What Can We Learn from These Works of Art?

Captivating works of art created by famous artist have held us in rapture such as those created by Van Gogh, Cassatt, Klimt, and many others. Viewing the human face and figure in art may be the best catalyst for beginning an inner dialogue about the human condition and dealing with our own life purpose and mortality.

Viewing works of art with faces and figures may inspire us or raise unresolved questions and concerns. We may be reminded of those areas we need to explore more deeply. The value that these artists bring to our personal growth is priceless.

In this presentation we share several artists in the Manhattan Arts International online art gallery that focus on some aspect of the human form. Their subjects, styles and mediums vary and they are all highly engaging. Through their art with faces and figures we may be jolted into reality or transported into otherworldly realms of existence, past civilizations, different cultures, or total fantasy.

As you focus on each work of art presented on this page you may ask yourself:

* Do I relate to this image and why?
* How does this image make me feel?
* What story or message am I receiving here?
* What can I learn about myself or humanity through this work of art?

Art by A Few Master Artists

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, oil on canvas, 16″ x 12-1/2″. Created in 1887. Metropolitan Museum. Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot. His style of self-portraits that implemented intense brushwork and facial expression to depict subjective emotions greatly impacted the portraits created by Expressionist painters. Photo: Public Domain.

A Kiss for Baby Anne, pastel painting by Mary Cassatt (born Mary Stevenson Cassatt). Mary Cassatt was among only three women to exhibit with the Impressionists, from the year 1879 to the year 1886, and at the time, and was the only American woman Impressionist. Photo: Public Domain.

Photograph of Georgia O’Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz. O’Keeffe first posed for Stieglitz in the spring of 1917. As their relationship deepened, he continued to photograph her “with a kind of heat and excitement.” Her presence revitalized Stieglitz’s photography, which he had previously neglected in favor of his New York gallery. Photo: Public Domain.

Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907, oil silver and gold on canvas, 55.1″ × 55.1″. Reportedly this painting was purchased by Ronald Lauder for a record $135 million in 2006, Neue Galerie, New York. Photo: Public Domain.

Auguste Rodin, The Kiss, marble, 44.3″ × 46″ x 70″. Musée Rodin, Paris. Photo: Public domain. His sculpture “The Kiss” is known as one of the most romantic sculptures in the Western world. It portrays burning desire and passion. Rodin remarked, “The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.”

Art by Members of Manhattan Arts International

Visit the artists’ pages to view more of their art and learn more about them.
Please visit their websites and contact them directly to purchase their work.