This is an examination of Michaelangelo's art in relation to the developing Italian Renaissance, a period of unique interest and achievement. To understand Michaelangelo, therefore, it is important to see him in the context of Renaissance society before placing the dominating figure of Michaelangelo at its artistic heart.
EDGAR DEGAS (1834-1917) became a professional painter through a change in his family's fortunes. He grew up the privileged son of wealthy and cultured parents and despite his interest in art was destined for a career in law until the failure of the family bank. More than any of his famous contemporaries, while possibly excluding Manet, Degas was a traditionalist painter. He was dismissive of the Impressionist technique as a method, although he participated in most of the group's early exhibitions. As a result, he is more closely allied in popular understanding with Impressionism than he himself ever wished to be. Best known for his paintings of ballet Dancers, Degas was an urbane and savagely witty man, choosing his subjects from the cultured society life of Paris in which he was a well known figure.
“I’m pursuing the impossible . . . I want to paint the air in which the bridge, the house, and boat are to be found—the beauty of the air around them . . .” Claude Monet wanted to capture more than just air and light in impasto paint on canvas, as he explained in a conversation with the Danish author Herman Bang in 1895. The master of light was also a master of shadows and reflections. This is evident in his most famous paintings, such as that of the façade of the Rouen cathedral, or the haystacks painted against light, or in the reflections of the water lilies in the pond at Giverny. In particular, his sun-drenched groves, coastlines, and depictions of the Seine in both summer and winter, demonstrate how Monet revolutionized painting by questioning the conventional notions of what a painting could be. This exquisite volume is devoted to the works from the period between 1880 and 1905 and truly paints Monet in a new light. Exhibition: Fondation Beyeler Riehen/Basel, January 22–May 28, 2017