next 11 years devoted to art. Her first work relates to 1863, but even today they can serve as a model for contemporary photographers.
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