The artwork of Giuseppe Arcimboldo looks like something you might find in a modern art gallery in Brooklyn. At first glance, Arcimboldo paintings look like a random collage of different, small items. Upon closer inspection, the objects come together to resemble a full figure.
That’s not too groundbreaking these days, but Arcimboldo doesn’t need to worry about that. His work was done during the late 1500s. He was the original abstract painter.
If you’re struggling now to understand his work, just imagine how people felt about it back then. Check out a few of his pieces. They’re really spectacular and “out there.”
“Water.” Here you can see that various sea creatures make up the shape of the head and body.
“Flora.” Arcimboldo started his career doing more traditional paintings around religious themes.
“Fire.” Most of his traditional work from this time fell into obscurity. Instead, scholars and modern artists focus on his more abstract pieces.
“Flora meretrix.” Arcimboldo’s work was an object of fascination for many people during his life.
“Summer.” Scholars debated for years whether Arcimboldo’s work was simply whimsical, or if he might have been mentally ill.
“Winter.” The widely held view now is that Arcimboldo’s work catered very much to the tastes of his time. That is, the Renaissance fascination with puzzles, riddles, and the downright bizarre.
For a time, Arcimboldo painted portraits in Prague in the court of the Holy Roman Empire. Here is a portrait of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, painted as Vertumnus, Roman god of the seasons.
“The Four Seasons.” It’s crazy how much detail he was able to fit into a single a painting.
“The Jurist.” These days, Arcimboldo’s paintings continue to inspire new generations of abstract and illusionist painters.
Via: Huffington Post
These paintings are really breathtaking. I feel like if no one told me these paintings were from the 1500s, I never would have guessed it. They look so modern for originating from such a long time ago.
