What Can We Learn from These Works of Art?

This presentation is one of dozens of articles, interviews and exhibitions featuring artists on our website. To view them all visit this page.

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?

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.

Bren Sibilsky

Woman of Prophecy, clay, 35” x 26” x 18”

About this extraordinary piece Bren wrote these words: “Follow your heart and eyes said the spiritual leader. So with inner eyes, I looked into my heart and found fear, as a precarious egg rolled down a feather. A prophetic woman appeared, understanding the egg would roll and break, assured me it is part of creation, explaining what is inside must be revealed. Trust the creative force of beginnings.”

Yvonne Welman

Since Leucippos People are Damaged Everywhere by Lust of Power, acrylic, fineliner, embroidery on canvas; 55″ x 55″

Yvonne states, “I want the viewer to bring their own thoughts and emotions to my work. I want to let the viewer pose the ‘why’ question.” She adds, “I want people to understand we need a world with high moral standards and to show compassion! Learn from history. I am often indignant about what is happening in society.”

Denisa Prochazka

Tina Fontaine, Dancing Wings, clay, 60” x 65” x 8”

Denisa states, “The need for creation became reinforced with the birth of my own child and the desire to heal, protect and empower. My goal is to bring my art forward to public spaces so that passersby can find peace, beauty and healing connection for a moment in time in their life’s journey. Some of my sculptures are created for Women’s Shelters and Auctions to support an orphanage in Africa.”

Debora Levy

What woman intuit, oil on wood panel, 30″ x 40″

Debora states, “My ‘Faces’ series is a visual exploration of human resilience — the quiet strength that surfaces in moments of vulnerability, courage, and emotional transformation. Each portrait captures not just an expression, but a story: of people confronting life’s challenges with bravery, grace, and hope.” She adds,  “At its core, ‘Faces’ is a celebration of the human spirit.”

Barbara Rachko

Maestro, soft pastel on sandpaper, 26″ x 20″

Barbara uses her large collection of Mexican and Guatemalan folk art – masks, carved wooden animals, papier-mâché figures, and toys – to create one-of-a-kind pastel-on-sandpaper paintings that combine reality and fantasy and depict personal narratives. She infuses dynamic cultural symbolism and leads viewers to new and profound realms of mystery, discovery and enchantment.

Tommy B. McDonell

Cosmic Women, mixed media, 11″ x 14″

Tommy’s intensely expressive art was curated into the Manhattan Arts International “HerStory” juried exhibition. She personifies the creative spirit of resilience through her life and her art.  When she submitted her entries to “HerStory” she wrote, “Painting transcends my Multiple Sclerosis… I want to share my love and my paintings with others.”

Charlotte Shroyer

A Motley Crew, oil on canvas, 36″ x 36″

Charlotte states, “I am inspired by the world — its people, archaeology, and cultures. Through painting I tap into and expand the depths of my unconscious and a world unconscious that transcends individual and cultural boundaries. Facial features take on exaggerated planes, colors, and lines leading to a finish so unanticipated at the start.”

Nancy Calef

Fog of War, oil on canvas, 36″ x 48″

Nancy’s “Peoplescapes” address cultural, political, and spiritual issues facing society. She explains: “By juxtaposing people in recognizable places and situations each painting weaves together a story about contemporary life, filled with layers of detail, symbolism, and humor.” Nancy is the author of “Peoplescapes – My Story from Purging to Painting”.

Faces & Figures from Art History

Mary Cassatt

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.

Gustav Klimt

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

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.”

Vincent van Gogh

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.

Berthe Morisot

Berthe Morisot. The Cradle, In French: “Mme Pontillon et sa fille Blanche”, oil on canvas, 46″ x 56″. Photo: Public Domain. The artist wrote, “In love there is sentiment and passion I know only sentiment through myself, passion through others. I hear certain voices I know say: sentiment = love of the intellect; I can answer: passion = the love of the body.”

Alfred Stieglitz

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.

Frida Kahlo

“I leave you my portrait so that you will have my presence all the days and nights that I am away from you.” ~ Frida Kahlo

Pablo Picasso

“When one starts from a portrait and seeks by successive eliminations to find pure form… one inevitably ends up with an egg.” ~ Pablo Picasso

More Quotes About Faces and Figures in Art

“Faces are the most interesting things we see; other people fascinate me, and the most interesting aspect of other people – the point where we go inside them – is the face. It tells all.” ~ David Hockney

“Ah! Portraiture, portraiture with the thought, the soul of the model in it, that is what I think must come.” ~ Vincent van Gogh

“The painter must always seek the essence of things, always represent the essential characteristics and emotions of the person he is painting.” ~ Titian

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