Thursday, April 06, 2006

A dream of heaven?

Christie's just sold JMW Turner's rendering of a Venice canal scene circa 1841. It is called "Giudecca, La Donna della Salute and San Giorgio". I have seen some paintings by renowned artists in my day but this one is in a league truly of its own. Words could never be enough to describe the feeling of complete serenity this work conveys. It's like a most vivid dream in Technicolor. Truly a masterpiece. This is one time that (IMHO) the amount of $35.8 Million US seems like a fair price. I can't stop staring at this painting. If only I had another $35.85 mil US lying around, I would have this hanging on my living room wall and forego the latest episode of "Deal or No Deal".

20 comments:

Oricon Ailin said...

I agree, it is a very lovely and serene painting. I think it would be nice to just be able to admire it in person.

DagoodS said...

Hopefully, now that it has been in public view, they will make a print. I couldn't find any out there now. Although allposters has some other paintings by turner.

sara said...

MAY PEACE BE UPON YOUR SOULS, HEARTS, MINDS, AND BODIES...AMEN.

JANNAH........OHH DEAR JANNAH.

http://www.parvez-video.com/islam/Quran%20Words/jannah/index.asp

roman said...

oricon ailin,
Hopefully we will get the chance to view this if it goes "on tour".
On a field trip with my seventh grade class to the Museum of Fine Arts here in Boston some years back I remember snickering with my classmates at the site of people admiring art for more than a few seconds. It took awhile but I now am one of those being snickered at.

roman said...

dagoods,
I am sure that your right. Christie's Auction house would have printed up a catalog for this auction so the prints are already out there. I printed the one from the newspaper site but it is lacking in detail and clarity. Enlarging it just makes it worse.
Just have to wait and buy an official commercial grade print when available.

roman said...

Sara,
Jannah is a most beautiful word. The many interpretations offered just makes the concept of "heaven" that much more alluring.
Could the real interpretation be all those possibilities combined?
Thank you for sharing the word that describes what ultimately is the most important goal of our existence.

Frank Partisan said...

You do have your tax refund.

It is a great painting.

Dr Kuha said...

I've been to Venice. It doesn't actually look that washed out. In fact, it's not even a tenth part that serene with all the tourists rubbing their stupid pompous noses in everything. On the plus side, you can buy pizza and beer from these little resaurants that have counters facing the street and then eat and drink while you walk. Yeah, I guess it is actually that serene...sigh...

roman said...

Ren,
Unfortunatly, my wife got her hands on the check before me. She has been sporting some new clothes, hmmm.

roman said...

dr kuha,

Like the cake left out in the rain, Venice will never be the same as that day in 1841 when Turner's inspiration captured this magnificent scene. On this day, I keep imagining myself rowing my little boat towards the others on this calm and serene day with the greeting "BUONGIORNO, MI CHIAMO ROMAN".
OK, I'm losing it, I admit ;o)

Sam!! said...

U nicely described it, it must b a nice painting:)

Easter Greetings for u n all readers:)

Hope u n rest everything is fine at ur side.

Takecare.

San Nakji said...

Well I can put up about $100 (New Zealand money), so if you can do the rest we can share it!

roman said...

samrina,
Thank you for the glad tidings. It's always nice to hear from you.
Peace :)

roman said...

san nakji,
Hey, thanks for the pledge. Now I only need another 357,999 similar pledges and it just might work out.
We will have to figure out where to hang the painting so it will be convenient for us to visit. A halfway point like Hawaii maybe.
The Turner "Venice" retrospective, san nakji, curator.
Has a nice ring to it.

San Nakji said...

I like it! Hawaii it is!

Dr Kuha said...

Do you think that art is a verb or a noun? Is it something that is? Or something that happens? This is something that I think about a lot.

roman said...

dr kuha,
I've always thought of art as a noun but have recently concluded that art can be just about any expression of creativity (like performance art). If something affects my emotional state in a way that the artist intended, it's art.
Though, if I am not affected in the least but the next person is then who am I to judge. I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.
Jackson Pollock? I don't get it.

Asma said...

u describe it so well that i m really curious to see it...it must be marvelous.

roman said...

Asma,
Thank you for stopping by my site, you are welcome anytime.
Here is the link for the photo of the painting:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04/06/turner_masterpiece_sells_for_358_million/

Nabeel said...

an interesting thing to do is search for an image of heaven on google and see what u get ..