How many times have you imagined being in the place you always see in your favorite painting? For example, sitting down for a drink in that Paricino cafe, or running through those green fields with blue skies.
Although it seems impossible, the settings of some of the most famous modern masterpieces exist in real life and even welcome visitors. By visiting these distant yet familiar sites, lovers of modern art can experience their favorite paintings outside of museum walls and the pages of art history books. You can understand what the painter felt and why he decided to capture that place in time.
No.1 Cafe Terrace At Night - Vincent Van Gogh
Café Terrace At Night was one of the first night scenes painted by Van Gogh at the time of his stay in Arles. This painting of colorful outdoor views is a picturesque work, the vision of a relaxed viewer who enjoys the charm of his surroundings without any moral concern.
The original Terrace Café, which inspired this painting, still exists in the Place du Forum, Arles, a picturesque village in the south of France, on the very spot where Van Gogh painted this masterpiece.
The Place du Forum in Arles, was the historical center of the city as for many other forums in Roman cities. It originally stretched over a large proportion of Arles from today's Boulevard des Lices north to the river itself.
Van Gogh, while in Arles, painted the Cafe Terrace At Night in mid-September 1888. This was the period when Van Gogh moved to the town of Arles, attracted by its apparent similarity of light to that found in Japan .
This period of his time is fondly remembered as the Arles period. Van Gogh was considered to be at his creative best during this part of his life.
This was the first in a series of paintings in which he used starry backgrounds, for which a night sky is essential. His stargazing was the result of Van Gogh's new attraction to religion. Religion seemed to fill the void of love.
Van Gogh set up his easel at the northeast corner of the Place du Forum, facing south toward the lantern-lit terrace of a popular café: El Café Terraza. An industrially prepared size 25 canvas was used to execute Café Terraza Por La Noche. Van Gogh uses a plethora of contrasting colors and tones for this painting bringing a pulse of color that defies the darkening night sky.
Today tourists can see the same cafe on the Place du Forum and enjoy day and night entertainment: there are many restaurants and also the famous Nord Pinus hotel.
Buy a reproduction of Cafe Terraza At Night at Kuadros online store
No.2 American Gothic - Grant Wood
In 1930 Grant Wood toured the small town of Eldon Iowa and saw a small white house with a large gothic window. Inspired, Wood quickly drew the house and returned to Cedar Rapids to paint American Gothic.
Since its completion, the painting has become an American icon and has been the backdrop and model for countless parodies, inspiring everything from advertisements to magazine covers to cartoons. The original portion of the house containing the two Gothic windows was built in 1881-82 by Catherine and Charles Dibble. Because of this, the house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Dibble House. Mr. Dibble had a livery stable in Eldon. Looks like he later lost the house and it was sold for overdue taxes. Over the years the house has changed hands with the owners living in the house or keeping it as a rental property. The State of Iowa is the current owner, acquiring it in 1991 when then-owner Carl E. Smith donated it to the Iowa State Historical Society.
After studying art in Europe during the 1920s, the artist returned home and created this work as a celebration of Midwestern culture in the Regionalist style.
Wood was in Eldon for an art exhibit put on by Edward Rowan, who was the director of the Little Art Gallery of Cedar Rapids. Rowan had taken a keen interest in Eldon and believed it to be a prime location for an experiment to bring art to remote rural areas. It is unclear why Rowan chose Eldon for her experiment, other than having an acquaintance of Eldon's, John Sharp.
Wood's sister named Nan and Cedar Rapids dentist Byron McKeeby, the models, and the figures dressed in outfits inspired by Wood's old family photographs, are simply meant to represent typical small-town Americans. Wood chose the house not because it was beautiful, but because he was captivated by the strange combination of its ornate details and simple materials.
The house still stands to this day, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is visited by thousands of people each year.
Buy a reproduction of American Gothic at Kuadros online store
No.3 The Japanese Bridge - Claude Monet
The garden of the famous impressionist artist Claude Monet in Giverny has been one of the must-see places for all art lovers visiting France. It is a flourishing domain where the artist had spent the last forty years of his life, digging, planting, weeding and painting.
In May 1883, Monet and his family moved to Giverny, a small town about fifty miles west of Paris and across the border from Normandy. He rented a large house that came with a large garden with alleys of cypresses and orchards of various fruit trees, he immediately began to redesign the property.
In November 1890 he was finally able to buy the house. Now, on his private land, he embarked on a much more ambitious gardening plan: Hiring two full-time gardeners, eventually growing to six, building a large greenhouse just for propagating species and reserving bulbs, and renting a separate garden, not far from your house, to move all the vegetables and fruits, so that you can dedicate your own garden solely to your flowers.
