Public Domain Images: Trädet och flodkröken III (Bois-le-Roi), oil on canvas painting (1877) by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911), currently located at Nationalmuseum Stockholm (National Museum of Fine Arts, the national gallery of Sweden).
Public Domain Image: Seine-Landschaft mit Pappeln (1877), oil on canvas painting by Swedish painter Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911), 74 cm x 108 cm, located at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
Public Domain Photo: Seine-Landschaft bei Bois-Le-Roi (variously titled in English as ‘Seine Landscape in Bois-Le-Roi’, ‘The Tree and the River Bend’, ‘Motive from Bois-le-Roi on the River Seine’, etc.), oil on canvas painting (1877) , 53 cm x 72 cm, by the Swedish painter Carl Fredrik Hill, currently in Göteborgs konstmuseum (Gothenburg Museum of Art) in Sweden.
Having born and spent the early years of his life in Lund, Sweden, Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911) started his career as a landscape painter. After studying at the Stockholm Academy of Fine Arts, Hill moved to France, and went to Barbizon in the south of Paris in 1874. Barbizon was home to several artists and most of the budding artists of his time converged there.
Hill had had little success as an artist, because his works were not accepted at the Paris Salons. Eventually at the age of 28, he was hospitalized with a severe psychotic attack, ending his career as a landscape painter. With the help of his friends, he went home where he was hospitalized. After a short period in the St. Lars mental hospital in Lund, he was mostly restrained to his home in the care of his sister and mother until his death in 1911.
The period of 28 years before his death is considered his ‘second great period’ as art writers would later describe. It was a new phase of his career that saw him creating thousands of drawings applying various techniques and using watercolor, India ink, pencil, ink, crayon, etc. His inspiration for these works was his memories of various scenes that influenced him, his vivid imagination and art illustrations found on books and other publications.
Hill’s life as an artist started with the vehement opposition from his father who was a mathematics professor who did not want him to become an artist. It was followed by various rejections of his works by the Paris Salons, and possibly such depressive treatment he got must have lead to his suffering from the psychotic attack which was later diagnosed as hallucinations and paranoia. After being released from the hospital, he continued to work only to find an outlet for his creative quest, and to defend himself from the staring failure of his life as an artist. And Carl Fredrik Hill was never given the recognition as an artist during his lifetime.
Several of his work were neglected and lost, but some 3500 drawings are estimated to exist. Out of these, over 2000 drawings and 23 of his oil paintings are in the Malmö Art Museum. Most of these works were donated to the museum by Hill's heirs.
After Carl Fredrik Hill’s death his drawings were located mainly by artists, who admired his work and style. In 1949 an exhibition of his works was held in Geneva, Hamburg, London, Basel, Luzern, and in Paris in 1952. These exhibitions triggered of a series of books on Hill’s works. Now Hill is recognized as one of the best of Sweden's landscape painters, and his works inspire artists internationally. A recognition that eluded Hill during his lifetime!
Art critics and historians have opined that Hill anticipated many of the modern art movements and his works even influenced great artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and many others.
Public Domain Photo: Kuchipudi dancer Arunima Kumar performs at the Khajuraho Dance Festival on 5th February 2010.
PD Photo: scenery from Jasper National Park, Canada, wallpaper image size 1024x768
Jasper, the commercial centre of Jasper National Park which is located in the Canadian Rockies, is in western Alberta, Canada. The park is in the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountain ranges. Located in in the Athabasca River valley, Jasper is 362 kilometers west of Edmonton and 290 kilometers north of Banff, Alberta.
Jasper National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with the other national and provincial parks of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. It is a cogglomeration of typical mountain landscapes consisting of mountain peaks, limestone caves, canyons, waterfalls, glaciers, lakes and other breathtaking toursit attractions.
One of the most visited tourist attractions in the Jasper National Park is Mount Edith Cavell in the Athabasca River and Astoria River valleys. The north face of Mt. Edith Cavell can be seen after a short hike to the Cavell Meadows.
The Tonquin Valley trails are located about one kilometer before the Mt. Edith Cavell road end. the north end of Cavell Lake is located at a short distance down the gravel path, and a small bridge across a stream that flows to the lake. Scenic views of the Cavell Lake in the foreground and the Mt. Edith Cavell massif in the background can be seen from here.
Public Domain Photo: Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, an oil on canvas painting of dimention 73.5 cm x 61.1 cm. Full resolution of the photo: 920x1101 pixels and size: 115 KB.
This portrait of the first President of the United States, George Washington (22 February 1732 to 14 December 1799), is based on the incomplete Antheneum portrait by the American portraitist Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828) completed by Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860). The image was taken from the copy maintained by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown.
Public Domain Photo: The First Mourning (Premier Deuil), an oil on canvas painting of dimensions 203 cm x 252 cm (appx 80 x 99 inches) by French painter William Bouguereau, National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires.
The oil painting ‘The First Mourning’ (1888) is acclaimed to be one of the best paintings by the traditionalist French artist William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), whose realist genre of creations and a host of other paintings depicting mythological and Biblical characters and scenes became very popular with the aristocracy and the rich art patrons of his times.
His interpretations of classical themes in a photo-realistic style were heavily influenced by the beauty of feminine human body. In later years, Bouguereau seemed to have been given much less appreciation compared to the Impressionists.
The theme of the painting features the moment when Adam and Eve found their son Abel, who was murdered by his elder brother Cain, whom some writers interpret literally as the son of the serpent (evil) in the Garden of Eden.
According to the Bible, it was the first death of a human being, and hence it is considered the first murder and ‘The First Mourning’ (the work is titled ‘Premier Deuil’ in French). Abel is also considered the first innocent victim and the first martyr while Cain is considered the first murderer by many writers.
The First Mourning is currently displayed at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Public Domain Photo: Statue of Shakira (Escultura de Shakira) in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The Colombian singer, musician, dancer, songwriter and record producer Shakira (born Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll on February 2, 1977) emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Shakira is a multitalented artist with vocal ability in Rock and Roll, Latin American and Middle Eastern music and dance influences, marked by her own original version of Belly Dance. She was born and raised in Barranquilla in northern Colombia, where there is a huge following of music groups inspired by the musical style of Shakira.
Public Domain Image: The abduction of Europa, known by alternate title: De roof van Europa (Ovidius, Metamorphosen II, 833-875), oil on oak panel painting (1632) by the Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 62.2 cm x 77 cm (24.49 in x 30.31 in) located at The J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), one of the most visited museums in the United States.
Public Domain Image: Ostern am Walchensee (translated English title: Easter at Walchensee), oil on canvas landscape painting (1922) by the German painter Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), dimensions 57 cm x 75 cm, located currently at Sammlung Berend-Corinth, New York.
