MoMA: The Museum of Modern Art Collection

"Taking the elements of the past and reshapes it".

That in a nutshell, is what contemporary art is about.

In the MOMA in New York is a treasure trove.

This video entrancingly takes us into the dizzy-complex-sockowoko-enchanting dimension of the imagination.

More On Abstract Art With Matthew Collins In A BBC Presentation

Abstract art takes the viewer into fresh areas of thinking and creating.

It has a discipline that is as demanding as creating in the genre of the impressionists or the expressionists or the symbolists or the fauvists.

This video by the BBC takes a close look at the process of creating by the serious practitioners of this particular genre.

It is revealing and inspiring.

Appreciating Abstract Artists And Their Creations

The language of plastic arts has been the basic elements of the line, shape, form, space, texture, colour.

The organisation of these into shapes and meanings could be seen in cave-drawings and on stones in early societies.

Artisans and hunters, medicine men and teachers, used these marks as magic symbols to cure or to instruct, to inspire or to record for pleasure or for documentation.

These marks were abstract in nature. Their purposes were many: decorative, expressive, symbolic, magical, functional.

European artists took to organising the art elements to represent the real.

Roman sculptures and the painters and sculptors of the Renaissance took this organisation to high representation - REALISM.

Contemporary artist pushed the limits and presented the SUPER-REALISTIC genre.

We have come full circle.

The organisation of the art elements as themselves revealing their nature through the interpretation of the artist-designer-magician is the subject of this BBC documentary.

I found it engaging.

Hieronymus Bosch, A Puzzle

Born 1450, died 1516, Hieronymus Bosch the Dutch painter has fantastic imagery. Some of these are quite startlingly contemporary. Those that are sexual are tinged with fringe sects and occult practices. Macabre and nightmarish in treatment, his tight compositions developed in the 16th century, fascinate in many levels.

Who is Hieronymus Bosch?

What is he really saying in his enigmatic paintings?

After viewing some of his works, follow the video.

Here is the triptych altarpiece: The Garden Of Earthly Delights and some closeup of sections of the paintings.

The Artist, Bosch.

This video is an excellent introduction to the surprising world of Hieronymus Bosch.

Johannes Vermeer Who Lights Up His Women

What makes a Vermeer a Vermeer ?

Meryl Streep who reads the commentary on this extraordinary film takes us on a journey of finding out.

Light is the subject. But the real that Vermeer painted is to be felt. It is inadequate to be described.

The time is the 17TH CENTURY.

But the eyes of Vermeer are the eyes of a man who sees the real - the timeless real.

Enjoy this enlightening look at the exquisite paintings of the lovely ordinary lit by the natural light of a genius.

Reviewing The Greatness Of Vincent van Gogh

Coming back to review the contributions of a life lived originally: Vincent van Gogh.

His calling attention back to the basics of what makes a human being a human being: feelings.

Short-lived, Vincent van Gogh, lit up the art of perception for contemporary explorers who work in visuals.

Paul Klee: His Journey To His Center

Paul Klee makes a journey to find the essential bits that make up the big picture of LIFE.

Seen through his eyes, Paul Klee shares what it is like being an individual appreciating the wonders of being alive.

Paul Klee Strips Paintings To The Bare Essentials

"Unless you are like a child, you cannot see God", a paraphrase expressing the openness to the essentials of content and quality.

In Paul Klee, his journey to reduce meaning, form and content to absolute simplicity, is fascinating.

This painstaking collection put together by "inesvigo" in his blog, is exquisite. I hope that you'll be as delighted as I was with the viewing.

Vincent van Gogh: His Complete Works

Vincent van Gogh The Passionate Artist

Where does the point in a circle begins?

And where does it end?

From here, this point, the beginning to there, the end of a distinctive life, what goes in ?

Vincent van Gogh, the artist has an interesting story to share.

I find his works riveting even without my understanding his intentions or his quality. The connection with his works is gut-response on my part.

This video is great at connecting the dots of the beginning and the end of the life of a creative, passionate and original human being.

The Man Who Thinks In Pictures: ALBERT EINSTEIN

What is it like to coast along a light beam?

What is the mind of God like?

Albert Einstein asks puzzling questions.

He found answers.

ORIGINAL answers!

Follow the bumpy trail of this visual thinker.

Revisiting The Making Of A Genius: LEONARDO DA VINCI

Imagine a human being infused with a curiousity that has no limit.

See him in a place where he is far ahead of his own time.

See him among men of powerful influence with reputation of infallible knowledge.

Leonardo da Vinci had these to contend other than solving the demands of his crafts.

Enjoy this beautiful production.

Another Great Treasure On Earth: MICHELANGELO - THE GENIUS

Here is a gem I stumbled upon. The BBC production on a man I admired since sixteen: MICHELANGELO.

Here is the write-up that accompanies this documentary:

MICHELANGELO - THE GENIUS

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 -- 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo (Italian pronunciation: [mikeˈlandʒelo]), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci.
Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, and ever since then he has been held to be one of the greatest artists of all time.

A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence.

His output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.