Q.
With tomorrow – Valentine’s Day – comes a spotlight on romantic love. Some revel in the celebration: chocolates, candies, flowers! Others can do without the reminder or the calendar pressure, thank you very much.

What are some famous paintings that celebrate the joys, pains, and drama of love? .

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A.

The painting below – known both as ‘After The Ball’ and ‘Confidence’ – was created in 1874 by Belgian artist Alfred Stevens. This not so happy love scene – featuring a portentous letter – is said to be rooted in the tradition of romantic novels and plays of 19th Century writers like Émile Augier and Alexandre Dumas. The Ton is abuzz.

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Here’s a sampling of some other well-known, love-relevant works …

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We’ll get the bad news out of the way …

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All That Glitters 

Sweet Melancholy. Joseph-Marie Vien. 1756.

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Love and Pain. Edvard Munch. 1895

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Ashes. Edvard Munch. 1895

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Sulking. Edgar Degas. 1870

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Constant Mayer. Love’s Melancholy. 1994

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Love Of Yore

Mars and Venus United by Love. Paolo Veronese. 1570s

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Omnia Vincit Amor. Or The Power of Love in the Three Elements. 1809

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Young Love

The Storm. Pierre-Auguste Cot. 1880

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Springtime. Pierre-Auguste Cot. 1873

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Yonker Ramp and his Sweetheart. Frans Hals. 1623

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With A Soundtrack

The Greek Lovers. Henry Peters Gray. 1846

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The Love Song. Sir Edward Burne-Jones. 1868-77

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The Music Lesson. John George Brown. 1870

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In Writing

The Love Letter. Jean Honoré Fragonard. early 1770s.

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The Love Letter. Jacob Ochtervelt. early 1670s.

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Into the 20th Century  with Alice Neel
© The Estate of Alice Neel

 

Alice Neel. Sue Seely and Her Husband. 1948

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Alice Neel. Rita and Hubert. 1954

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Alice Neel. Jackie Curtis and Ritta Redd. 1970

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www.justcurious.ca

Header Image: Jacob Lawrence. The Lovers. 1945