NAQT You Gotta Know 20th Century Paintings (June 2001)

(artist) painted his most famous work after a visit to Eldon, Iowa, when he saw a Carpenter Gothic style house with a distinctive Gothic window in its gable. Upon returning to his studio, he used his sister Nan and his dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, as the models for the two figures. The pitchfork and the clothing were more typical of 19th-century farmers than contemporary ones. (Title of Painting) is among the most familiar regionalist paintings, and it is said to be the most parodied of all paintings. It hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago, where it was submitted for a competition by (artist) upon its completion in 1930 ((artist) won a bronze medal and a $300 prize).

American Gothic by Grant Wood

While Les Demoiselles d'Avignon and other Cubist paintings represent an extension of Paul Cezanne's division-of-space approach to the canvas, this artist's De Stijl works are a still further abstraction, such that the canvas is often divided up into rectangular "tile patterns," as in Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue. The painting simultaneously echoes the bright lights of a marquee, resembles a pattern of streets as seen from above, and creates a feeling of vitality and vibrancy, not unlike the music itself. This work can also be found at the MOMA.

Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian

Pop Art parodies (or perhaps reflects) a world in which celebrities, brand names, and media images have replaced the sacred; the artist's series of (title of painting) paintings may be the best illustration of this. Like the object itself, the paintings were often done by the mass-produceable form of serigraphy (silk screening). Also like the subject, the (artist's) soup can painting existed in many varieties, with different types of (partial title of painting) or numbers of cans; painting 32 or 100 or 200 identical cans further emphasized the aspect of mass production aspect in the work. The same approach underlies artist's familiar series of prints of Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and other pop culture figures.

Campbell's Soup Can by Andy Warhol

The Christina of the title is Christina Olson, who lived near the (artist)'s summer home in Cushing, Maine. In the 1948 painting, Christina lays in the cornfield wearing a pink dress, facing away from the viewer, her body partly twisted and hair blowing slightly in the wind. In the far distance is a three-story farmhouse with dual chimneys and two dormers, along with two sheds to its right. A distant barn is near the top middle of the painting. One notable aspect is the subtle pattern of sunlight, which strikes the farmhouse obliquely from the right, shines in the wheel tracks in the upper right, and casts very realistic-looking shadows on Christina's dress. The Olson house was the subject of many (artist) paintings for 30 years, and it was named to the National Register of Historic Places for its place in (title of painting).

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

This painting was based on a Basque town bombed by the Germans during the Spanish Civil War in April 1937. The painter had already been commissioned to paint a mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the World's Fair, and he completed his massive, black, white, and grey anti-war mural by early June 1937. The painter's Cubist approach to portraying the figures adds to the sense of destruction and chaos. (Title of the Painting) was in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York until 1981, when it was returned to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Spain.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Painted in 1911, (title of painting) is among (artist)'s earliest surviving paintings. It is a dreamlike scene that includes many motifs common to (artist), notably the lamb and peasant life. In addition to the two giant faces—a green face on the right and a lamb's head on the left—other images include a milkmaid, a reaper, an upside-down peasant woman, a church, and a series of houses, some of them upside-down. (title of Painting) is currently housed at MOMA.

I and the Village by Marc Chagall

This painting depicts five women in a brothel. However, the images of the women are partly broken into disjointed, angular facets. The degree of broken-ness is rather mild compared to later Cubist works, but it was revolutionary in 1907. The rather phallic fruit arrangement in the foreground reflects the influence of Cezanne's "flattening of the canvas." The two central figures face the viewer, while the other three have primitive masks as faces, reflecting another of the artist's influences. It is currently housed at the MOMA.

Les Demioselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso

It is considered by some critics to be (artist)'s masterpiece.This Fauvist painting follows the example set by Impressionism with the overall lack of a central focal point. The painting was ordered as "Harmony in Blue," but (artist) was dissatisfied with the result, and so he painted it over with his preferred red. It is in the permanent collection of the Hermitage Museum

Red Room by Henri Matisse

a fresco by (artist) in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The painting was controversial because it included an image of Lenin and a Soviet Russian May Day parade. Despite protests from artists, Nelson Rockefeller ordered its destruction before it was completed. Only black-and-white photographs exist of the original incomplete mural, taken when (artist) was forced to stop work on it. Using the photographs, (artist) repainted the composition in Mexico under the variant title Man, Controller of the Universe. The creation and destruction of the mural is dramatized in the films Cradle Will Rock (1999) and Frida (2002).

Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera

Everything in the painting is ultimately done with great preciseness to contour with color use to set an empty atmosphere. In the left bottom corner is a girl (presumably) that is playing very peacefully with her stick and bicycle rim balancing her into the painting, where another shadow is to be seen. This creates a mental illusion, given the time (1914), the title, and also to consider what message to infer. The use of elements is very few, but imagination can build upon raging ideas for what this painting actually means. I suggest that the girl holds on to the whole meaning of the painting and that is by saying that she represents so much (possible outcome of WWI) in so little.

