for many centuries, and sometimes millennia, the great works of fine art are under the scrutiny of art historians, conservators and visitors museums. But even after the most careful examination of millions of eyes, some secrets of the masterpieces have not been opened until today. Is there actually a pearl earring in the painting of Johannes Vermeer and how do Petri dishes to “Kiss” by Gustav Klimt?
Once an American art critic Kelly Grove wondered what makes great art great. Why some works continue to vibrate in the popular imagination through the ages, while the vast majority of artistic creations is slipping away from our consciousness almost as quickly as we encounter them? Combing the surface of these works, she was surprised to find that each of them contains a touch of strangeness. For example, a ghostly finger, pulling the right hand of the Mona Lisa and the symbol of the power of the cards of the Tarot hidden in plain sight in one of the mysterious self-portraits of Frida Kahlo.
Hieronymus Bosch, “Garden earthly delights” (1505-1510).
that the egg is hidden in plain sight in the dead center of the carnival of carnal intrigues by Hieronymus Bosch (balancing on the rider’s head), fairly well-known as critics, and casual fans of the picture. But this subtle detail reveals the true meaning of the work? If you slam the side panel of a triptych, to open the outer shell working reveals a translucent ball floating in the air. Bosch conceived his painting as a kind of egg, which is infinitely crack and split every time, when humanity is engaged in a challenging job. Opening and closing the picture of Bosch, we alternately driven fledgling peace or turn the hand of time back to the beginning, when our innocence was not yet lost.
Jan Vermeer, “Girl with a pearl earring” (circa 1665).
Maybe you see a shining gem in the famous portrait by Vermeer? Especially because his name directly speaks about it. But the most of the researchers claim your brain artfully deceived. On the picture of the girls, endlessly turning to the viewer or otvorachivayutsya from him, no, no earrings. With one brush stroke, and two deft strokes of white paint, the artist has tricked the primary visual cortex of occipital lobes of our brain, creating a magic pearl from the thinnest of air. If one looks closely at the portrait and it will be clear, no loop, which would have tied the ornament to the ear just yet. His very nicely – deception. Gemstone Vermeer, his pearl is a luxurious optical illusion to��I reflect our own illusory presence in the world.
William Turner “Rain, steam and speed – Great Western railway” (1844).
for anybody not a secret that Turner hid running hare on a dark path of an approaching locomotive. The artist himself pointed out this little boy who visited the Royal Academy on the day of treatment. How this tiny detail points to gripped the artist’s feelings about the invasion of technology? Why he felt compelled to point it out? Since ancient times the hare was a symbol of rebirth and hope. The emotions of the visitors who first saw the painting in 1844, was still filled with horror transport tragedy. The accident happened on Christmas eve in 1842, when the train derailed about 10 miles from the bridge shown in the picture. Killing nine passengers of the third class, and another 16 were injured. Thus, Turner turns the picture in a poignant tribute to and reflections on the fragility of life.
Edvard Munch, the Scream (1893).
for a Long time it was believed that the image of a screaming figure in “the Scream” by Edvard Munch – the archetype of fear appeared because of the memories of the artist about the Peruvian mummy, or rather frozen horror on her face at the universal exhibition of 1889 in Paris. But Munch was a painter, a more troubled future than the past. He was concerned with the pace of technological development. At the same show, Munch impressed by the spectacular sight of a huge light bulb filled with 20 000 fewer light bulbs, which towered above the pavilion. The ideas of Thomas Edison flipped a switch in the mind Munch. After using the contours of the screaming face in the picture with extraordinary precision reflect a slack jaw and bulging skull of the terrifying electric totem Edison.
Gustav Klimt, “the Kiss” (1907).
of Course, the theme of love and passion is at a great distance from the white lab coats and scientific tests through a microscope. But not in the picture of Gustav Klimt. In the active years of the artist’s work in Vienna lived the language of platelets and red blood cells. Especially in the University of Vienna, where Klimt himself was invited to create paintings on medical subjects. Karl Landsteiner, a pioneer of immunology in the University (the scientist who first identified the blood group), worked hard trying to achieve success in blood transfusion. If you look closely at the dress of the woman in “the Kiss”, we can see a Petri dish, pulsating cells. As if the artist scans her soul. And the “Kiss” is illuminated biopsy eternal love Klimt.