Once he was happy with his flower garden, he began to look across the road to a swamp with a small pond used by local farmers to water cattle. It seemed like a perfect place to plan his dream of having the oriental floating garden. But, it wasn't easy. First, the land was separated from the domain by a railway and a main road. Second, the locals objected to his plan so fervently that, united with the authority, they delayed the acquisition process as long as possible.
Overcoming resistance from locals who were wary of introducing foreign plants to the region, Monet obtained approval to expand the pond by diverting water from the Epte River. He surrounded the basin with a lively arrangement of flowers, trees, and shrubs, and the following year he filled it with water lilies. He added a Japanese-style wooden bridge in 1895, then a few years later began painting the pond and its water lilies, never stopping, making them the obsessive focus of his intense search work for the next quarter century.
Buy a reproduction of The Japanese Bridge at the Kuadros online store
No.4 Houses of Parliament at Dusk - Claude Monet
In October 1834, a devastating fire destroyed the old palace, which had been the seat of Parliament since 1512. The palace had also been a royal residence since the reign of William the Conqueror. Only Westminster Hall, St. Mary Undercroft's Chapel in the crypt, and the Jewel Tower (built during the 14th century where jewels and gold were kept) survived the fire.
Of the 97 projects submitted during the subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace, the winners were the architects Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin. In 1847, the building was virtually complete with 1,200 rooms, 11 courtyards, and 2.1 miles of corridors. The sumptuous façade offers an impressive panorama, where you can see the golden pinnacles and the statues of the English kings reflected in the Thames. The Victoria Tower, the largest and tallest tower, is located in the south-western part of the Palace, where a copy of all the Acts of Parliament are kept. On the north side of the palace is the world-famous tower, Big Ben.
During his stay at Giverny, Monet made frequent trips to London. Here, he painted 25 studies of the Palace of Westminster that experimentally explored the changing color of the sky and its consequent reflections in the River Thames, an artistic endeavor that proved to be his "obsession, joy and torment". Monet is believed to have completed these pieces from a terrace on the second floor of St. Thomas Hospital. While seeing the gleaming Houses of Parliament from this exact location can be difficult today, a stroll along the river's banks and bridges offers nearly identical views.
Nowadays, the Palace of Westminster can only be visited on Saturdays or during July and August. To get the tickets, you can stand in line and get them on the same day as your visit. However, we recommend that you arrive early so as not to wait too long.
Buy a reproduction of Houses Of Parliament At Dusk at Kuadros online store
No.5 The Rowers' Luncheon -Pierre-Auguste Renoi
La Maison Fournaise is a restaurant and museum located on the Île des Impressionnistes on the Seine in Chatou, west of Paris. In 1857, Alphonse Fournaise bought land in Chatou to open a boat rental, restaurant, and small hotel for the new tourist trade, making its surroundings, the Maison Fournaise, a restaurant on Chatou Island, a popular destination for tourists. dedicated fans of impressionism. Located just outside of Paris, the Maison Fournaise offers boat rentals and quaint, late-19th-century restaurants. During this time, Renoir and other French painters regularly visited the establishment, as evidenced by the Boating Party Luncheon. While the restaurant closed its doors in 1906, it reopened in 1990. The restaurant was a favorite of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who painted scenes from the restaurant, including The Rowers' Luncheon.
The Luncheon Of The Rowers is one of the most famous works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Initially exhibited at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, the large-scale painting has been praised for centuries.
Today, Maison Fournaise is still in business, inviting you to "relive the Impressionist joys" while dining on its famous riverside balcony.
Buy a reproduction of The Rowers' Lunch at the Kuadros online store
No.6 The Scream - Edvard Munch
¨ I was walking on the road with two friends, the sun was setting, suddenly the sky turned red like blood, I stopped, I felt exhausted and leaned against the fence, there was blood and tongues of fire in the blue fjord- black and the city My friends kept walking, and I was there trembling with anxiety and I felt an infinite scream that passed through nature.
The road described by Munch is believed to be Valhallvegen Road, a viewpoint located on the Ekeberg hill in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The site of the painting is a point by the side of a road called "Valhallveien". The hill is known as Ekeberg Hill. This road was a popular place for the citizens of Oslo to see the city. The view just before the 180 degree turn in Valhallveien is supposed to be where Munch found inspiration for "The Scream".
From 1893 to 1910, the Norwegian printmaker and painter Edvard Munch created his well-known series, The Scream. Composed of four works on cardboard and cardboard, this collection features a striking figure as its theme. While the medium, color palette, and attention to detail vary from piece to piece, each features the same configuration: A bridge spanning a body of blue water, set against a dark sky. This now-famous setting was inspired by one of Munch's sunset walks, as he described in his diary: I painted this picture, I painted the clouds like royal blood, squeaky color. This became The Scream.
Buy a reproduction of The Scream at the Kuadros online store
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