There’s no doubt that art is beautiful. No one would ever deny that a Picasso or a van Gogh was a masterpiece. But art is so much more than that. It’s is like a temporal and cultural fingerprint that identifies what the artist and the people of the country they represent were like in a specific time period. Now most of us are familiar with artwork like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. But most of us should take a little more time looking at the small details of these famous pieces because there are hidden gems behind each work of art.But many people think that Michelangelo, the master of human anatomy, was trying to tell us something. In the area where God touches Adam with his fingers, it seems like God is tapping into his brain. If this interpretation is accurate, then Michelangelo was likely saying that God gave Adam life as well as the gift of free will so he could make his own decisions.
Most art enthusiasts focus on the painting of Italian merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife. But while the use of space and lighting is impressive, there’s something most people miss. Take a look at the mirror’s reflection. It shows two figures in the doorway. Many believe that one of those figures is Jan van Eyck, who may have portrait-bombed his work.
Da Vinci was more than an artist. He was a scientist, an inventor, and a musician, too, which is why you should take a look the bread rolls on his masterpiece’s table. A modern-day musician realized if you draw a musical staff’s five lines across the painting, the rolls in combination with the hands of the apostle turn into musical notes, which allegedly translate into a 40-second song.
Bruegel was known for his illustrative peasant and landscape scenes, but the Netherlandish Proverbs gave so much for people to identify, so it’s easy to see why some folks might have missed a few proverbs in illustrative form. Some of these might include “let the chips fall where they may,” “to keep one’s eye on the sail,” “toss feathers into the wind,” and “to be a pillar biter,” all of which reflect human absurdity.
There are religious, historical and other human elements in the mix like a cross between bliss and distress which could depict elements of heaven on the left and hell on the right panel. In fact, there’s a figure holding sheet music while being tormented. The translated version of the sheet music has some folks calling the notes “the butt-song from hell.”
It might seem like a depiction of a lovely night in France. But van Gogh was very religious and there are many hidden holy references in this art piece. There are 12 people sitting together much like da Vinci’s The Last Supper. The central figure has long hair and is wearing white like Christ. And the dark shadow looming in the doorway could be Judas.
But while Holbein’s interpretation made it appeared that the ambassadors were healthy and certainly enjoying their wealth and success, he added a skull. It’s located at the bottom of the floor and was an ode to the Latin phrase “memento mori” which means “remember you will die.” The painting was a reminder that no matter how rich you are, death will come.
Rivera recreated the mural in Mexico City after Nelson Rockefeller, the man who commissioned him to paint the mural “Man at the Crossroads” had it destroyed. The reason Rockefeller turned on Rivera was that Rivera added a portrait of communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin to the mural. Rockefeller was also unhappy because a panel was added to the mural of Rockefeller’s father that was unflattering. So, in revenge, Rivera recreated the mural and painted Rockefeller’s dad under the visual insinuation he had syphilis standing next to a woman that represents a prostitute.
But there’s something most art enthusiasts haven’t noticed about the painting, particularly in Mona Lisa’s right eye which has da Vinci’s initials “LV.” But something else was found in 2015. A French scientist used reflective light technology to discover another woman underneath the original painting. Many believe that the other woman may have been da Vinci’s original draft of the Mona Lisa.
He created it in 1504, and it shows David as the shining example of what it’s like to be calm and collected. But when you look at him from eye level, his expression comes off completely different. Some would say he looks angry while others say he looks terrified, which is understandable. The statue represents the moment before David heads off to go against Goliath in one climactic battle.
