Delacroix famous piece “The Raft of the Medusa”

previously: Visiting the Louvre, part 1

“I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

With this auction, the Scream takes the place 8th place of the most expensive paintings ever sold, inflation adjusted:

Two years ago I had the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum.
The Louvre is the biggest museum of the world and hold one of the most rich, historic important and vast art pieces ever produced by mankind. Every living artist should visit this place at least once in a lifetime.
A castle turned into a palace turned into a museum, the history of the Louvre blends with the history of Paris, France and Europe.

My wife and I arrived earlier at the Musee du louvre station so we had time to walk through the jardins de tuileries up to the obelisque and a bit of the champs elisées.

Fountain in the Place de la Concorde.

Obelisque in the Place de la Concorde.

Louvre pyramid, early in the morning.

Inside the Louvre.

If you’re visiting the louvre, I do recommend you go see the Monalisa first. And go as soon as the museum opens because it will be very hard to see it after that. It is very crowded, the picture is protected by a glass and isolation so you can’t see the pictured very close.

-Leonardo DaVinci

1-The Card Players by Paul Cézanne $250M (Millions)

Painted in 1892, sold in 2011 by George Embiricos and purchased by Royal family of Qatar in a private sale.

More on the card players here.

2- No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock $156.8M (Millions)
Painted in 1948, sold in 11/02/2006 by David Geffen to a private buyer in a private sale via Sotheby’s.

3-Woman III by Willem de Kooning $154.0M (Millions)

Painted in 1953, sold by David Geffen to Steven A. Cohen in 18/11/2006 in a private sale via Larry Gagosian.

4- Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt $150.2M (Millions)

Painted in 1907, sold by Maria Altmann to Ronald Lauder in 06/18/2006 , Neue Galerie in a private sale via Christie’s.

5- Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh $144.1M (Millions)

Painted in 1890, sold by Siegfried Kramarsky family to Ryokei Saito in 05/15/1990 Christie’s New York.

6- Bal du moulin de la Galette by Pierre Auguste Renois $136.6M (Millions)

Painted in 1876, sold by Betsey Whitney to Ryokei Saito in 05/17/1990 at Sotheby’s New York.

7- Garçon à la pipe, by Pablo Picasso $123.3M (Millions)

Painted in 1905, sold by Greentree foundation (Whitney family) to Barilla Group in 05/04/2004, Sotheby’s New York.

8 – Nude, Green Leaves and Bust by Pablo Picasso $110.1M (Millions)

Painted in 1932, sold by Frances Lasker Brody estate to a private buyer in 04/05/2010 at Christie’s New York.

9-Portrait of Joseph Roulin by Vincent van Gogh $107++M (Millions)

Painted in 1889, sold by a Private collection in Zürich to Museum of Modern Art, New York in 08/01/1989 in a Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zürich.

10- Dora Maar au Chat, by Pablo Picasso

Painted in 1941, sold by Gidwitz family to Boris Ivanishvili in 03/05/2006 at Sotheby’s New York.

A complete list of the most expensive paintings ever sold can be found here.

Flat colors come next: I reduce its opacity a little so I can see the previous line drawing and start the glazing process that will enhance the light and shadow perspective.

Another important thing: I do like to keep a maximum of 3 or 4 layers. For speed painting I do want to keep the brush flowing without having to stop and go up and down with layers all time. I also rarely use more than 3 or 4 brushes (including the custom brushes). Only when they will really save me time.For Chuck Berry I used a custom brush made previously for his shirt pattern. This saved some minutes from the total time.

One procedure I take differently from non-speed paintings is that with speed painting,I do spend more time painting the shadow and colors and quickly adjust some proportions in a later stage. This is very clear when you see the Chuck’s head at early stage and when I increased its size up.

This is to gain some more area to work on and have a more detailed surface when it is scaled down. You know, a raster larger detailed area may look good when you scale down, but a small picture enlarged is unlikely that will look as good.

Setting back the head proportions with all details added previously.

At later stage when I have most of the shadows and light spots of the image set, I do look at the clock and see how much time is left to 1:30 and try to make adjustments and add as much detail as possible.


Final Speed Painting

Today Jean Giraud (aka) Moebius the great master of comic book passed away at 73.  Known for the “Blueberry” among other works in movies like Alien, Tron.

“There are two devices which can help the sculptor to judge his work: one is not to see it for a while. The other… is to look at his work through spectacles which will change its color and magnify or diminish it, so as to disguise it somehow to his eye, and make it look as though it were the work of another”  -Gian Lorenzo Bernini