It’s hard these days to write a blog article without referring to Van Gogh, but he once said: “There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people”. Perhaps that’s why a vast majority of artwork has always been about love, in one way or another. No wonder that when Georges Polti categorized every single dramatic situation that might occur in a story or performance and came up with “The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations”, more than a half of them had something to do with love.
In literature, whether it was ancient Greek mythology or Udmurt tales, most of the plots are love-related. The Kiss, whether it’s by Auguste Rodin, Gustav Klimt, or the French-Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, is a universal leitmotiv in visual arts.
Gustav Klimt “The Kiss”, 1907
The relationship between art and its creator has also been in question for centuries. Take Pygmalion, Ovid’s narrative about a Cypriot sculptor who carved a woman out of ivory and fell in love with it. That’s quite messed up even by modern standards.
And what about muses? The stories are never-ending. What if Dali didn’t meet Gala, would his art be the same? And what if Gala didn’t leave her child and husband to become a life-long muse? Sometimes love is stronger than art, but sometimes art prevails – like when Paul Gaugin left his family to live and paint in Tahiti.
Dali and Gala
Today you don’t have to choose between art and love, you can get a .ART domain and express your love for anything and anyone – or gift it. Use promo-code LOVEISART to get a breathtaking 50% discount, valid until the end of this week.
NB: If you don’t have anything planned for tonight, here are a few things you could happily do by yourself without overpaying for a “Valentine’s special”:
· Check out the Sky Arts series “Artists in love”. There are 10 episodes that will melt your heart, make you angry, make you wonder – and want to create.
· Read the majorly overlooked “Lust for life” by Irving Stone, which tells the story of Vincent Van Gogh like no other work, in a raw and powerful narrative.
· Immerse yourself in the musical side of Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera’s turbulent artistic relationship with this Spotify playlist .
