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31 Weird Facts About Art for All the Lil’ Art Freaks

By:: Cracked Writers; Brian C. Miller

October 02, 2023

31 Weird Facts About Art for All the Lil’ Art Freaks

How hard can it be to create a piece of art, really? Grab a blank canvas, throw it on an easel and slap some paint on it until hopefully it resembles a bowl of fruit or something like that. And if it doesn’t look like anything? No big deal, you were simply deconstructing the very idea of art itself, you Philistines! Still, there’s a reason that we’re discussing the work of the artists on this list and not the doodles of you and me. Good art manages to capture an emotion, a thought or an intention. And as silly as some of it looks, there’s a reason why people are still talking about them. Reasons like…

31 Boxing Cats

1894 Boxing Cats Filmed in Thomas Edison's New Jersey studio, possibly the first cat video of all time shows two cats boxing. Even Thomas Edison was just like us and loved his sillu cat videos. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

30 Man with the Moneybag and Flatterers

1592 Man with the Moneybag and Flatterers DE WEBRELT: INTIGARE YNEN SACK Visit Even 16th century painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger couldn't stand brown-nosers. The painting depicts a Flemish saying, Because so much money creeps into my sack, the whole world climbs into my hole. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

29 The Vegetable Gardener

1590 The Vegetable Gardener Giuseppe Arcimboldo made portraits of people by painting a collection of still life objects, which is totally way more fun than we think of people in the 16th century, and we could totally see these paintings crushing on Instagram today. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

28 Jupiter and Io

1530 Jupiter and Io Correggio depicted lo being seduced by Jupiter, which is basically a naked woman being sensually carressed by a cloud person. We have no doubt many DeviantArt artists would have created this if they had as well-paying patrons. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

27 The Garden of Earthly Delights

1500 The Garden of Earthly Delights Hieronymus Bosch depicts a musical hell that includes harming secular music makers with their sinful instruments. Even when being religious and preachy, Bosch was being a fun little freak. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

26 Pine Seedlings on the First Rat Day

1814 Pine Seedlings on the First Rat Day The woodblock-printed is by Katsushika Hokusai shows an octopus, well, pleasuring a woman, proving that in the 19th century, sexual fantasy was alive and thriving. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

25 Jackson Pollock... All of It

JACKSON POLLOCK revolutionized painting. Autumn Rhythm (Number 30), 1950 Where other artists stood their canvases upright and brushed on paint, Pollock laid his flat and poured and dripped the paint in swirling patterns. So rather than using paint to create an image, the paint itself was the art. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

24 Bridge

This is Bridge, by Robert Ryman. It sold for $20.6 million in 2015. All-white paintings such as this are more about the response they provoke from viewers than expressing ideas themselves. It provides an outlet for the viewer to fill in their own stories and emotions. If this expensive painting makes you feel angry or confused, that speaks to something about you. Which is the work's purpose. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

23 Beethoven's Piano Sonatas

Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas are deep, heavy works of brooding emotion, greatly misunderstood during his time... ...except for No.25, the Ор. 79 Sonata in G major, a light and happy dance tune. The popular style of the day was watered-down simple harmonies, easy to play and easy on the ear; essentially, the Blink 182 of the Nineteenth Century. SUCK IT! With No.25, Beethoven tried his hand at the popular style, not to give in to the masses, but rather to say if you guys are going to do pop-punk, at least let me show CRACKED.COM you how to do it — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

22 Laocoon and His Sons

CRACKED.COM Laocoön and His Sons has been a puzzle and subject of endless debate since the work was discovered in 1506. What is certain about this scene from the Fall of Troy is that it shows an extraordinary range of movement for an inanimate object, and elevates the agony of suffering into something beautiful. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

21 Balloon Dogs

CRACKED COM Jeff Koons describes his Balloon Dogs sculptures as being symbolic of humans as breathing machines; a balloon filled with air represents etemal optimism that humans will also have breath. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

20 The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka's works often depict illogical, bureaucratic reactions to surreal situations. For example, in 'The Metamorphosis', Gregor Samsa wakes up to find out that he's turned into a giant insect (surreal) and the first thing he does is to get up to go to work (bureaucratic). His works often present these situations as criticism of the absurdity of bureaucratic systems. CRACKED COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

19 Untitled Watercolor

This untitled watercolor by Wassily Kandinsky has been called the first Abstract painting. Kandinsky realized that simply using colors and shapes could communicate emotion to a viewer even without depicting literal objects. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

