Do Some Works Of Art Make You Wonder??????

Are you thinking of the famous Venus di Milo statue? It could be her arm was broken off over age actually and not what the artist originally intended

But, still.... Venus don't have arms

or maybe the artist ran out of clay to mold the arms and got lazy to get a new one?

Some facts you might like:
When the statue was originally found in the early 1800's the left arm was found with the two main pieces of the sculpture. (It's been joined in the middle). They didn't rejoin it as at the time as they thought it was a badly done restoration. Some sculptors didn't bother carving great detail on bits that couldn't be seen! It's believed she was holding the material around her lower body with the right hand and known she had an apple in the left.
It's a Greek Statue, very early and 'purists' call it Aphrodite of Melos. Venus is the Roman version of the same Goddess.

I often wonder if she'd have been as 'famous' if she was complete?

Some of his paintings were actually great, but he did do that self-portrait of himself after his ear slicing episode.....that in itself was weird

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my addled brain lies a story about that, that it actually was Gaugin who nicked Vincent's ear in a duel over some broad...

Hi BarBara. Your comment made me do some investigating. I found an article about the debate over who, exactly, cut off part of Van Gogh's ear. It seems there is some controversy and no documenting evidence that Gauguin did it, as there is no "smoking gun" (or bloody rapier) to back that story up. But, the debate still continues.

Here's the link to that article: http://www.npr.org/templa...

ward, your interpretation is also funny Does the Thinker suffered from dimentia?

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Hornet, I think that he had a night on the town drinking heavily and woke up without his clothes.

amoyube, this information about the possibility of Van Gogh not being the one who cut off his earlobe has just recently been uncovered. It seems that, in the original police investigation, back when Van Gogh's ear was initially cut off, they had questioned Gauguin as the culprit because the two of them were roommates and often had violent arguments. But, since the truth was never uncovered, the romanticized version of Van Gogh cutting his ear off for his girlfriend was what became famous.

I doubt we'll ever know the truth but I like to think that the romantic version is the truth.

Yup--I had heard that possibility that it was Gaughin who chopped off Van Gogh's ear as well

There is one theory that the model for Mona was Leonardo himself and therein lies the mystery behind the famous smile, or smirk in that case.

That's what I heard too, that the Mona Lisa was actually DaVinci in, uh....drag...LOL--hence maybe that smile?

Really? Da Vinci in drag? Well I did not know that, it's an interesting theory and probably true...

Yes it really does make you wonder. I love his artwork but it makes me wonder what Salvatore Dali was thinking when he did his paintings...like the dripping clocks one

Dali craved attention & weirdness for its own sake. He once had a very long loaf of bread specially made just so he'd wow the press when he got off the train carrying it. He was disappointed & peeved when they didn't mention or even seem to not notice it. (I think they were used to his antics, & simply refused to rise to the latest bait.... )

He was also heavily into mystic symbolism, & loved to do marvelous illusions (sort of doubling up; paintings are inherently illusions anyway....). He was one of my first (& still favorite inspirations), & heavily influenced my early works. He would've been a real pain to live with, though, as Maya, his beloved wife, would have agreed!

I never wondered what was in his mind when I saw his creations, though; I was always more interested in how they opened up my mind with their surrealism, making me see new worlds, or old ones in an entirely new way.

Maggiepie
"WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?"

I actually do question some artist's works and what they were thinking...for instance what was Pollack thinking of when he did his paintings that look like splatters of paint that a child might have done?

Pye: "Hmmm...I wonder how many I can fool with this crap, & I wonder how much I can get for them?"

Maggiepie (ducking)
"WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?"

Ditto that thought for Rotheke.

Me again
"WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?"

I saw the movie and in it his style came from an accident. He was about to paint and it dripped from his brush and bam, it hit him this was the way to express his art. I am too busy either liking it or avoiding art to sit and think " How did he do that? And why?"

LOL--really? He has a bronze of it on his grave?

that's what the show said - here's a quote from Wikipedia...

"A cast of The Thinker was placed next to his tomb in Meudon; it was Rodin's wish that the figure serve as his headstone and epitaph."

I managed to find it...it's called the Voice of Fire...yes, I've seen similar type of paintings and wondered, like huh?

Well that statue is rather old,...they just might have fallen off with time???

we will never really know for asure no one around now to tell us!

I'm glad I'm not the only one to think that statue is sitting on the royal throne

Some "graffiti" is actually quite beautiful but makes me wonder, why are they painting on walls or streets instead of canvases?

I agree, but sometimes it's that open area that inspires. Being in that moment, that "freedom" of having a whole building to express yourself. And to alot of the artist that I know who have regular stuff in Art Alley think of it as being a sell out if they were to go canvas. But I know acouple that do both, canvas and Art Alley. Just to pay bills and that kinda stuff. I was really amazed to see how many artist there are in such a small town like Rapid City, SD. You'll never know what you'll find, till it finds you.

Pye: It's "the people's gallery." In other words, it's free advertisement. Galleries are exclusive, & don't want to display unknowns for free, in my experience.

Maggiepie
"WHERE'S THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE?"