Smart Secrets of Great Paintings

16th century Antwerp was rather like 1950s New York. What was once a city of craftsmen and fishermen at the entrance to the North Sea became a leading finance hub. This work by Quentin Massys is a subtle criticism of that world and its era. The artist is warning about the flow of money when it is detached from all form of religious and moral considerations.

In the mid-17th century, Madrid experienced its Golden Age. The Royal Alcazar of Madrid, a legacy of the Muslim sovereignty that had dominated the region for a long time, became the residence of the royal family and the centre of the Spanish court. Diego Velázquez’ canvas plunges us into the practices and traditions of the Hapsburgs of Spain. But more importantly, the work is a recursive reflection of reality: between model, viewer and artist, we no longer know who is looking at who.

At the end of the 19th century, Asnières resembled a seaside resort. The cheering crowd that came to attend the regattas animated the banks of the Seine, and the rowing club was always full. When he painted his canvass, Georges Seurat understood that his current era was totally turned towards a fascinating and ruthless religion: progress. Determined that art should not remain left out of these drastic changes underway, he invented pointillism.

Paris shone brightly in the second half of the 19th century, with its fashionable restaurants, and its cabarets and theatres, which provided the spectacle of a carefree society. The industrial revolution produced wealth, and fortunes were amassed and lost. Gustave Courbet’s work is politically involved and provocative. It reveals his support for revolutionary movements, and condemns Napoleon III’s authoritarian regime. In addition to its critical dimension, the canvas has an air of mystery, and depicts contradictions.