ARTISTIC INSPIRATION

�       Spanish artist Salvador Dalí’s older brother died nine months before
he was born. The influence of his death could be seen throughout
Dalí’s work, most notably in the 1963 painting, Portrait of My Dead
Brother.

�            The art of most pre-modern societies was inspired by religion or
specific rulers. The artists before the Greeks remain overwhelmingly
anonymous, making it even harder to guess their inspiration.

�       Pablo Picasso’s 1937 painting, Guernica, is a cubist interpretation of
the destruction of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish
Civil War.

�       Van Gogh sure didn’t do it for the money. The only painting Vincent
van Gogh ever sold before he committed suicide in 1890 was The Red
Vineyard Near Arles.

�            It’s difficult to say when “art” exactly began, but humans in the
Upper Paleolithic Period (38,000-12,000 BCE) began depicting
scenes on cave walls, possibly inspired by their next meal.

�            Spanish artist, Francisco Goya, was rejected by art school twice.
Goya then moved to Italy for several years where he received
inspiration and returned to Spain in 1775 to become one of the
greatest painters of his time.

�       When the Renaissance began in Europe in the late 1300s, the artists
of the era were inspired by the artistic styles and the form of the
Greeks and Romans.

�       Philippe Starck’s ‘Juicy Salif’ is considered by many to be an artistic
masterpiece, even if it’s just an ordinary citrus reamer. Starck remains
mum on how he came up with the idea or the name.

�            War served as the inspiration for one of the true photographic
masterpieces of history, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. The 1945
photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal shows the moment six Marines
raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

�       The La Pedrera in Barcelona, Spain is a unique building done in the
Modernism architectural/art style of the early 1900s. According to
some sources, the chimneys gave George Lucas the idea for the
stormtroopers in the Star Wars franchise.

�            French artist Eugène Delacroix’s most famous work is Liberty
Leading the People (1830). The bare-breasted masterpiece was
inspired by the July Revolution of 1830, but it later helped to inspire
the French Revolution.

�       Impressionism was born in France in the late 1800s as a challenge to
existing artistic standards. The style favored real scenes over the ideal
and brushed colors over rigid lines.

�       The late performance artist Chris Burden claimed to find inspiration
in modern television and violence. His 1971, Shoot, consisted of him
being shot in the arm!

�            Porcelain vases from the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) are
worth a pretty penny today, but they’re also one of the first examples
of art for profit on a massive scale. Many of the vases were exported
to Europe at the time.

�       Horror movies and the supernatural, in general, have been the source
of masterpieces for quite some time. Tracey Snelling has used her
love of horror to produce sculptures that often convey a sense of
dread.

�       American artist Bob Ross reached an international audience with his
The Joy of Painting TV show from 1981 to 1994. Ross’s easygoing
style has influenced millions of people to pick up a paintbrush.

�            Pop Art is a style that began in the US and UK after World War II
that was influenced by images of modern, capitalistic Western culture.
Andy Warhol was the best-known Pop artist.

�            Late 19th and early 20th century French Impressionist, Paul Cézanne,
was quite open about what inspired him, stating that “a work of art
that did not begin in emotion is not art.”

�            Luke Jerram is a British installation artist who creates images of
microbes, viruses, and other things we can’t see, which is ironic, or
not, since Jerram is color blind.

�       Life in early 20th century Iowa is what inspired Grant Wood to become
a renowned artist. His most famous painting, American Gothic, was a
portrait of his sister and their dentist, meant to convey the spirit of the
Midwest.