Art.
It takes many forms. But we know it when we see or hear it.
Webster says art is this:
“The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”
I asked Geepy about art.
Oh. Geepy Tee. She is Bard’s sister. I get tired of calling Chat GPT, by its name, so I nicknamed her Geepy Tee. Soft G.
Anyway, she said this:
“Art is a broad and multifaceted concept that encompasses a wide range of creative and expressive human activities. It is a form of cultural expression that reflects the thoughts, emotions, ideas, and experiences of individuals and communities. In essence, art is a diverse and dynamic field that defies easy definition. It can be deeply personal and culturally significant, and it continues to evolve and adapt to the changing world around it. Ultimately, the meaning and significance of art are highly individual and can vary widely from person to person.”
I like the way she thinks.
Here’s the thing about me. I love art. I love creating art. I love watching people create art. And I love to see, hear, taste, smell, feel, and experience art.
One of my favorite things is going into the quiet of a grand museum and looking at the paintings of the masters. There is something both peaceful and transformational about doing this for me.
I love seeing the brush strokes up close. It’s like. Magic.
So, I get a little “obsessed” when someone breaks into a museum and steals that piece of art from the wall. It happens more often than you think.
When the Mona Lisa was stolen by a museum worker back in 1911, the global attention it got turned it into one of the most famous works of art in history. Luckily, they recovered her barely two years later. But. Others are not so lucky. Many other masterpieces by renowned artists remain missing to this day.
Quite a few of them were taken during one particularly famous heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990 when art thieves made off with paintings valued at over $500 million.
At any rate. I wonder about them. Where are they? Who is looking at them right now? And why do they think they should have them all to themselves?
Some great works that have been stolen and never recovered:
Landscape With An Obelisk, Govert Flinck
Just Judges, Jan Van Eyck
Storm On The Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt
Poppy Flowers, Van Gogh
View Of Auvers-sur-Oise, Cézanne
Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud
Danish Jubilee Egg, Peter Carl Fabergé
Portrait Of A Young Man, Raphael
The Concert, Vermeer
The Concert is easily the single most expensive missing work of art in history. Yep, this one was another casualty of the infamous 1990 heist at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Painted by Johannes Vermeer sometime between 1663 and 1666, it was a classic Vermeer. It is a prime example of his domestic scenes of that era. This painting depicts a sitting room with three figures engaged in creating music.
The value of The Concert extends beyond its monetary worth. But, that missing painting is valued at over $250 million in today’s money. And the FBI is still trying to find it.
It is probably my favorite on this particular list, although Rembrandt’s 1633 masterpiece, The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, is way up there, too.
I never quite “got” the Faberge’ Eggs. But it is probably because the old cologne commercials are still infiltrating my brain. “BRUTE. By Faberge’.”
My guess is that these works will never be found. Art theft is one of the highest-grossing criminal enterprises globally. Literally billions of dollars worth of art stolen annually. Here is another interesting matter. Interpol has a database of stolen artworks. At various times, this database has contained information on around 50,000 pieces of stolen art. Just to give you some idea.
Art. A beautiful thing.
But often stolen.
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“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” — Elbert Hubbard
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“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” — Thomas Merton
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“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” — Aristotle
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Going, going, gone. Not an auction.
