by Stacy Mar
Van Gogh, Klimt, Monet, Renoir – some of the legendary names of the art world, famous for their brilliant canvases. Those who have seen any of these masterpieces in person know the impact and lasting impression they have. Imagine being able to bring that experience to your home’s wall dcor. You can – by selecting one of the many by Famous Artist tapestries from Decor4u.com, part of the extensive offering of beautiful tapestries to be found in their Tapestry Shop. Some of the world’s most famous paintings have been brought to breathtaking life in tapestry form and are ready to adorn your walls.
Vincent Willem van Gogh is one of the world’s legendary painters and has perhaps one of the most identifiable and distinctive painting styles. In the tapestry Van Gogh’s Irises (based on Irises, Saint-Remy), we see a group of irises by a garden walk. Among the intense blues of the other flowers, a single white iris glows. Another van Gogh tapestry masterpiece is The Starry Night. Easily one of the artist’s most famous and important canvases, it shows the night sky, filled with spinning stars and a glowing moon. This amazing scene was glimpsed by van Gogh at night and recreated wholly from memory the next day. All of the details that make a van Gogh so memorable have been captured in these marvelous tapestry wall hangings.
Another familiar van Gogh canvas is Bedroom in Arles. It details the interior of his bedroom at his house in Arles, France, called the Yellow House. An otherwise simple, rustic room with bed, chairs and a table, the space is unique because of its trapezoidal shape. Van Gogh painted no less that three version of Bedroom in Arles. The Bedroom is one of Decor4u.com’s tapestries from Belgium and is based on the third version of this work. In all of these tapestries, van Gogh’s characteristic use of bold color and forceful painting style have been faithfully reproduced.
One of the most prominent and famous painters of the Art Nouveau movement was Austrian Gustav Klimt. He is perhaps most well known for his painting, The Kiss. A man and a woman enfold one another, their limbs entwined. They appear to become one with one another as well as with the field of flowers that surround them. Klimt had recently returned from Italy and was inspired by the famous mosaics he saw there to start using gold leaf in his own paintings. Hence his Golden Phase during which The Kiss was produced. This amazing tapestry, from Decor4u.com’s collection of tapestries from Europe, is woven with gold threads to more fully realize Klimt’s vision.
In his own time, much of what Klimt painted was regarded as controversial. An example of this is found in Lady with Fan. This paining shows an intimate glimpse of a woman, her face flushed, her dressing gown slipping from one shoulder to reveal what her fan conceals. Instead of placing her in a room or some other setting, she is displayed against an archetypal Art Noveau background of swirling, curvilinear leaves and vines. The artists who created the Lady with Fan decorative tapestry have loving reproduced Klimt’s astonishing use of color and form in all its glory.
Claude Monet is another name that needs little introduction. Founder and principle artist of the Impressionist movement, he is known world wide. It was his painting Impression, Soleil Levant, from which this famous school of painting takes it name. True to the Impressionist belief that art should be inspired by natural forms and scenes, Monet painted extensively from the gardens surrounding his house at Giverny. In Monet’s painting, Irises, a cluster of these flowers are shown against a balmy sky. The undulating foliage and petals suggest a gentle breeze. Monet’s Irises wall hanging contains all the subtlety and detail of the original work, even including Monet’s iconic signature.
Pierre-August Renoir is another famed French Impressionist. He was an extraordinarily prolific artist who produced thousands of works in his lifetime, many of which have brought record sums in recent years. He greatest talent perhaps lies in his ability to create direct and intimate likenesses of people. A fine example of this is the canvas Dance at Bougival. A couple dancing exudes a lusty gaiety, enjoying the pleasures of the moment. At the same time, Renoir’s masterful use of light and shadow bring an almost ethereal quality to the work. Dance at Bougival Wall Art from Decor4u.com lets you enjoy this master work for your own.
French post-Impressionist Paul Ranson was a member and creative force of the group of avant-garde artists calling themselves Les Nabis, or The Prophets. Les Nabis followed the philosophy that art could be simultaneously representational and symbolic. It was this thinking that would open the way for abstract expressionist art. An example of this blending of expression can be seen in Ranson’s Apple Tree with Red Fruit. On the surface, it is a painting of an apple tree set in nature. However, the branches of the tree are drawn in such a way to resemble human limbs, giving symbolic subtext to the picture. Ranson’s dramatic use of color and form are given added depth when recreated as tapestry art.
Decor4u.com has wall tapestries by well know contemporary artists as well. Bunny Oliver’s style shows the influence of her studies with many of the United State’s famous present day impressionists. She has given much time and attention to the study of still life as she believes that great beauty can be found in simple, everyday objects. Her painting, Poppies Galore, is a striking example of her finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. A bunch of bold scarlet poppies cascade out of a blue and white vase of Chinese design. In tapestry form, Poppies Galore by Bunny Oliver achieves a new depth and clarity.