As you’ve probably gathered, the arts are a huge part of my life. And this is my mantra:
Without the arts,
We have no culture.
Without culture,
We have no society.
Without society,
We have no civilisation.
And without civilisation,
We have anarchy.
Which, in itself, is paradoxical, because so many artists are viewed as rebels to society. To me, artists aren’t rebels, they are pioneers. They show us new ways of interpreting the world.
Art galleries are my cathedrals. They are the places I go to escape from reality and immerse myself in the presence of their genius.
Here are a few of my favourite artists. (I haven’t included ones that I’ve already written individual posts about, such as Modigliani, Chang or Lautrec.)
As you can see, I’m quite traditional in a lot of respects. What I love about much of the impressionistic work is the space, light, colour, composition and texture. Quite a lot of them have a simple, graphic quality, too. Which, perhaps, is no surprise considering that that is what I studied at art college.
Some famous names missing. Who are your favourites?
Michael McGinn
Aaron Smith
Yup, Banksy.
Edouard Vuillard
Frida Kahlo
Gaugin
Igor Shipilin
John Singer Sargent
Kees van Dongen
Kris Kuksi 1
Kris Kuksi 2
Manet
Mary Cassatt
Matisse
Yes, Monet.
Grayson Perry
Picasso 1
Picasso 2
Pierre et Gilles
Renoir
Sergey Rimashevsky
Sorolla
The chapman brothers 1
The Chapman Brothers 2
Van Gogh
Vermeer
Degas
Francis Bacon
Egon Schielle
Gustave Klimt
Pierre Bonnard
Antonio Canova
Paul Cézanne
William Merritt Chase
Salvador Dali
Richard Estes
Edward Hopper
Norman Rockwell
Jan van Eyck
Foujita
Wilhelm Hammershøi
Frederick Childe Hassam
Peder Severin Krøyer
Berthe Morisot
Camille Pissarro
By the way, if any late-comers are wondering what the hell all the numbers are about in the titles of these posts, the reason is: I decided, at the back end of 2013, to write 365 things for which I am grateful – one for every day of the year.
Why? Because, I think a lot of us in the ‘West’, (including me), sometimes forget how lucky we are and take too many things for granted. Which people in other parts of the world would die for, and do so, on a regular basis.
David Milligan-Croft
Thereisnocavalry 
Absolute heaven! Thanks, David.
You’re very welcome, Jean.
Reblogged this on SOCIAL BRIDGE and commented:
This is a magnificent post and one that should appeal to all art lovers.
Beautiful post. To this list, I would add Montreal artists Armand Tatossian and Yehouda Chaki.
Thanks Navigator. I’ll definitely check them out! 🙂
Fantastic
Thank you, Willow. Glad you liked it. 🙂
I did ! 😉
So evocative on a Sunday morning. I am fifteen again walking through the National Gallery. Thanks for the memory.
You’re very welcome, Stanley. Glad you enjoyed it.
Love that you admire such a range especially Pierre et Gilles, Banksy & Grayson Perry. Cheers Sue.
Glad you liked it, Sue. Even the contemporary artists have a touch of tradition about them! 🙂
What a treat that post was — my Sunday afternoon armchair trip to an art gallery 🙂
By the way, I have an Edward Hopper wall calendar in my office right next to my desk — a different painting for each month.
There’s something so simple yet striking about that Salvador Dali painting you’ve posted. I remember going to an exhibition of his paintings when I was about 14.
I’m glad it brightened up your day, Sarah. I saw Dali too when I was at art college. I liked this one because it wasn’t his typical surreal style.
Hi there thanks for liking my blog enough to follow me! I am always delighted and surprised to get a new follower. It is good to meet you , having read your biopic all I can say is I am unworthy! 😉 xx
Don’t be so modest, Willow! 🙂 I worked in advertising for 30 years so I know how to embellish the truth.
Yer I believe that …… not . Reading between the lines you know your marbles!! 😉
Beautiful post, David. I found you through Jean’s reblog. I also found some of my favorite artists here and I love how you’ve numbered your posts on things you’re grateful for. I’ve just been tagged in a similar type post on facebook. 🙂 It’s a fun way of reminding us about gratitude and as you mentioned, things we have (in the west) that others would die for…thanks for sharing!
Best wishes, Lauren
So pleased you liked it, Lauren. Thank you very much for your kind words. It’s one I’ve been wanting to do for ages but didn’t have the time to collate all the references.
Thanks for following me, David! I’m now following you, too, and that is the joy of finding new “friends” through other blogging friends. I just read your credentials, though, and they far outweigh my amateur poetry blog, so I hope you do enjoy your visits! 🙂
All the best, Lauren
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this glorious trip through an art gallery.
Glad it made such a good impression, Prof.
love this
I think this is an elegant testimony to the traditional masters that warm our hearts, elevate our spirits and inspire us to be…to be grateful, to be creative, to be engaged with – dare I say…culture, society and yes…civilization. Thank you for this wonderful piece. Dovima
Thank you for your kind words Dovima.
Great idea , I want to put an album together too, just to look at favorites is an inspiration
Thank you. Pinterest is a great way to catalogue art. (Or anything else for that matter.)
Something familiar. Something new. And something odd. Always a good mix.
Hi Josie, glad you liked some of them. I really liked your poem about Manhattan mayhem!
I liked them all!
Odd does not mean bad. And anyway – odd is in the eye of the beholder and often means just unfamiliar and different. And thanks for the kind words!
Cheers.