What's so special about Arctic Tern, the Audubon bird painting?

• Audubon – hunter turned lover
• Blue moves the Arctic Tern
• Feet make the bird

As a child I loved Arctic Tern by John James Audubon. I grew up outdoorsy. So, I pored over his collection of bird paintings. This classic guidebook series, The Birds of America, also works like an art collection. Audubon accomplished masterworks like this one thanks to his heartfelt love of nature. But he also trained with French master Jacques Louis David.

Check out more on this and many other masterpieces. Click to LadyKflo's Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/arctic-tern-by-john-james-audubon/

Why is the painting A Sunday on La Grande Jatte an emblem of Impressionist zeitgeist?

• Georges Seurat – obsessed and bullied misanthrope
• A passionate painting with dispassionate subjects
• How is A Sunday on La Grande Jatte like a mullet?

Get all these goods and more with a click to LadyKflo's Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/a-sunday-on-la-grande-jatte-by-georges-seurat/

You know it. You might even love it. But why is Nighthawks by Edward Hopper so cool?

• Isolated details
• Smoking as distraction in Nighthawks
• Light patches create composition
• Lonely, anonymous birds

Edward Hopper's masterpiece Nighthawks conjures big city themes. From loneliness to anonymity, it's an existential homage to New York City in 1942. Details shift from surreal to familiar. But they all point to the same conclusion. Though its title refers to predatory birds, this painting's about the human condition.

For all the goods on this and other LadyKflo takes on masterpieces, check out her Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/nighthawks-by-edward-hopper/

Here's a few tidbits of introduction to the painting Woman Descending the Staircase:

• Abstract Expressionist and/or Photo Realistic
• Woman Descending the Staircase – pure movement
• What's Duchamp got to do with it?

The first time I saw a Gerhard Richter painting in person I thought he was a photographer. That's his remarkable skill. Here, though, Richter works through opposites. His masterpiece, Woman Descending the Staircase illustrates this duality. He first creates a photo realistic work. Then Richter messes with it. Of course, he doesn't always blur his paintings. Richter leaves some photo-realistic works crisp and pristine. These portray a meticulous reality. But sometimes he adds a step and also abstracts it.

Get all the goods on many more masterpieces with a click to LadyKflo's Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/woman-descending-the-staircase-by-gerhard-richter/

Learn the following about the White Flag painting by Jasper Johns:

• Is White Flag even white?
• What's lacking and better for it.
• Johns and Rauschenberg – inspirations

Pop Art can be confusing. But not the Jasper Johns masterpiece White Flag. It's a rare case of what you see is what you get. Checking out this painting in person feels significant because of its enormity. The Metropolitan Museum of Art showcases it well. Thanks to the white wall behind this piece, viewers can't help but notice it's not a true white flag. There's no surrender to this piece. At more than six feet by ten, viewers can't help but take in its size or materials. Simple and spare as it seems – White Flag gives us a lot.

Want to learn about what it gives us? Check out LadyKflo's Art Blog for this and many more masterpieces.

https://www.ladykflo.com/white-flag-by-jasper-johns/

LadyKflo's podcast about the 110 Express painting covers:

• How Robert Rauschenberg stops thoughts
• Red stripe unity
• Where de Kooning meets Warhol

Movement pervades the 110 Express Painting. Rauschenberg injected the canvas with energy. There's only one band of color – a red stripe at the top. It brings a bit of heat to the otherwise cool, black and white painting. The Avant-Garde painter often used silkscreen and paint on canvas. This creates a collage effect that draws the eyes across shifts in shape and texture.

For even more check out her Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/the-110-express-painting-by-robert-rauschenberg/

This podcast about La Tour's The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs includes:

• A fancy pants sucker
• Finger pointing
• Fraud on many levels
• Mastery in 17th century details

For all the goods on this and more masterpieces, check out LadyKflo's Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/the-cheat-with-the-ace-of-clubs-by-georges-de-la-tour/

Learn about the symbolic expressions in Girls on a Pier including:

• Pink and feminine youth
• Abyss of the unknown – trees in Girls on a Pier
• A puppy surrounded with Munchian dread

Why is Girls on a Pier my favorite Edvard Munch painting? It's that wistful pink bridge and how it blends into the road to nowhere. Many choose The Scream for its iconic emotional power and pull. I respect that. But I'm drawn more to the subtlety of this piece. The resonant dread of Munch still permeates this painting. But there's a delicacy and poignance as well. At its core, this piece portrays the significance of time and longing in human life.

Check out all the LadyKflo goods on this and more masterpieces at her Art Blog.

https://www.ladykflo.com/girls-on-a-pier-by-edvard-munch/

Table of Contents for Ada and Alex by Alex Katz includes:

• Reduced to spare parts
• Cutthroat culture by Alex Katz
• Abstract Expressionism versus Ada and Alex – a competition

Simplicity takes balls. For instance, the level of confidence required to create Ada and Alex. This double self portrait shows painting minimalism at its post 70s peak. It was 1980. Women wore shoulder padded power suits and scrunchies. Still, artists like Alex Katz prove that restraint flourished too. In fact, his career took off thanks to paintings such as this one. Like many minimalists, Katz threw a lot away. He destroyed at least a thousand paintings in search of his unique style.

Want more? Click through for all the goods on this and other masterpieces.

https://www.ladykflo.com/ada-and-alex-by-alex-katz/

This podcast investigates several aspects of The Lackawanna Valley painting such as:

• Why the train?
• George Inness's rejection
• Opposites in harmony

Learn and see lots more about this and other masterpieces with a click to LadyKflo.

https://www.ladykflo.com/the-lackawanna-valley-by-george-inness/