Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt's Adele Bloch Bauer-I

Here is another pricey painting. It just sold for $135 million. Wow. I doubt the selling price had much to do with the painting itself but rather the history and reputation of the painter himself. I love gold paint and I love playing between flat and deep spaces. This painting combines both of those things. And then, I just love her rosy cheeks.

Peter Doig

One last Peter Doig, and I promise to move on. I don't know what it is called yet. But isn't it interesting what can be done with only one color. Red is like the king.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig (1997-1998) Figure in Mountain Landscape, oil on canvas

I love the flattened Asian looking landscape and then this odd little figure. You just want to know more about it, yet Doig keeps it mysterious.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso (1923) Portrait of Jacinto Salvado as Harlequin, oil on canvas.

I could probably post all of Picasso's harlequin paintings... but that would be a little out of control. So this one will have to represent them all. Basically, I love the colors and line quality. And I am so fascinated with the subjects he chooses. Everyone is a person, but not everyone is a harlequin.

Pablo Picasso

Garçon à la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) is a painting by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1905, during the 24-year-old artist's Rose Period. The oil on canvas painting depicts a Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand.

It sold for $104.1 million USD at an auction in Sotheby's in New York, after having been given a pre-sale estimate of $70 million by the auction house. Many art critics have stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the merit or historical importance of the painting.

I am just in love with the contrast between the man and his wings and even the background. The blue against that peachy background is striking. And the way the flower wings tease you as to where they are meant to be... on the man's back, in his imagination, or as part of the background. It may not be one of Picasso's most admired paintings, but still... $104.1 million!