My Heroes in the world of art

There have been a huge number of artists over the years who have produced some spectacular works. Making a list of the greatest artists of all time would be a very difficult undertaking. Since it would also be a list based mostly on personal taste I won't pretend that this is a list of the greatest artists of all time. Rather this is a list of my heroes in the world of art. A comment on the official blog of Park West Gallery asked people to talk about their art heroes, and in stead of just commenting there, I decided to put this into a post!

At the top of my list of heroes in the world of art has to be Michelangelo in large part because he could do so many different things. He might well be the greatest painter and the greatest sculptor of all time. Not only was he highly skilled technically he was also a real innovator. The people in his works appear to be much more like living people than those that appeared in the works of previous artists. After Michelangelo this became common but he was the first to really be able to add this quality to his art.

Next on the list of my heroes in the world of art is Pablo Picasso. The reason for this is that he was such an important innovator. He certainly changed the face of art in the twentieth century. Probably the greatest painter of his generation he was also a highly skilled sculptor and designer. Over the years he experimented with many different styles and drew from a huge variety of influences. However it was his Cubist work that really stood out. This work lead to whole series of other movements in the world of modern art and Picasso one of the most influential artists of all time.

The next of my heroes in the world of art would have to be Claude Monet because he was really the creator of the impressionist movement. In fact he was responsible more than anybody else for what is known as modern art. The number of painters who were influenced by Monet is huge which has really helped to establish him as an important figure in the world of art. Unlike the others on this list Monet tended to stick to one style and one medium but he did it very well.

The final artist on my list of heroes would have to be Rembrandt. The reason that he is on the list is that he is one of the greatest painters of all time. Rembrandt brought a level of realism to his paintings that had never been seen before. He was also a master at the use of light and shadow which he used to add emotion to his paintings. Some of the greatest paintings of all time were done by Rembrandt. Like most artists of his generation he worked in a variety of other mediums but he is best known by far for his work as a painter.

I've never been able to actually start collecting any work by my favorite artists, simply because I'm not a millionaire just yet - but I've decided to invest in some more "realistic" art none the less. I've got loads of stuff by Thomas Kinkade and I've also invested quite a bit in Banksy prints. Banksy is an awesome London-based street artist, and I love his work a lot!