Mystery and Melancholy of a Street by Giorgio de Chirico

As is often the case with his works, (artist) uses a realistic approach (including such details as the fluorescent light of the diner, the coffee pots, and the Phillies cigar sign atop the diner) to convey a sense of a loneliness and isolation, even going so far as to depict the corner store without a door connecting to the larger world. (artist)'s wife Jo served as the model for the woman at the bar. (title of painting) is housed at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

First painted in 1912, (Title of Painting) created a sensation when shown at the 1913 Armory Show in New York, where one critic referred to it as "an explosion in a shingle factory." Painted in various shades of brown, (Title of Painting) portrays a nude woman in a series of broken planes, capturing motion down several steps in a single image. The painting reflects a Cubist sense of division of space, and its portrait of motion echoes the work of the Futurists.

Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 by Marcel Duchamp

(artist) worked on the piece from 1915 to 1923, creating two panes of glass with materials such as lead foil, fuse wire, and dust. It combines chance procedures, plotted perspective studies, and laborious craftsmanship. (title of painting) is also the title given to The Green Box notes (1934) as (artist) intended the painting to be accompanied by a book, in order to prevent purely visual responses to it. The notes describe that his "hilarious picture" is intended to depict the erotic encounter between the "Bride," in the upper panel, and her nine "Bachelors" gathered timidly below in an abundance of mysterious mechanical apparatus in the lower panel. The painting was exhibited in 1926 at the Brooklyn Museum before it was broken during transport and carefully repaired by artist. It is now part of the permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors or The Large Glass, Even by Marcel Duchamp

painted by the Austrian Symbolist painter (artist) between 1908 and 1909, the highpoint of his "Golden Period", when he painted a number of works in a similar gilded style. A perfect square, the canvas depicts a couple embracing, their bodies entwined in elaborate robes decorated in a style influenced by both linear constructs of the contemporary Art Nouveau style and the organic forms of the earlier Arts and Crafts movement. The work is composed of oil paint with applied layers of gold leaf, an aspect that gives it its strikingly modern, yet evocative appearance. The painting is now in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere museum in the Belvedere palace, Vienna, and is widely considered a masterpiece of the early modern period. It is a symbol of Vienna Jugendstil—Viennese Art Nouveau—and is considered (artist)'s most popular work.

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

First shown in 1931, (Title of Painting) is probably the most famous of surrealist paintings. The landscape of the scene echoes Port Lligat, the painter's home. The ants, flies, clocks, and the Port Lligat landscape are motifs in many other Dalí paintings, and the trompe l'oeil depiction of figures is typical of his works. It currently belongs to MOMA; its 1951 companion piece, The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, hangs at the (Painter's Name) Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

1922 watercolor and pen and ink oil transfer on paper by Swiss-German painter. Like other artworks by (artist), it blends biology and machinery, depicting a loosely sketched group of birds on a wire or branch connected to a hand-crank. Interpretations of the work vary widely: it has been perceived as a nightmarish lure for the viewer or a depiction of the helplessness of the artist, but also as a triumph of nature over mechanical pursuits. It has been seen as a visual representation of the mechanics of sound. Originally displayed in Germany, the image was declared "degenerate art" by Adolf Hitler in 1933 and sold by the Nazi party to an art dealer in 1939, whence it made its way to New York. One of the better known of more than 9,000 works produced by (artist), it is among the more famous images of the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). It has inspired several musical compositions and, according to a 1987 magazine profile in New York Magazine, has been a popular piece to hang in children's bedrooms.

The Twittering Machine by Paul Klee

(title of painting) is an oil on canvas painting by the Belgian surrealist (artist). It is part of the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and is usually on display in the museum's new Modern Wing. The painting was one of many done for surrealist patron and (artist) supporter Edward James. This was the second painting delivered to James for his London ballroom. The first was the portrait of James, Not to be Reproduced. (Title of painting) was purchased by the Art Institute from James in 1970 when he was raising capital to build his surrealist sculpture garden Las Pozas. The painting depicts an LMS 4-6-0 Locomotive jutting out of a fireplace, at full steam, in an empty room. Above the mantelpiece is a tall mirror. Only the clock and one candlestick standing on the mantelpiece are reflected in the mirror, suggesting that there are neither people nor furniture in the room.

Time Transfixed by Rene Magritte

(Painting series) is an abstract painting by (artist). It is one of the more well-known examples of the Russian suprematism movement. Brush strokes are evident in this painting and the artist tried to make it look as if the tilted square is coming out of the canvas. The painting was considered ludicrous in its day. Made in 1918.

White on White series by Kasimir Malevich

Painting series:(artist)'s well-known (title of paintings) series, begun in 1950 the time after meeting his future wife and culminating in (title of last painting), owes much to Picasso, not least in the aggressive, penetrative breaking apart of the figure, and the spaces around it. Picasso's late works show signs that he, in turn, saw images of works by Pollock and de Kooning. (artist) led the 1950s' art world to a new level known as the American Abstract Expressionism. The female figure is an important symbol for (artist)'s art career and his own life. This painting is considered as a significant work of art for the museum through its historical context about the post World War II history and American feminist movement. Additionally, the medium of this painting makes it different from others of (artist)'s time.

Woman series by Willem de Kooning