18 Afghan Girl

CRACKED.COM In Steve McCurry's most iconic photograph Afghan Girl,he shows his technical style by using low light and shadows to get the purest colors, and a great, dark appearance. Не likes to connect with the person, so he can capture the expression of the face, especially the eyes. By doing this, people who see the photograph can feel the essence of conflict, in this case, war. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

17 Fish

Constantin Brancusi's sculpture of Fish has no eyes or scales. CRACKED.COM It is meant to show just the flash of its spirit. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

16 Black Iris III

Black Iris III by Georgia O'Keeffe is commonly seen as an artistic representation of the female genitalia. O'Keeffe herself disputed this view and explained that a flower's small size hinders a quick glance from grasping its detail, which is why she took the time out to observe and paint flowers as she saw them. The large scale of the painting is intended to capture the viewer's attention and enable the viewer to see the flower through her eyes. GRAGKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

15 The Starry Night

GRAGKED.COM Vincent van Gogh pioneered stippling - painting with big visible brushstrokes. This and his superior work with colors to express emotion rather than using them realistically make his paintings, like The Starry Night, highly sought after. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

14 Las Meninas

Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656) is thought of as one of the first modern paintings because of how it challenged notions of viewer, artist, and subject. The artist is shown painting a portrait of a royal couple. The couple, however, can only be seen in the mirror on the far wall since they are outside of the painting standing where the viewer is. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

13 Ill-Matched Lovers

1520 Ill-Matched Lovers Quentin Matsys shows a theme that's just as relevant today: mismatched couples, each wanting something from the other. The foolish older man is being played by younger women, who is stealing his purse. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

12 The Triumph of Death

1562 The Triumph of Death Pieter Bruegel the Elder shows mass death in a pretty fun way... with goofy skeletons dragging the dead around in a macabre Where's Waldo. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

11 The Temptation of St. Anthony

1650 The Temptation of St. Anthony Joos van Craesbeeck paints religious iconography in the weirdest way possible. Gotta appreciate a giant head. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

10 Youth Making a Face

1632 Youth Making a Face Adriaen Brouwer painted a young peasant boy being silly, showing just how little kids have changed in hundreds of years. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

9 Gin Lane

1751 Gin Lane GD ROYAL William Hogarth created satirical engravings that served as propaganda against evil gin (as compared to noble English beer). CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

8 Tintinabulum

1st Century Tintinabulum Bronze tintinabulum Roman in century AD Objects lão this were suspended in gardens where the hanging bells The winged linkled in the wind lion-phallus was believed to provide protection against evil and magical to being good luck to the bousehold. SirWin Tomyle OF 2 Romans created this winged lion-phallus wind chime to maybe ward off evil and bring good luck. Or maybe just to be weird. Either way, we appreciate it. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

7 Arderne's Treatise

1425 Arderne's Treatise Irm 20 Et gms hol Pm j Panis paaon geaff If you thought doodling disembodied reproductive organs in the margins of your work was only for high schoolers, think again. In a copy of this medical treatise, medieval monks used marginal illustrations. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

6 Son of Man

This painting is known as Son of Man by Rene Magritte. This painting represents a conflict of what we can see versus what we can't see because one thing hides another. This is why the man's eye is partially covered by the apple: because what's intended to be seen, cannot be. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

5 Cloud Gate

The Bean's real name is Cloud Gate. You're supposed to see the distorted reflection of the Chicago skyline, and then walk under the Gate to see your own reflection distorted in the same way. This makes you feel like you are part of the architecture-- like you're participating in it. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

4 Les Demoiselles d Avignon

CRACKED.COM Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon revolutionized artistic representation by showing multiple perspectives simultaneously. such as the figure in the bottom right who is both facing and turned away from the viewer. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

3 Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1

GRACKED.COM It's just an old lady, who cares? Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 1 by James McNeill Whistler shows that a painting can be visually arresting without bright colors or a surreal subject. Whistler also manages to depict the skin of an elderly woman very realistically. — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

2 Rhein II

Rhein II by Andreas Gursky remains the most expensive photograph in the world. It portrays a vast expanse and a river with straight banks, which is not usually seen in nature. CRACKED.COM — Source: 18 Wild And Left-Field Works Of Art, Explained

1 Girl with a Pearl Earring

Girl with a Pearl Earring looks so mysterious because it's technically not a portrait. A portrait captures the appearance of a specific person. This painting is a tronie - which means the girl is intentionally designed to not look like any specific person, or like she belongs to any specific place. CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Historic Art Pieces That Show Humans Have Always Been Freaky Weirdos

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